Ripcord is one operator, embedded, running the same math you’d want run on your own numbers

Ripcord is MediaCutlet’s answer to a specific problem: a business that owns plenty of software and still can’t get a straight number on where its time and money leak. Ripcord sends one embedded operator into the business, not a team that hands off a binder, to map the systems, connect what’s disconnected and automate the busywork underneath. The person who diagnoses it is the person who builds it, and that stays true from the first call through the final handoff.

Most Ripcord searches land here after seeing the name somewhere and wanting to know what it actually is before booking a call. The short version: it is not a subscription and not a big consulting engagement with a team you’ll never see again. Traditional management consulting is built around a team that interviews your people and hands you a roadmap. Ripcord is built around one operator who does the diagnosis and the build, then hands the finished thing to your team. There is no larger team waiting in the wings once the relationship starts.

MediaCutlet ties Ripcord to the same track record as the rest of its work. No account managers, no junior handoffs, no subcontracted outcomes, on this engagement or any other. We measure the work in dollars rather than impressions on the results page: Ripcord engagements sit inside a track record of more than $500 million in client revenue supported across MediaCutlet’s web and AI work. The methodology is not new; it is the same discipline applied to a fixed, productized offer.

MediaCutlet works out of Red Bank, New Jersey, and Strato Doumanis leads Ripcord personally, responding to inquiries himself rather than routing them through a sales team. Every engagement starts with the Audit: a diagnostic that maps the stack, ranks the opportunities and models a return in dollars before anyone commits to a build, so the pitch and the proof arrive in the same document.

What is Ripcord, exactly?

An embedded AI and operations engagement. One operator maps how a business actually runs, connects the systems that should already talk to each other, automates the repetitive work sitting between them, then documents everything and hands it to the client’s own team. Nothing about the model requires staying on MediaCutlet’s infrastructure afterward, which is a deliberate constraint rather than an accident, since the goal is a client who no longer needs the engagement.

How does a Ripcord engagement actually work?

Four stages: map every system and manual handoff, connect the tools already being paid for into one source of truth, automate the rules-based busywork sitting between them and hand the finished, documented system to the client’s team. Each stage builds on the last rather than running in parallel, so nothing gets automated before the underlying data can be trusted.

What is the Audit, and why does every engagement start there?

The diagnostic phase, offered at three depths: Recon from $3,500, the full Audit from $10,000 or a Deep Audit from $20,000 for multi-entity or unusually complex stacks. It produces a stack map, a ranked list of automation opportunities and an ROI model built on the client’s own numbers before any system gets touched. Starting here means the build decision is a business case, not a guess.

What happens after the Audit if the numbers don’t justify a build?

The client keeps the roadmap either way. Ripcord is built to say no to its own next phase when the math does not support it, which is the reason the Audit gets sold on its own rather than bundled automatically into a larger commitment. A firm unwilling to say no to itself is not one worth trusting with the math in the first place.

What every Ripcord engagement includes

• A full stack and data map, not just an org chart
• Systems connected into one source of truth
• Automations and agents built on infrastructure the client owns
• An ROI model built on the client’s own numbers
• Documentation and handoff, with no requirement to stay on retainer

Recon starts a focused proof of concept at $3,500. The full Audit runs $10,000 across the whole operation. Past the Audit, the Embed phase runs $60,000 to $120,000 to build the automations, with optional ongoing support from $3,000 to $10,000 a month once everything is running and the client’s team has taken over day-to-day operation.

Send over what systems you’re running and where the work piles up. Contact MediaCutlet and Strato will respond personally, usually within one business day.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ripcord a piece of software we install?

No. Ripcord is a consulting engagement, not a product. The output is automations and connected systems built on infrastructure the client already owns, not a new platform to license or renew every year.

Does the Audit cost extra on top of the build?

No. The Audit is priced on its own, and its cost is not automatically rolled into whatever gets built afterward. Many clients treat it as a standalone deliverable and decide separately whether to move forward once they have seen what the numbers actually show.

What’s the difference between Recon and the full Audit?

Recon is a scouting pass on one department or workflow, meant to prove the approach before a bigger commitment. The full Audit covers the entire operation across all six deliverables.

Do we have to use MediaCutlet for the build if we run the Audit?

No. The Audit and its roadmap belong to the client either way, though most clients who complete it do continue into the build once they have seen their own numbers.

Is our data safe during a Ripcord engagement?

The architecture is built to keep data inside the client’s own infrastructure and accounts. MediaCutlet does not train on it, store it separately or share it, and connects systems without exporting anything to a third party, particularly where the information involved is sensitive.

How is Ripcord different from MediaCutlet’s other automation and AI services?

Ripcord is the productized, fixed-scope version of that work: one operator, a defined Audit and a defined build. MediaCutlet’s other automation and agent engagements can be scoped more narrowly around a single process or tool, which suits organizations that already know exactly what they want built.