About us

Two founders, one methodology,
marketing diagnostics for SMBs.

STEP/SEEDS® is a structured diagnostic methodology for small and mid-size businesses. It analyses the entire marketing ecosystem of a business along 16 steps and up to 112 prioritised actions, and hands the full report over to the customer as their property. No dependency, no retainer.

2026

Trademark registered with DPMA

months of methodology development

structured diagnostic steps

112

prioritised actions (SEEDS)

Why STEP/SEEDS® exists

There is a gap between two ends of the marketing market. On one side: agencies and consultancies, often with retainer models. On the other side: SEO tools and analytics platforms on a subscription basis that deliver a lot of data but little strategic interpretation.

In between sits the typical mid-size business: tradesperson, practice, online shop, service provider, without the time, budget or in-house expertise to connect the two in any meaningful way.

Our thesis: what is missing is a structured diagnosis, comparable to a medical work-up. Not another service provider that has to be retained long term, but a reproducible finding that sets priorities and becomes the property of the business.

STEP/SEEDS® is our attempt to deliver exactly that diagnosis in a methodically transparent way, calibrated to the reality of German SMBs.

The team

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Stanislav Tonkich

Founder & CEO, accountable for content and reports

Systems engineer (Ingenieur-Systemtechniker), degree from the Kyiv International University of Civil Aviation (1995), recognised in Germany as Dipl.-Ing. (FH) by the Nuremberg Institute of Technology Georg Simon Ohm (2022). Working in IT since 1995, Founder & CEO of DigMa Systems UG (haftungsbeschränkt), with over ten years of entrepreneurial practice (food retail, travel, digital platforms). The core observation behind STEP/SEEDS® comes from running his own businesses: customers stay structurally overwhelmed as long as they do not hold their own diagnostic finding.

Roughly six months of development work on the methodology: more than 250 prompt templates, more than 115,000 lines of analysis instructions, nine verification protocols.

Based in Pocking (Bavaria). Content accountable under § 18 (2) MStV (German Media State Treaty).

Daniil Tonkich

Co-Founder · AI & Data Analytics

Bachelor's programme in computer science at the University of Passau, with a focus on artificial intelligence, machine learning and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). Built a multilingual learning assistant that anchors answers in existing knowledge sources. Responsible for LLM orchestration, the data processing pipeline, data analytics and the infrastructure of the diagnostic engine.

Builds the systems side, where 16 analysis steps, multiple language models and a quality-verification pipeline turn into a reproducible report instead of a freehand interpretation.

Co-founder of the products STEP/SEEDS®, Bot-Agent, NextBeruf and Meine KI-Akademie, responsible for their technical architecture.

Trademark and legal status

STEP/SEEDS® is a word mark registered with the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) under Reg. No. 30 2025 261 108 (filed 17 Dec 2025, registered 07 May 2026, Nice classes 35/41/42). All rights to the methodology, the trademark and the 112 structured actions (SEEDS) are reserved.

As a trademark portfolio, STEP/SEEDS® follows an umbrella brand model: the core (STEP/SEEDS®) carries the registration, while function-specific sub-brands such as STEP/SEEDS® Diagnostics, STEP/SEEDS® Tracking, STEP/SEEDS® Framework and STEP/SEEDS® Automation build on top of it.

Operator and legal details are given in the legal notice, the terms and the privacy policy: Legal notice (Impressum, German), Terms (German) and Privacy policy (German). Legally binding versions are in German; English text on this page is provided for convenience.

What we actually deliver

The STEP/SEEDS® diagnosis follows a fixed sequence: 16 structured analysis steps, grouped in three phases: Analysis, Strategy, Practice. Seven marketing areas are examined systematically: SEO, AEO, GEO, social media, paid ads, email and CRM.

The output is a diagnostic report with up to 112 prioritised actions (SEEDS), seven area reports, a prioritised implementation matrix, a six-day quick-start plan and a six-month roadmap. The customer receives the full report as their property. They can execute it themselves, hand it to a service provider, or split it across several contractors.

Three tiers are planned (Founder-Edition prices, provisional, plus statutory VAT where applicable; sales open after the pilot phase): S (Core) from €199 for a compact diagnosis, M (Pro) from €349 with a strategy part and roadmap, L (Full) from €499 covering all 16 steps including Innovation Radar and risk analysis. An optional Tracking subscription (€39/month) supports implementation. Details: Pricing and tiers.

The methodology is explicitly a consulting and analysis service under §§ 611 ff. of the German Civil Code (Dienstvertrag). It is not a work-for-hire contract under §§ 631 ff. BGB (Werkvertrag), it does not guarantee revenue growth or search rankings, and it does not replace legal, tax or regulatory advice. What it does: reduce the risk of poorly prioritised marketing decisions.

How we use AI

The diagnosis is AI-supported, not AI-driven. Several language models (among others Anthropic Claude, GPT, Perplexity, Gemini) are orchestrated along a fixed prompt sequence; the outputs go through a nine-stage quality verification and an automated rule and quality check before release.

AI serves as an analytical tool, never as a decision-making authority. For the full disclosure (which systems, which limits, which complaint mechanisms) see our AI transparency statement under Art. 50 of the EU AI Act.

Roadmap

1
Phase 1 · pilot phase with founder-reviewed diagnoses (before the sales launch; the start follows the pilot phase and is announced via the waitlist)
The founder reviews every pilot diagnosis before delivery. Goal: a stable case base from which the methodology is refined. Sales are not open yet.
2
Phase 2 · semi-automated pipeline + Tracking dashboard (2027)
Automation of data collection and report generation. Build-out of SEED tracking with monthly prioritisation.
3
Phase 3 · full SaaS platform (2028+)
Self-service access to the diagnosis, continuous re-scans, integration into common marketing stacks. DACH scaling and staged EU expansion (EUIPO conversion prepared).

Want to know more?

For questions about the methodology, pricing or a specific diagnosis, reach us by email at info@step-seeds.de. A dedicated page for strategic partners, angel investors and funding institutions is available.

View pricing →For investors Legal notice

This service is a consulting and analysis service under §§ 611 ff. of the German Civil Code. It is expressly not a work-for-hire contract under §§ 631 ff. BGB. Illustrative figures for improvement potential are based on publicly available industry benchmarks; actual outcomes depend on the individual case. Legally binding versions of all legal documents are in German.