Home  /  About

We're operators first. AI is the lever, not the product.

Riptide is a two-cofounder shop based in Houston, TX. We started this firm because we kept watching small & mid-market trades businesses get sold AI fairy tales by people who'd never ridden in a service van.

Our story

It started watching contractor friends get pitched demos that didn't ship.

I spent years as an AI/ML engineer at scale-up SaaS — building real systems that real teams used. The whole time, I watched contracting friends get pitched the same generic AI demos by people who'd never ridden in a service van.

They didn't need a tool. They needed someone to come in, look at how their dispatcher actually worked, build the thing that would help, train their team, and walk away. Done-for-you, not DIY.

Riptide is the firm I wish they'd had. Austin Bishop joined as co-founder in May 2026 to expand capacity and depth. We move fast. We ship. We charge a flat fee tied to outcomes, not hours.

And we say no a lot. We don't take projects we don't think we can ship in 30 days.

How we work

Four operating principles we don't break.

01

Ship in 30 days.

If we can't deploy a working workflow in a month, we don't take the project. Six-month "transformation" engagements are not what we do.

02

Outcomes over hours.

Flat fees scoped to outcomes. We're not incentivized to drag work out. We're incentivized to ship cleanly and move on.

03

Your tools, our work.

We integrate with what you already run. We don't sell our own software. We don't lock you in.

04

Human-friendly.

AI that helps the dispatcher, not replaces her. The point is leverage for your team — not pretending you don't need one.

The team

Two co-founders. Hands on every engagement.

MB
Matt Blansit Co-founder

Houston-based AI/ML engineer who spent years building production AI systems at a SaaS scale-up before starting Riptide. Runs every audit call, designs every Sprint, and sits in the build for the first week. Reach him at matt@riptideai.co.

AB
Austin Bishop Co-founder

Joined Riptide as co-founder in May 2026. Bio coming. Reach him at austin@riptideai.co.

No SDRs, no junior bench, no account managers. When you book a call, you're talking to Matt or Austin directly. That's the contract.

Where we are

Built & based in Houston, Texas.

We work across Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma in person — and across the US on Zoom. We're a Gulf Coast firm by design. Trades businesses here built this city; we like working with the people who run them.

  • ● Office: Houston, TX
  • ● matt@riptideai.co · (832) 743-2547
  • ● Mon–Fri · 8am–6pm CT (we answer on weekends too)
Want to work with us?

Two ways in. Both start with a call.

Book a free 30-min audit. We'll spend the call mapping AI for your operation and hand you a written 30-day roadmap — whether or not we work together.

Book my free 30-min audit matt@riptideai.co
Houston, TX · Hybrid & remote engagements
No follow-up spam, ever
We respond within one business day