Alloy vs 9Round

Brand B’s unit economics and expansion trajectory create a larger addressable market that grows every quarter. A 66% unit growth rate and a known AUV of $395k mean the total revenue flowing through the system is already around $50 million and climbing fast. Those operators are doing real volume and will pay for scheduling, marketing automation, and back-office tools that protect margins. Brand A’s 142 units are shrinking 29% year-over-year, and without an AUV figure, we have no signal that its franchisees generate enough revenue to afford more than bare-minimum software. The timing dimension belongs entirely to Alloy: you want to attach your sales effort to a base that is pulling you upward, not one you have to outrun on churn.

Terrain matters just as much as TAM. Brand A’s approved-supplier model looks like a shortcut—get listed, and franchisees are forced to buy through that channel—but that advantage crumbles when the total number of buyers is in freefall. Brand B has no such procurement lock-in, which means you sell franchisee by franchisee, but that also means you compete on product, not on a committee decision that can take 18 months to crack. The higher investment range for Alloy ($272k–$538k) also signals a better-capitalized franchisee who treats software as an operating expense, not a grudging cost. That directly improves deal size and conversion speed.

The meaningful tradeoff is secure but shrinking recurring revenue from 9Round versus a wide-open, high-velocity land grab with Alloy. If your product can demonstrate ROI against a $395k AUV, the absence of a procurement gate is a feature, not a bug: you skip the gatekeeper and sell to the owner-operator who feels the pain. The only scenario where Brand A wins is if your software is purely a compliance or back-office utility that needs the forced-distribution crutch. For a POS, scheduling, and marketing automation vendor, the dollars follow the growth.

Verdict: Alloy is the stronger software-sales opportunity right now because its expanding, high-AUV base offers a bigger, faster, and more profitable TAM than 9Round’s captive but contracting footprint.