AI-Powered Transformation

Minneapolis & New York City

Ship AI in weeks, not quarters

Automate workflows. Build custom tools. Ship production AI in weeks—backed by 15+ years building successful AI-driven products.

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As seen at AWS re:Invent 2024

Shipping AI to production: practical lessons from real deployments

Previously

The Challenge

AI is changing what's possible

The gap between "AI-enabled" and "not" is widening. Companies that figure this out are outpacing those that don't.

Manual-heavy operations

Your team spends 10+ hours weekly on client reporting. Invoice processing takes 3 people. Document routing is a full-time job. These are automation problems, not headcount problems.

Ready to move faster

Your engineering team knows AI can accelerate shipping. But integrating it into existing workflows takes specialized expertise you shouldn't have to build in-house.

Hiring to solve problems

Adding headcount for challenges that don't require more people—just better tools.

Competitors moving faster

Professional services firms. Logistics companies. Healthcare admin. They're automating what you're still doing manually. The gap widens every month.

What We Do

From strategy to production

01

Business Process Transformation

Cardine identifies manual workflows and builds AI-powered systems that handle them. Not chatbots. Production tools.

  • Data entry & document processing
  • Research & reporting automation
  • Replace hours of repetitive work
  • Measurable outcome tracking

02

Custom Tool Development

When off-the-shelf software doesn't exist, we build it. Rapid prototyping to production, typically in weeks.

  • Industry-specific solutions
  • Designed for how you actually work
  • Full-stack implementation
  • Production deployment

03

AI Strategy & Implementation

For companies that need to understand where AI fits. We assess, identify opportunities, and build the first implementations.

  • Operations assessment
  • High-impact opportunity identification
  • First implementations built
  • No strategy without follow-through

04

Team Enablement

For companies with technical teams: hands-on training in AI-augmented practices. Not a workshop—embedded work until new approaches stick.

  • Modern AI tool adoption
  • Hands-on, not theoretical
  • Embedded until it works
  • Measurable productivity gains

Why Cardine

Cardine builds, not just advises

Unlike big consultancies that deliver slide decks, Cardine ships working systems. You work directly with Ryan—no layers, no handoffs—getting production code in weeks, not quarters.

Built for speed

Cardine is designed for rapid delivery. No lengthy discovery phases or endless meetings, just focused execution that gets working systems into production in weeks.

→ Approach: Ship fast, iterate with real data

Proven at scale

At Arccos and BuzzFeed, Ryan led teams that shipped production AI systems at scale. That experience—knowing what works in the real world, not just demos—now serves Cardine clients.

→ Track record: 15+ years shipping production systems

Product builders first

Led engineering at multiple companies, built award-winning mobile products, and scaled teams. AI is a tool in service of solving problems.

→ Multiple Webby Awards

Always current

Two years deep in AI implementation and production systems. Presented at AWS re:Invent 2024. The landscape changes monthly—we're in it daily.

→ AWS re:Invent 2024 speaker

Ryan Johnson, Founder of Cardine - AI implementation consultant based in Minneapolis serving businesses in the Twin Cities and New York City

Leadership

Ryan Johnson

Founder, Cardine

Ryan builds production AI systems. At BuzzFeed, he launched News and Video apps, leading a 30-person mobile team. At Arccos, he led engineering for the Caddie—a real-time AI system that analyzes shot patterns and delivers personalized strategy to golfers mid-round. His sensorless shot detection AI is now patent-pending.

His approach: measure everything, iterate quickly, focus on what moves the needle. Google Play Best App nominee. Now applying 15+ years of engineering leadership to help your team ship faster.

Multiple Webby Awards
AWS re:Invent 2024
VP Eng @ Arccos Golf
VP Mobile @ BuzzFeed
US Patent Pending

Arccos Golf — VP Engineering

Led engineering team that shipped production AI systems and scaled the platform. Built and deployed systems in weeks, not quarters—the same rapid delivery approach Cardine brings to every engagement.

Outcome: AWS re:Invent 2024 speaker

1 Billion
Shots Analyzed by AI

BuzzFeed — VP Mobile Engineering

Scaled teams from 4 to 40 engineers while shipping products to 200M+ monthly users. Enabled teams to ship faster through better processes and tooling.

Outcome: Google Play Best App nominee · Webby Award winner

200+ Million
Monthly Users

Common Questions

Frequently asked

How long does AI implementation typically take?

Cardine is built for 4-6 week delivery cycles. I focus on quick wins first—automating one high-impact workflow—before expanding. This lets you see real results fast rather than waiting months for a "complete" solution.

What size companies do you work with?

Cardine works best with companies that have real problems and the appetite to solve them. That includes engineering teams wanting to adopt AI-augmented workflows, and operations-heavy businesses with manual processes worth automating. The common thread: concrete challenges, not vague "we should do AI" energy.

Do you just do strategy, or do you actually build things?

Cardine builds. Every engagement includes production implementation—not just recommendations. The philosophy is no strategy without follow-through. You'll have working tools in production, not a slide deck about what you could do someday.

What industries do you serve?

Cardine is industry-agnostic but focuses on operations-heavy businesses where manual work creates bottlenecks. Professional services, logistics, healthcare administration, and any business with significant data entry, document processing, or reporting needs. If your team spends hours on repetitive tasks, Cardine can help.

Get Started

Tell me what you're building.

Cardine works with businesses who have real problems to solve—not "we need AI" without understanding why.

hello@cardine.ai In-person Minneapolis & NYC — remote elsewhere

What Happens Next

You have a real problem and a team ready to move. Tell me what you're working on—I'll reply with questions or a scoping call invite.

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