Building In Public: A Big Leap Forward On Positioning

This post is part of the "Building In Public" Series. No flashy editing, no perfect sound bites—just raw, honest conversations about what it really takes to scale a mission-driven business.

Over the past few weeks, we've been intentional about refining our messaging and truly stepping into our identity as a product. Over the last two years, we've grown into our vision, and in the last six months, the data has solidified what we've known all along—Joe is consistently growing coffee shops in ways that traditional point-of-sale (POS) systems simply aren't.

Shifting the Industry Paradigm

One of the biggest challenges we've faced is the paradigm shift we're introducing. Coffee shop owners have historically viewed POS systems as an afterthought—just a necessary tool to accept card payments.

But when you look at Starbucks, you see a completely different approach:

• More than half of all Starbucks orders are placed through their app
• More people use the Starbucks app for payments than Apple Pay
• Almost all revenue growth outside of opening new locations is driven by technology

Most independent coffee shops don't have the scale or infrastructure to build technology like Starbucks. That's where Joe.Coffee comes in.

Unlocking a Network of Convenience

The reality is that the average American drinks three cups of coffee a day, typically during three key time slots: morning commute, late morning, and early afternoon. Independent coffee shops can only serve about 30% of this demand because they lack the infrastructure to offer convenient, reliable ordering experiences.

By uniting independent coffee shops on a single platform, we can collectively create a footprint that surpasses Starbucks in convenience and customer experience. No single coffee shop can do this alone—but together, we can build a network that makes ordering from an independent shop just as seamless as a major chain.

The Road Ahead: Scaling and Growth

With this refined focus, we're ramping up our sales efforts, particularly in Seattle and other core markets. Our goal? To get at least 20% of independent coffee shops in each market on Joe. If we achieve that nationwide, independent coffee shops will collectively have a more convenient footprint than Starbucks.

Beyond that, we're expanding our impact by leveraging collective buying power to lower costs for coffee shops. We've already achieved this with payment processing—70% of our profit comes from transactions where customers use Joe at different locations, allowing us to keep costs low for shop owners.

A Culture of Resilience and Gratitude

None of this would be possible without our team. A few years ago, we made a bold decision to transition from a mobile-ordering-only platform to a full coffee shop operating system. It wasn't easy—major investors advised against it. But our team believed in the vision, and today, we're seeing the payoff in real, measurable growth.

We're at an exciting moment. The data is aligning with our vision, coffee shops are seeing growth, and we're gaining momentum.

Thank you to our team, our partners, and our supporters for being part of this journey. We're just getting started, and the best is yet to come. Stay tuned! 🚀