Cascade Competitive Analysis

Analysis date: February 2026 Analyst: ZontallyCPO Tier: 1 — Direct Competitor

Company Profile

Company: Cascade Strategy (cascade.app)
Founded: 2014
HQ: Sydney, Australia (with global presence)
CEO: Tom Wright (founder)
Funding: ~$36M total (Series A led by Insight Partners)
Revenue stage: Growth-stage. Claims "thousands of global organizations" and "10,000+ teams." Customer testimonials reference Chief People Officer, Corporate Development Director, Executive Director roles
Headcount (est): 100-200
Target market: Mid-market to enterprise. Broad positioning across company sizes. Partner network suggests consulting-led distribution
Positioning: "#1 Strategy-Led Performance Platform" — "The modern C-Suite platform that turns Strategy into an Operating Model"
Recent direction: Major AI investment with "Tapestry AI" — a branded intelligence engine. Also positioning as "Replace Viva Goals" (capitalising on Microsoft discontinuing Viva Goals)

Product Capability Assessment

Dimension	Score (1-5)	Evidence
D1: Strategy-to-Execution Depth	4	Strong. Explicitly connects strategy → objectives → projects → KPIs → team activities. "Strategy Silos" feature combines OKRs, PPM, and balanced scorecard into one platform. Planner moves strategy from static sheets into a living system. "Connected work to strategy: demonstrate how team projects link up to company goals." Supports nesting, contributions across plans, and relational work. Strategy planning page explicitly promises "Find your impact by connecting your work back to the company's broader vision"
D2: Execution Visibility	4	"Deep Metrics: real-time calculation of alignment and health scores for every aspect of your business." Reports & Decisions feature powers leadership meetings with real-time reports. Automated strategy cadences. One-click reporting praised by customers. "Instant real-time dashboards for every aspect of business." Customer testimonial: "The one-click reporting is the cherry-on-top"
D3: Employee Experience	3	Strategy planning page mentions "For team members: Find your impact by connecting your work back to the company's broader vision." OKR page offers "For team members: Gain transparency into what the core focuses of all teams are." But the product is clearly leadership/strategy-owner-centric. IC experience appears to be update-driven (prompted updates at scheduled intervals) rather than impact-driven
D4: AI & Intelligence	4	Significant investment. "Tapestry AI" is a branded intelligence engine with 7 distinct capabilities: AI Assisted Planning (turn static files into structured plans), AI Reports & Meetings (real-time answers for decision meetings), AI Business Context (automate updates from meetings, emails, files), AI Risks & Dependencies (spot invisible risks before they escalate), AI Executive Briefings (curated signals pushed to inbox), AI Strategy Intelligence (reveal if execution matches strategic intent). This is Level 2-3 capability — contextual with some recommendation features. More advanced AI positioning than WorkBoard
D5: Time-to-Value	3	Free plan available (2 users). "Create an account or start a trial today - No credit card required." This is significantly more accessible than WorkBoard. Planner promises to "turn static files into a living, structured plan in seconds" via AI. However, Essentials and Enterprise require "Contact Us" — not fully self-serve. Partner/consulting network suggests enterprise implementation can be complex
D6: Platform vs Feature	3	Enterprise tier offers "Fully Custom Strategy Model" and "Fully Custom Frameworks" — suggesting configurability. Standard tier is limited to "Standard Frameworks & OKRs." Integrations with Salesforce, Jira, Microsoft Teams. Custom integrations on Enterprise. More configurable than WorkBoard but still a structured product — you configure within Cascade's model, not a declarative platform
D7: ICP Fit	3	Broader market than WorkBoard. Customer testimonials reference Chief People Officer, Corporate Development Director, Executive Director — closer to our ICP than WorkBoard's Fortune 500 CEOs. Partner network suggests mid-market reach via consulting firms. But still primarily strategy-owner-centric. "Replace Viva Goals" positioning targets Microsoft enterprise customers. Not specifically targeting the Chief of Staff / Ops Director persona we focus on

Overall Score: 24/35

Key Strengths

1. Framework Flexibility

This is Cascade's strongest differentiation. "Strategy Silos" explicitly supports OKRs, PPM (project portfolio management), balanced scorecard, and custom frameworks — all in one platform. Enterprise tier offers "Fully Custom Strategy Model." Unlike WorkBoard's OKR-or-nothing approach, Cascade adapts to how the organisation already works. This directly competes with our own framework flexibility positioning.

2. Tapestry AI — Comprehensive and Well-Branded

Seven distinct AI capabilities, all branded under "Tapestry AI." Key standouts:

AI Assisted Planning — "turn static files into a living, structured plan in seconds." This directly solves the PowerPoint→platform migration problem. If a prospect has their strategy in slides and Cascade can ingest and structure it automatically, that's a powerful time-to-value accelerator
AI Risks & Dependencies — "spot invisible risks and blockers before they escalate." This is Level 3 (recommendation) capability
AI Executive Briefings — "curated executive signals pushed directly to your inbox." Mirrors our Digital Chief of Staff weekly briefing concept
AI Strategy Intelligence — "reveal if your execution matches your strategic intent." This is the strategy-execution connection scored by AI

Cascade's AI is more comprehensive than WorkBoard's on paper. Whether the execution matches the marketing needs testing, but the ambition is real.

3. Freemium Entry Point

A free plan with 2 users and no credit card is a genuine PLG entry. This is a fundamentally different go-to-market than WorkBoard. A Chief of Staff can try Cascade today without a sales conversation. This is competitive pressure on our time-to-value positioning.

4. "Replace Viva Goals" Positioning

Microsoft discontinued Viva Goals. Cascade is explicitly targeting displaced Viva Goals customers. This is smart opportunistic positioning — there's a defined pool of organisations who just lost their OKR/goals tool and are actively looking for alternatives. They've likely built landing pages and migration tooling.

5. Content & Thought Leadership

The 2025 Strategy Report (459 business leaders surveyed) is strong original research. "One truth: Strategy isn't broken. Execution is." — they're framing the problem exactly as we do. Cascade Academy for training. Strategy Maturity Assessment as a lead-gen tool. Partner ecosystem for distribution.

6. Three-Layer Value Proposition

Their "Align, Act, Adapt" framing maps closely to our three promises (Execution Discipline, Strategic Alignment, Adaptive Execution). They understand the strategy execution problem deeply.

Key Weaknesses

1. Pricing Opacity at Scale

Free plan is powerful for entry, but Essentials and Enterprise are "Contact Us" — platform pricing with custom solutions. This creates friction at the exact moment a prospect is ready to buy. The gap between "free for 2 users" and "call us for pricing" is large. Mid-market buyers who don't want a sales process will hit a wall.

2. IC Experience is Update-Centric

Despite claiming "Find your impact by connecting your work back to the company's broader vision," the actual IC experience appears to be update prompts. "Drive consistent engagement: Prompt your teams at scheduled intervals to input updates that bring qualitative context to your results." This is still "employees serve the platform" rather than "the platform serves employees." The update prompt model creates OKR fatigue — exactly the problem WorkBoard's customers experience.

3. Chief People Officer as Featured Customer

Their homepage features a Chief People Officer testimonial. Similar to WorkBoard's CHRO drift, this signals either intentional HR positioning or organic drift toward HR buyers. The CPO buyer is adjacent but different from our execution leader buyer.

4. Partner-Dependent Distribution

A partner network for distribution means consulting firms are involved in implementation. This adds cost, time, and complexity. It also means Cascade may be optimised for consultant-led implementation rather than self-serve time-to-value. The "Services" offerings for OKR management and strategy planning confirm this — "Move beyond software" suggests the product alone isn't sufficient.

5. AI Ambition vs Evidence Gap

Tapestry AI makes impressive claims, but evidence is thin. "Turn static files into a living, structured plan in seconds" — has this been validated with real customer data? "Spot invisible risks and blockers before they escalate" — based on what data and what track record? The AI positioning may be more aspirational than delivered. Needs first-hand testing to score accurately.

6. Australian Origin, Global Ambition

Sydney HQ with global aspirations. Data residency offered on Enterprise tier, suggesting they're working through enterprise compliance requirements. For US and EU enterprise buyers, the Australian origin may create procurement concerns around data sovereignty.

Go-to-Market Assessment

Pricing

Free plan: 2 users, standard frameworks & OKRs, limited metrics/reports. No credit card required
Essentials: Platform pricing, contact required. Up to 25 users, up to 10 executive seats, unlimited viewers, 50 metrics, 15 reports, 10 automated cadences
Enterprise: Platform pricing, contact required. Up to 100 users, 20 executive seats, unlimited metrics/reports/cadences, Tapestry AI, custom strategy model, custom frameworks, custom integrations, SSO, data sovereignty
Notable: "Executive Seats" and "Viewers" as distinct tiers — suggests a tiered access model where leaders have full access and broader org has read-only. Smart for enterprise pricing but may limit IC engagement

Sales Motion

Hybrid: Free trial / PLG for entry, sales-led for Essentials and Enterprise
Partner-led: Partner network for consulting-led implementation and distribution
Content-led: Strategy Report, Academy, Downloads, Customer Stories for thought leadership
Opportunistic: "Replace Viva Goals" targeting specific displaced customer segment

ICP & Buyer Persona

Primary buyer: Strategy leader, COO, or CEO at mid-market to enterprise (broader than WorkBoard)
Expanding to: Chief People Officers (homepage testimonial)
Company size: Broader range than WorkBoard — free plan suggests they serve small teams too, Enterprise tier scales to large
Partner influence: Consulting firms shape their ICP through the partner channel

Content & Community

Strong thought leadership: Strategy Report (original research), blog, Academy
"Strategy isn't broken. Execution is." — framing the market problem well
Cascade Academy for training and certification
Partner ecosystem for distribution and services
Strategy Maturity Assessment as lead-gen

Zontally Implications

Where We Win

1. Employee Experience — Our "I Can See My Impact" Moat Cascade serves strategy owners. Employees serve Cascade by entering updates on schedule. Despite their claim of helping team members "find your impact," the actual mechanism is prompted updates, not impact visibility. Our Theme 3 — personal dashboards, strategy traceability chains, bottom-up visibility — is genuinely differentiated. Neither Cascade nor WorkBoard offer this.

2. Digital Employee Personas Cascade's Tapestry AI is powerful but impersonal. It's an "intelligence engine" — analytical and system-level. Our Digital Chief of Staff and Digital Leadership Coach are persona-based agents that act like people a manager already understands. "Your AI Chief of Staff briefed you this morning" is more relatable than "Tapestry AI generated a strategy intelligence report." The persona framing is a UX and trust differentiator.

3. Platform Architecture — Declarative Extensibility Cascade's Enterprise offers "Fully Custom Strategy Model" — but this is configuration within their structure. Our declarative model architecture (94 models, configurable forms/lists/workflows, plugin framework) is fundamentally more extensible. Customers can model entirely new execution paradigms. Cascade's customisation has boundaries. Ours is architecturally unbounded.

4. No "Viewer" Tax Cascade's pricing separates users, executive seats, and viewers. This creates a cost barrier to organisation-wide visibility. If we offer full access to all employees (our Principle #3 — every employee deserves to see their contribution), that's a pricing and philosophy differentiator. Impact visibility shouldn't be behind a paywall.

Where We Lose (Accept)

1. Market Maturity and Customer Base "10,000+ teams" and "thousands of global organizations." Real traction. Partner network for distribution. Academy for education. We're pre-revenue. This gap closes with time, not features.

2. AI Breadth — Tapestry AI is Comprehensive Seven distinct AI capabilities across planning, meetings, context, risks, briefings, and intelligence. Even if execution doesn't fully match marketing, the ambition and product surface area are larger than what we'll have in Q2. We accept this — our AI strategy is more focused (two Digital Employees) but will take longer to match Tapestry's breadth.

3. Integration Ecosystem Salesforce, Jira, Microsoft Teams, and custom integrations on Enterprise. We don't have this yet. Accept as Phase 2/3.

4. "Replace Viva Goals" Positioning They're capturing a specific migration wave we're not positioned for. Accept — those customers are likely larger enterprise and not our ICP.

Where We Lose (Close the Gap)

1. Perception of Accessibility — Reframe, Don't Match Cascade offers a free plan. We will not — and should not — offer one. Zontally runs a single-tenant, multi-instance architecture: every customer gets their own isolated environment. This is a deliberate architectural decision that delivers:

Data isolation — your strategy data is never co-mingled with another organisation's. For companies putting their competitive strategy, execution health, and employee sentiment into a platform, this matters enormously
Configuration freedom — each instance can be fully customised (custom models, workflows, business rules, branding) without affecting any other customer. Cascade's multi-tenant architecture constrains customisation to what's safe for all tenants
Performance guarantees — no noisy-neighbour problems. Your instance scales independently
Compliance and data sovereignty — each instance can be deployed to the customer's required region with full data residency control. Not an enterprise add-on — architecturally native
Upgrade control — customers can control upgrade timing rather than being forced onto new versions with all other tenants

The free tier question is not "how do we match Cascade?" — it's "how do we make the first experience compelling enough that the value of a dedicated instance is obvious?" Our answer is Theme 1: a demo experience so powerful that the prospect sees the value immediately and understands why a dedicated environment is worth it.

Positioning against Cascade's free tier:

"Cascade gives you a free account on a shared platform. Zontally gives you your own dedicated environment — your strategy data is isolated, your configuration is unconstrained, and your execution model is yours. We don't believe your competitive strategy should live in a multi-tenant database alongside your competitors' strategies. That's not a pricing decision. That's a trust decision."

Priority: Ensure demo/trial experience is exceptional (Theme 1). Build the "why single-tenant matters" messaging with CMO. High priority — Q1/Q2.

2. AI-Assisted Planning — Static File Ingestion "Turn static files into a living, structured plan in seconds." If a prospect has their strategy in PowerPoint (and they do — that's our Tier 3 competitor), Cascade can potentially ingest and structure it automatically. This is a brilliant time-to-value play. We should explore whether our Digital Chief of Staff could offer similar capability — "Upload your strategy deck and I'll structure it in Zontally."

Priority: Evaluate AI-assisted strategy import for onboarding. Medium priority — Q2.

3. Strategy Maturity Assessment as Lead-Gen Cascade offers a "Strategy Maturity Assessment" — 10 minutes, self-serve, captures intent. This is a smart top-of-funnel tool. We should consider our own version aligned to our value proposition.

Priority: Brief CMO on building a self-serve assessment. Low priority — Q3.

Positioning Guidance

When Cascade comes up in a conversation:

"Cascade is a well-built strategy execution platform with a strong AI engine. Four things to consider: first, Cascade runs multi-tenant — your strategy data lives in a shared database alongside every other Cascade customer. Zontally gives you your own dedicated instance with full data isolation. When you're putting your competitive strategy, execution health, and employee sentiment into a system, that's not a minor detail. Second, look at who it's really built for — strategy owners and executives. If you want a platform where every employee can see their impact, not just update their OKRs when prompted, that's a different design philosophy. Third, check the pricing tiers — 'Viewers' get limited access, so organisation-wide visibility comes at a premium. We believe every employee deserves full access. Fourth, Cascade offers configuration within their structure. Zontally is a declarative platform — custom data models, custom workflows, custom business rules. Your execution model is unique. Your platform should be too."

Product Implications

Implication	Action	Priority
Single-tenant is a strength, not a gap	Build "why single-tenant matters" messaging with CMO — data isolation, unlimited customisation, compliance-native	High — Q1/Q2
Demo experience must be exceptional	Theme 1 delivers the "aha" without requiring a free tier — the demo IS the first value	High — Q1/Q2
AI file ingestion is a time-to-value play	Evaluate AI-assisted strategy import for onboarding	Medium — Q2
Tapestry AI is broader than our current AI scope	Stay focused on persona-based Digital Employees — depth beats breadth	Strategic — ongoing
"Viewer" pricing creates opportunity	Full employee access as a differentiator — no "viewer tax" on visibility	Medium — Q2
Framework flexibility overlaps with us	Emphasise architectural extensibility (declarative platform) not just configuration (dropdown options)	Strategic — ongoing
Strategy Maturity Assessment is smart lead-gen	Brief CMO on building self-serve assessment	Low — Q3
"Replace Viva Goals" — they're capturing migrations	Not our fight at this stage — accept	Accept

Cascade vs WorkBoard — Comparative Notes

Dimension	Cascade	WorkBoard	Implication for Zontally
ICP	Mid-market to enterprise	Fortune 500 only	Cascade is closer to our ICP — more direct competition
Framework flexibility	Multiple frameworks + custom	OKR only	Cascade matches our flexibility positioning — we need architectural depth to differentiate
AI	Tapestry AI (7 capabilities)	Chief of Staff + Coach Agents	Different approaches — Cascade is breadth, WorkBoard is personas. We should be persona + depth
Time-to-Value	Free tier, AI file ingestion	Enterprise-only, no self-serve	Our demo experience must be the "aha" moment — single-tenant value justifies the step
Pricing	Tiered (free, essentials, enterprise)	Enterprise-only	Cascade segments access (Viewers). We offer full access — and dedicated instances. Different value equation
Architecture	Multi-tenant shared platform	Multi-tenant shared platform	Our single-tenant model is unique differentiation — data isolation, unlimited customisation, compliance-native
HR drift	CPO on homepage	CHRO at Gartner summit	Both showing HR signals — our "execution leader" positioning is clear differentiation

Key insight: Cascade is the more dangerous competitor for our ICP. WorkBoard is going after Fortune 500 with enterprise sales. Cascade is going after the mid-market with a free tier, framework flexibility, and strong AI. They're closer to our target market and closer to our product philosophy.

Analysis by ZontallyCPO. February 2026. Next review: May 2026 (quarterly Tier 1 cadence). Sources: cascade.app homepage, pricing page, Tapestry AI page, strategy execution page, OKR management page, strategy planning page, product navigation, resources section.