What Standards does

Standards is a Brooklyn-based SaaS platform that enables organizations to design, publish, and manage online brand guidelines as an alternative to static PDF deliverables. Founded in 2020 by Hamish Smyth and Jesse Reed—both former Pentagram designers and the creators of the Standards Manual publishing imprint—the platform serves design-led organizations, in-house brand teams, and design agencies that need to distribute evolving brand systems to internal teams and external partners. The entity is incorporated as Standards Site Inc. in New York and operates from 212 Franklin Street, Brooklyn.

The platform delivers WYSIWYG design controls, real-time multiplayer editing, purpose-built elements (Sequence, Toggle, Dropdown, Video Player, Button), responsive breakpoints, and Comment mode for asynchronous feedback. Enterprise capabilities include SAML SSO, multi-language localization (up to 20 languages per project), custom script injection for analytics and tracking pixels, and the Standards Analytics API (JavaScript). An AI module—Standards AI, introduced in Release 14.0 (April 2026)—automates drafting of guideline sections from brand assets and provides three integration methods for connecting brand guidelines to external AI systems. Customers span McLaren F1, Cash App, Mailchimp, the Obama Foundation, MLB, Herman Miller, RISD, and Headspace; agency customers include Pentagram, Koto, Mother Design, Manual, Gretel, Ogilvy, and Publicis.

Standards operates a two-tier SaaS model: a Pro plan sold as an annual self-serve subscription for individuals and agencies, and an Enterprise plan structured around multi-year contracts with tailored services for in-house teams. Distribution is hybrid—product-led growth via a free trial and website signup drives adoption while direct sales secures larger enterprise deployments. The company is privately held with no disclosed institutional funding; sub-processor relationships with Stripe, Google Cloud, Cloudflare, Postmark, Mailchimp, Sentry, and Plain cover payments, infrastructure, security, email, monitoring, and support.

Name

Standards

Legal name

Standards Site Inc.

Website

https://standards.site

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Standards is a Brooklyn-based SaaS platform enabling brands and agencies to design, publish, and manage interactive online brand guidelines, replacing static PDFs with collaborative, multimedia documentation. Customers include McLaren F1, Cash App, Mailchimp, MLB, and agencies like Pentagram and Manual.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Brand Guidelines Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Brand Guidelines, Governance & Brand Management (BPAFAEAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Brand Guidelines, Governance & Asset Systems (MPAAAEAF)

Keywords

• Brand guidelines platform
• Online brand documentation
• Design collaboration software
• Brand asset management
• Digital brand standards

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription (Pro Plan): Subscription-based revenue from Pro plan offering unlimited guidelines, 2 included seats, 2 GB storage per site. Additional seats available for purchase. Targets individuals and agencies.
2. SaaS Subscription (Enterprise Plan): Subscription-based revenue from Enterprise plan with enhanced security, SSO integration, multi-language support, tailored contracts and services. Targets in-house brand teams at large organizations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Standards provides a cloud-based SaaS platform for designing, building, publishing, and managing online brand guidelines. The platform replaces static PDF brand manuals with dynamic, web-based brand documentation featuring real-time multiplayer collaboration, multimedia support, downloadable assets, and responsive layouts. It serves design agencies creating brand identities and in-house brand teams managing brand consistency across distributed organizations.

Product overview

Standards is a cloud-based brand guidelines platform that enables design-led organizations to build, publish, and manage online brand documentation. The core Standards Platform supports collaborative multiplayer editing, customizable layouts with design controls, and web-based publishing. The platform is offered in Pro and Enterprise tiers, with the Enterprise plan unlocking SAML SSO, multi-language localization, custom scripts injection, and the Standards Analytics API. Additional offerings include Standards AI for automated content authoring, Standards Services for professional implementation support, and Standards Automations for generating starting points from brand assets. The platform provides specialized elements (Sequence, Dropdown, Toggle, Video Player, Button) and interaction capabilities (Comments, responsive breakpoints) to create dynamic, interactive brand guidelines.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Standards Manual: A publishing imprint that reissues vintage design standards manuals and brand guidelines books.

Products and services

• Standards Platform A cloud-based SaaS platform for designing, building, publishing, and managing online brand guidelines. Provides collaborative multiplayer editing, customizable layouts with WYSIWYG design controls, responsive breakpoint design, multimedia support (video, downloadable assets, interactive elements), and web-based publishing. Used by design agencies and in-house brand teams at organizations such as McLaren, Cash App, Mailchimp, and MLB.
• Standards AI AI-powered add-on module integrated into the Standards platform that assists with authoring brand guidelines, leveraging brand assets to quickly draft and automate commonly used sections. Includes three methods to connect brand guidelines to AI systems for providing additional context.
• Standards Services Professional services offered alongside the Standards platform for agencies and brand teams implementing Standards. Supports tailored implementations and onboarding for enterprise customers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Guidelines creation time reduced from 1-2 days to 1-2 hours

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature13 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• OrdercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Brooklyn-based design studio that partnered with Standards Manual founders to create Standards platform. Order contributed design expertise to the platform development alongside the Seattle-based Shore.
• ShorecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Seattle-based design studio that partnered with Standards Manual founders to create Standards platform. Shore contributed to the platform development alongside Brooklyn-based Order.
• ManualcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesign and branding studio based in San Francisco and Amsterdam, founded in 2009. Manual has created numerous brand guidelines using Standards, including Obama Foundation, Zipline, and other high-profile projects. The studio collaborates deeply with Standards on showcasing platform capabilities.
• GretelmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNY-based design studio that partnered with RISD for their 2022 comprehensive identity system. Gretel built the identity guidelines in Standards before transferring ownership to the RISD team, demonstrating the platform's suitability for prestigious institutional brands.
• MamboMambomajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerQuebec City-based multidisciplinary creative studio that has published more than a dozen brand guidelines on Standards. The studio serves as an early adopter and prolific user of the platform, providing feedback and use cases across diverse brand projects.
• ZiplinemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInnovative logistics company (the largest instant logistics and delivery company in the world) that partnered with Manual to refresh their identity and built comprehensive guidelines on Standards. The Zipline Brand Lab created guidelines accessible to thousands of employees and partners globally in real-time.
• StripeminorOthersPayment processor handling all payment transactions. Standards accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, JCB, China UnionPay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link, and ACH payments through Stripe.
• Google CloudminorOthersCloud infrastructure provider for hosting and platform operations, listed as a sub-processor in Standards' privacy documentation.
• CloudflareminorOthersNetworking and security provider used for platform infrastructure, listed as a sub-processor in Standards' privacy documentation.
• PostmarkminorOthersTransactional email service provider, listed as a sub-processor in Standards' privacy documentation.
• MailchimpminorOthersMarketing email service provider used for promotional communications, listed as a sub-processor in Standards' privacy documentation.
• SentryminorOthersError tracking and monitoring service for platform reliability, listed as a sub-processor in Standards' privacy documentation.
• PlainminorOthersCustomer support platform provider, listed as a sub-processor in Standards' privacy documentation.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Canva: Mass-market design platform whose Brand Kit and Brand Templates features encroach on the online brand guidelines use case. Comparable as an alternative for distributed teams needing lightweight brand consistency, but not specialized for premium guideline publishing.
• Figma: Dominant collaborative design platform expanding into publishing and sites. Comparable as a tool many brand teams already use for system documentation; potential substitute if Figma deepens its publishing/guideline primitives.

Direct peers

• Lingo: Brand guidelines and digital asset management platform aimed at agencies and in-house brand teams. Directly comparable purpose-built tool for online brand book publishing with similar target buyer segments.
• Frontify: Swiss-based brand management SaaS offering online brand guidelines, digital asset management, and brand portals to enterprise customers. The closest direct competitor to Standards in the online brand guidelines category, with a deeper enterprise feature set and established enterprise footprint.
• Brandfolder (Smartsheet): Brand asset management and brand guidelines platform (acquired by Smartsheet). Directly comparable as a SaaS tool used by brand teams to centralize assets and publish online guidelines to internal and external stakeholders.
• Zeroheight: Design system documentation platform used by product and brand teams to publish living style guides and brand guidelines online. Closely overlaps with Standards' core use case of publishing interactive, web-based design and brand documentation.
• Widen: Digital asset management (DAM) vendor with brand portal capabilities serving mid-market and enterprise brand teams. Comparable as it bundles asset distribution and brand guideline publishing into a managed portal offering.
• Bynder: Enterprise digital asset management platform with built-in brand portal and brand guidelines functionality. Comparable because it serves the same enterprise brand-management buyer with overlapping guideline/portal capabilities, though positioned as a broader DAM suite.

Emerging players

• Notion: Workspace and wiki tool frequently used by brand teams as a lightweight internal brand book or guidelines repository. Comparable as a low-friction substitute, particularly for documentation-heavy brand wikis, though weaker on the visual/published-deliverable side.
• Webflow: Visual web builder that design teams use to publish custom brand guideline microsites. Comparable as an alternative path for the same end-customer (in-house brand team) to publish guidelines, though Webflow is a general-purpose CMS rather than a brand-book specialist.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/standards_site
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/standards-site
• Instagraminstagram.com/standards.site

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Standards