# ScopeDOPE™ — Strategic Opportunity Analysis
## Filtered by: Adoption Rate · Recurring Revenue · Acquisition Value

**Cold Bore Ballistics™ LLC — Internal Strategy**
**Date:** 2026-05-28

Each item satisfies at least one criterion. Items satisfying multiple criteria are prioritized.

**Criteria key:**
- **A** — Increases adoption rate
- **R** — Creates or extends a recurring revenue stream
- **V** — Increases acquisition value

---

## Tier 1 — Satisfies All Three Criteria

These are the highest-priority strategic opportunities.

---

### 1. Aggregated Anonymized DOPE Database

**Criteria:** A · R · V

**What it is:** As ScopeDOPE's user base grows, every confirmed impact entered by every user constitutes a real-world ballistic data point. With user consent and proper anonymization, the aggregate of these confirmed impacts becomes a proprietary database of actual bullet performance across calibers, ammo lots, environmental conditions, and distances. No manufacturer, no competitor, and no academic institution can replicate this database — it can only be built by having thousands of shooters confirm real-world impacts over time.

**Adoption rate:** A shooters-contribute-data, all-shooters-benefit model creates a network effect. The more users, the more data; the more data, the more accurate the starting solutions for new users; the more accurate the starting solutions, the more compelling the product is to new users. This is a flywheel.

**Recurring revenue:** The database itself can be licensed to ammunition manufacturers, barrel makers, and bullet manufacturers who want real-world performance data on their products. This is a B2B data revenue stream entirely separate from app sales.

**Acquisition value:** A proprietary, real-world-validated ballistic performance database is the single most defensible acquisition asset ScopeDOPE can build. Applied Ballistics has the Litz BC library — measured in controlled conditions. ScopeDOPE would have real-world confirmed impacts from actual competition shooters across actual field conditions. These are different things. An acquirer like Hornady, Garmin, or Nielsen-Kellerman cannot buy this database anywhere else — they can only acquire Cold Bore Ballistics to get it.

**Implementation note:** Opt-in at the account level. Clear privacy policy. Anonymized at the lot/caliber/condition level — no individual shooter data is ever shared. The database is a Cold Bore Ballistics asset, not a user data product. The Gold/Silver/Bronze credit system (see `CBB_MERCH_ANALYSIS.md` and `SCOPEDOPE_COMPETITIVE_ANALYSIS.md` §2.8) is the incentive mechanism for user data submission — branded merchandise redeemable against submission quality and volume.

---

### 2. ELEY Lot Data Integration

**Criteria:** A · R · V

**What it is:** API integration with ELEY's Lot Analyser (eleyxshot.com) allowing ScopeDOPE users to enter their ELEY lot number and auto-populate BC and muzzle velocity for that specific production lot. See full concept brief in SCOPEDOPE_AMMO_DATA_PARTNERSHIP.md.

**Adoption rate:** The first ballistic app to offer this feature gets a concrete, demonstrable advantage over every competitor. For NRL22 competitors shooting ELEY Match or Tenex, this is a reason to switch immediately. It is also a feature that generates word of mouth — "ScopeDOPE uses your lot's actual BC" is a sentence that travels on forums.

**Recurring revenue:** Not a direct revenue item — but it drives app sales by making the product demonstrably superior for ELEY users, and it opens the door to a licensing or referral arrangement with ELEY.

**Acquisition value:** A formal data partnership with ELEY is a moat. An acquirer who wants access to ELEY's lot data for their own ballistic products would need to acquire Cold Bore Ballistics to get it — or approach ELEY separately and start from scratch. Being the established ELEY integration partner has durable value in an acquisition context.

**Expansion path:** ELEY → SK → Lapua → centerfire manufacturers. Each expansion deepens the moat.

---

### 3. ScopeDOPE-Branded Label Consumables

**Criteria:** A · R · V

**What it is:** Custom-branded thermal label rolls (Cold Bore Ballistics / ScopeDOPE branding) produced via Niimbot's consumable customization program. MOQ of one roll. See `COLD_BORE_STARTUP_GUIDE.md` §4.0 for inquiry details and `CBB_MERCH_ANALYSIS.md` for pricing, margins, and the full branded merchandise lineup.

**Adoption rate:** A shooter who sees a ScopeDOPE-branded sticker on a competitor's rifle at a match will ask about it. The printed label is a physical, persistent marketing artifact that lives at eye level in the shooting community.

**Recurring revenue:** Label rolls are consumable. A user who prints 10 scope stickers per match cycle goes through a roll every few months. At $9–12/roll retail against $1–3/roll cost at volume, this is a healthy recurring margin. The more matches a user shoots, the more labels they use, the more rolls they buy.

**Acquisition value:** A branded consumable that generates recurring revenue from an established user base is a meaningful line item in a valuation. It demonstrates that Cold Bore Ballistics is a multi-revenue-stream business, not a single-product app company. That distinction matters in acquisition multiples.

---

### 4. The .dope Format as an Open Standard

**Criteria:** A · R · V

**What it is:** Actively promoting the .dope file format as the data interchange standard for precision rifle ballistics. Not just publishing it as open, but campaigning for adoption by other tools, retailers, and manufacturers.

**Licensing decision:** The format is published under a Custom Open Specification License — free to implement for any purpose, royalty-free, forever, with attribution to Cold Bore Ballistics LLC required. This is not CC0. Cold Bore Ballistics retains stewardship as the authoritative version publisher and the right to run a "Certified .dope Compatible" certification program. This preserves the adoption benefits of open licensing while maintaining the stewardship and certification revenue potential that CC0 would permanently surrender.

**Adoption rate:** If three tools support .dope import/export, every shooter who uses any of those tools becomes a potential ScopeDOPE user — because ScopeDOPE is the reference implementation. The format is the funnel.

**Recurring revenue:** Indirect — but a format standard creates platform lock-in that sustains revenue from the primary app.

**Acquisition value:** The steward of an adopted data standard is not just an app company. Garmin's GPX format made Garmin's ecosystem stickier and harder to displace. A ballistic data standard that professional competitive shooters, ammo manufacturers, and retail ballistic data providers use is a durable strategic asset. This is the item with the highest ceiling on acquisition value — it is the difference between being acquired as an app and being acquired as infrastructure.

---

## Tier 2 — Satisfies Two Criteria

---

### 5. NRL22 Club Affiliation Program

**Criteria:** A · R

**What it is:** Bulk license deals with NRL22 club directors — 20 app activations for the club at a wholesale rate in exchange for recommending ScopeDOPE to all new members at orientation. Clubs pay Cold Bore Ballistics for the activation block; members receive the app as a club benefit.

**Adoption rate:** NRL22 has organized clubs with regular membership onboarding. A club recommendation at orientation carries more weight than an App Store listing. This is the fastest path to reaching organized, active NRL22 competitors at the moment they are newest and most open to tooling recommendations.

**Recurring revenue:** Clubs replenish activation codes as membership grows. Annual renewal of the club affiliation creates a predictable B2B revenue stream distinct from individual app sales.

---

### 6. Barrel Maker Bundle — Revenue Share Model

**Criteria:** A · R

**What it is:** Barrel makers include a referral code with every barrel sold. Shooters who redeem the code receive a discount; barrel makers earn a commission per redemption. Cold Bore Ballistics earns a sale at a slightly reduced margin. See `COLD_BORE_STARTUP_GUIDE.md` §3.5.

**Adoption rate:** Reaches the highest-intent possible buyer at the exact moment of peak relevance — new barrel = DOPE reset = need ScopeDOPE. Distribution through Krieger, Bartlein, and Brux reaches the core PRS and NRL22 demographic directly.

**Recurring revenue:** Barrel makers sell barrels continuously. Each barrel shipped with a referral code is an ongoing distribution event. As the barrel maker's volume grows, so does the referral revenue.

---

### 7. Freemium Model — Lite Tier

**Criteria:** A · R

**What it is:** A free version of ScopeDOPE that functions at a single distance (e.g., 100 yards only) with a single ammo entry and no label printing. Full unlock requires purchase. Not a time-limited trial — a permanently functional lite version that demonstrates the DOPE-Blend™ concept without revealing its full value.

**Adoption rate:** Removes the purchase barrier entirely. A shooter who tries the free version at their local range and sees the DOPE-Blend concept working in practice converts to paid at a high rate. The free version also appears in App Store searches and gets organic reviews, driving visibility.

**Recurring revenue:** Indirect — drives paid conversions. But the conversion rate from a well-designed freemium model with a clear upgrade trigger consistently outperforms cold app store purchases in the $20–40 price range.

**Risk:** Dilutes the "one-time purchase, no subscription, no accounts" brand positioning if not implemented carefully. The lite tier must be framed as a permanent free entry point, not a trial.

---

### 8. Match Stage Mode

**Criteria:** A · V

**What it is:** A dedicated UI mode for competition use — pre-populated target distances for an NRL22 stage, quick-access holds for each distance, one-tap hold recall during the 90-second stage timer. Optimized for glanceability under pressure.

**Adoption rate:** A feature that saves seconds during a competitive stage is the kind of thing competitors talk about at the range. "ScopeDOPE has a stage mode" travels by word of mouth at matches. It also differentiates ScopeDOPE from every other app — none of them have a competition-specific UI mode.

**Acquisition value:** A product with deep integration into the competition workflow is stickier and harder to displace than a general-purpose tool. An acquirer sees a product with demonstrated adoption in organized competition as a platform, not an app.

---

### 9. Shooter Performance History

**Criteria:** R · V

**What it is:** A session history and performance tracking feature — match results by date, hold accuracy over time, improvement trends across different conditions. Users can see how their DOPE has evolved across a barrel's life. Optional cloud backup of session history (this is where a subscription tier fits naturally without violating the "no accounts required" positioning for the core app).

**Recurring revenue:** Cloud backup and history sync is the natural premium feature — a $2–4/month or $20/year optional subscription that does not gate any ballistic functionality. The core app remains offline, no-account, one-time purchase. The subscription is purely a convenience layer for users who want their history accessible across devices and backed up remotely.

**Acquisition value:** A subscription revenue line — even a small one — changes acquisition multiples significantly. Recurring revenue is valued at a higher multiple than one-time purchase revenue. A 10,000-user base with 20% on a $2/month subscription is $2,400 MRR, valued at a SaaS multiple that far exceeds the equivalent one-time purchase revenue.

---

### 10. Coaching and Session Sharing

**Criteria:** A · V

**What it is:** The ability to share a read-only view of a .dope session with a coach or teammate. A coach can see a shooter's DOPE table, session history, and confirmed impacts without having access to edit anything. Implemented as a shareable link — no account required on the coach's end.

**Adoption rate:** Coaching relationships are referral engines. A coach who uses ScopeDOPE to work with 10 students introduces ScopeDOPE to 10 new potential users per coaching cycle. A coach who recommends it to all their students is a distribution channel.

**Acquisition value:** A coaching use case extends the product beyond the individual shooter into team and instructor contexts. This is relevant for military, law enforcement, and competitive program use — contexts that an acquirer like Nielsen-Kellerman or Garmin would value for enterprise/institutional sales that Cold Bore Ballistics cannot yet pursue at pre-revenue stage.

---

## Tier 3 — Satisfies One Criterion

---

### 11. Ammo Lot Testing Kit (Printed Pad)

**Criteria:** R

**What it is:** A structured data collection notepad — pre-printed with fields matching the ScopeDOPE ammo entry schema — sold as a physical product for $5–10. Shooters fill it out during lot testing, then enter it into ScopeDOPE.

**Recurring revenue:** Pad runs out. Shooter buys another. Low margin per unit but zero inventory risk if printed on demand via a service like Printful or a local print shop.

---

### 12. ScopeDOPE Match Sponsorship

**Criteria:** A

**What it is:** Sponsor an NRL22 or PRS match — provide prizes, put the ScopeDOPE name on the match banner, offer a discount code to all participants. Even at a small local or regional level this generates direct exposure to the exact demographic.

**Adoption rate:** Match sponsorship puts the brand in front of 50–200 serious competitors in a single weekend. Discount codes handed out at sponsored matches have measurably high conversion rates because the context (active competitive shooting) is perfect.

---

### 13. Wind Call Assistant

**Criteria:** A

**What it is:** Given a shooter-estimated wind speed and angle, the app shows the expected deflection in MRAD and offers a hold or dial recommendation. No sensor required — a UI layer on top of the existing windage math.

**Adoption rate:** Addresses a real on-the-line workflow that every competitor experiences. A feature that reduces cognitive load during a stage is used constantly and talked about consistently.

---

### 14. QR Code on Printed Label

**Criteria:** A

**What it is:** The scope correction sticker includes a small QR code linking to the active ScopeDOPE session on the shooter's phone. A spotter or teammate scans the sticker and sees the full DOPE table.

**Adoption rate:** Every ScopeDOPE label in the wild becomes a passive advertisement. A curious shooter at a match scans a sticker on a competitor's rifle, sees the session, and downloads the app. Zero-cost distribution.

---

### 15. SK Lot Data Partnership

**Criteria:** V

**What it is:** A partnership with SK Ammunition to develop lot-specific BC and velocity data for their rimfire match lines — modeled on the ELEY Lot Analyser and integrated directly into ScopeDOPE. Requires SK to invest in the infrastructure; Cold Bore Ballistics provides the integration and the user base. See SCOPEDOPE_AMMO_DATA_PARTNERSHIP.md.

**Acquisition value:** A second manufacturer data partnership after ELEY deepens the data moat considerably. An acquirer who wants lot-specific data from both ELEY and SK must acquire Cold Bore Ballistics to get it. Two partnerships are exponentially more defensible than one.

---

## Summary — Prioritized by Impact

| # | Item | A | R | V | Tier |
|---|---|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
| 1 | Aggregated Anonymized DOPE Database | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 1 |
| 2 | ELEY Lot Data Integration | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 1 |
| 3 | ScopeDOPE-Branded Label Consumables | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 1 |
| 4 | .dope Format as Open Standard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 1 |
| 5 | NRL22 Club Affiliation Program | ✓ | ✓ | | 2 |
| 6 | Barrel Maker Bundle — Revenue Share | ✓ | ✓ | | 2 |
| 7 | Freemium Lite Tier | ✓ | ✓ | | 2 |
| 8 | Match Stage Mode | ✓ | | ✓ | 2 |
| 9 | Shooter Performance History + Cloud Sync | | ✓ | ✓ | 2 |
| 10 | Coaching and Session Sharing | ✓ | | ✓ | 2 |
| 11 | Ammo Lot Testing Kit (printed pad) | | ✓ | | 3 |
| 12 | ScopeDOPE Match Sponsorship | ✓ | | | 3 |
| 13 | Wind Call Assistant | ✓ | | | 3 |
| 14 | QR Code on Printed Label | ✓ | | | 3 |
| 15 | SK Lot Data Partnership | | | ✓ | 3 |

---

## Document Control

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| **Document owner** | `jschwefel@coldboreballisticsllc.com` |
| **Classification** | Confidential (03_-_Confidential/) |
| **Location** | `OneDrive/ScopeDOPE/03_-_Confidential/Product_Strategy/SCOPEDOPE_STRATEGIC_OPPORTUNITIES.md` |
| **Cross-references** | `SCOPEDOPE_AMMO_DATA_PARTNERSHIP.md`; `CBB_PROJECT_BRIEFS_TOC.md` |
| **Created** | 2026-06-01 |
| **Last updated** | 2026-06-09 |
| **Next full review due** | 2027-06-01 |

---

## Revision Control Block

| Rev | Date | Changed By | Reviewed By | Approved By | Summary |
|-----|------|------------|-------------|-------------|---------|
| 0.9 | 2026-06-01 | jschwefel | — | — | Initial release |
| DRAFT | 2026-06-09 | Claude (Opus 4.8) | — | — | Fixed "DOPE-blend"→"DOPE-Blend™" per BRAND_LEGAL_LANGUAGE_GUIDE; applied ™ to first use of ScopeDOPE/Cold Bore Ballistics. |
