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Operations · Technology · AI-Assisted Systems · Waukesha, WI

Where your business
leaks margin, we find it and fix it.

Most small businesses don't need a strategy deck. They need someone who can find the billing workflow that eats hours every week, the dashboard the leadership team doesn't have, the system that was never built to handle what it's carrying — and fix it. That's what Margin Consulting Group does.

Start a Conversation Our Services

Recent work

01
Billing workflow cleanup
AI-assisted review that sorts inbound billing emails, drafts responses, and routes follow-up — cutting manual triage to near zero.
02
Collections platform prototype
Dashboard concepts, aging visibility, and anomaly tracking that turned a scattered finance process into something leadership could manage.
03
Quoting KPIs across product lines
Reporting that gave leadership a clear view of throughput, bottlenecks, and where deals were getting stuck.
Operator-led, not strategy-deck-led
Built for SMBs, not enterprise
Waukesha, Wisconsin
The person who sells the work does the work
No retainer required to start

Services

Where we create leverage

Every engagement starts with the same question: where does your business lose time, lose margin, or lose clarity — and what's the simplest true fix? We don't sell complexity. We sell the outcome.

01
AI Strategy &
Implementation
Most small businesses are either ignoring AI or buying tools they don't know how to use. We help you find the exact places AI creates real leverage in your operation — and build toward them.
  • AI readiness assessment
  • Use case identification & prioritization
  • Tool selection & vendor evaluation
  • Implementation roadmap
  • Workflow automation design
02
Technology
Consulting
Your technology stack should reduce friction, not create it. We assess your current infrastructure, identify the decisions that are costing you time and money, and help you modernize without over-engineering.
  • Technology audit & stack review
  • Software selection & migration
  • Digital infrastructure design
  • Vendor negotiation support
  • CTO advisory (fractional)
03
Small Business
Advisory
Running a small business means making decisions under uncertainty without a bench of advisors. We provide principal-level guidance on the technology and operational decisions that compound over time.
  • Digital presence & web strategy
  • Operations process analysis
  • Customer experience design
  • Growth infrastructure planning
  • Ongoing advisory retainer

How we work

The Margin approach

Small businesses don't need a 90-day discovery phase or a 200-page report. They need clear thinking, fast movement, and someone who stays engaged past the deck.

01
Understand the actual problem
We start by listening. Not pitching. The problem on the surface is rarely the problem worth solving — we ask until we find the real constraint.
02
Define what success looks like
Before recommending anything, we define the outcome. A measurable, specific improvement — not a vague mandate to "get better at AI."
03
Move with intent
Short cycles, visible progress, real deliverables. We don't disappear for six weeks and return with a deck. You see the work as it happens.
04
Transfer, don't create dependency
The goal of every engagement is to leave you better equipped to run without us. We document, train, and build for your independence.
The Margin principle
"The best consulting outcome is a client who no longer needs us — because we built something that works without us."
— Matt Koch, Founding Principal
SMB
Focused exclusively on small & mid-sized businesses
AI
Artificial intelligence woven into every engagement
WI
Based in Waukesha — available nationally
0
Junior consultants. You work with the principal.

Client Work

Selected engagements

We work with small and mid-sized businesses across Wisconsin and beyond. Each engagement is principal-led — Matt Koch is the person doing the work, not managing someone who is.

Web Strategy & Design
Kabitzke Accounting Group
CPA Firm · Waukesha, Wisconsin
Kabitzke Accounting Group had operated two conflicting websites for years — an outdated Weebly site and a newer but minimal presence, both under different brand names. We consolidated their digital presence into a single modern site: unified brand identity, accurate service information, seasonal hours, and a professional web presence that reflects the quality of a 40-year family CPA practice.
Brand consolidation under Kabitzke Accounting Group
Single-page responsive website (kabitzke.com)
Retirement of outdated Weebly site
Full content audit and rewrite
Waukesha, WI  ·  2026  ·  Web Strategy
Kabitzke Accounting Group website screenshot
Engagement in progress
Next Client
Your industry here.
We take on a small number of engagements at a time to ensure principal-level focus on every client.
Available now  ·  Let's talk
Engagement in progress
Next Client
Your industry here.
Interested in working together? Start with a conversation — no commitment required to explore fit.
Start a conversation →

Recent Work

What's been shipping

A running log of completed Margin engagements and deliverables. Dates are real. New entries appear as work ships.

Apr 2026 Web Strategy
Kabitzke Accounting Group — Website Redesign
Kabitzke Accounting Group, a 40-year family CPA firm in Waukesha, had operated two conflicting websites under two different brand names. We consolidated their presence into a single modern site — unified brand, accurate content, and a professional front door that matches the quality of the practice.
Web design Brand consolidation Small business Waukesha, WI
Apr 2026 AI Workflow Automation
Billing Workflow Cleanup for a Growing Service Company
Helped build an AI-assisted billing workflow that reviews inbound billing emails, sorts the issues, drafts responses, and routes follow-up into the right back-office systems. The result was less manual triage, cleaner handoffs, and a billing process that felt more organized as volume increased.
AI workflow Systems integration Billing operations Exception handling
Apr 2026 Product Strategy
Collections Platform Prototype for a Service Business
Built the first working prototype for an internal collections platform, including dashboard concepts, customer views, aging visibility, and anomaly tracking. The work helped turn a scattered finance process into something the leadership team could see, manage, and improve.
Product strategy Dashboard design Finance operations Internal tools
Apr 2026 Systems Integration
Document Archive Workflow for Oversized Customer Files
Designed an automated archive workflow to move oversized customer files out of a primary business platform into cloud storage while preserving secure access through generated links. The result was a cleaner document process, less day-to-day friction, and fewer headaches from a system that was carrying files it was never built to handle.
Cloud architecture Automation Document workflow Operational efficiency
Apr 2026 Process Automation
Exception-Only Invoice Review Workflow
Helped shape an automated review process that checks incoming invoices against work and billing records, then surfaces only the items that actually need a person to look at them. That cut noise for the team and made review time more focused and useful.
Process automation Finance workflow Invoice review Scalable operations
Apr 2026 Analytics & Reporting
Quoting Visibility Across Multiple Product Lines
Built a KPI reporting approach for quoting activity across multiple product lines, giving the leadership team a clearer view of throughput, bottlenecks, and where deals were getting stuck. The work turned scattered operating data into reporting that was actually useful in decision-making.
Analytics KPI dashboard Reporting Operational visibility
Matt Koch, Founding Principal, Margin Consulting Group
Matt Koch  ·  Founding Principal

About

Matt Koch

Matt Koch is the founding principal of Margin Consulting Group. He has spent over two decades at the intersection of technology, operations, and business outcomes — starting as the person building the systems, and eventually leading the organizations that ran them.

Early in his career, Matt designed and built ERP systems for Geneva Online and EthoStream, two Wisconsin-based technology companies serving the hospitality industry. He went on to lead the development team at EthoStream and Telkonet — managing the engineers and systems that powered hotel internet infrastructure across thousands of properties. As those companies grew, so did his role: from building the technology to owning the operations around it, eventually stepping into CIO and COO responsibilities and leading organizations through acquisitions. It's a career that started at the keyboard and ended up in the boardroom — which means he understands both sides of the table when technology decisions get made.

Margin Consulting Group is the applied expression of that career — brought to small and mid-sized businesses who deserve the same quality of thinking without the enterprise overhead. Every engagement is led personally by Matt, not delegated to a junior team. He is based in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and holds a degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Role Founding Principal, Margin Consulting Group
Focus AI strategy, technology consulting, systems integration, SMB advisory
Education University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Location Waukesha, Wisconsin
Engagements Principal-led. Limited capacity. Selective by design.

Contact

Start a conversation

We don't require a formal RFP or a fully scoped project to have a conversation. If you're thinking about AI, modernizing your technology, or just want a second opinion on a decision — reach out.

Principal
Matt Koch
All inquiries go directly to Matt.
Location
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Available for in-person engagements in SE Wisconsin.
Remote engagements available nationally.
Web
marginfirm.com
Response
Within one business day.
We respond to every inquiry personally.
No spam. No pitch decks. Just a conversation.