Dragline — Pull the intelligence out of the systems you already have

Pull the intelligence out of the systems you already have.

Dragline builds the AI operating layer for lower middle market companies. We connect your ERP, reporting, and frontline workflows without a rip and replace. We work alongside your team, not above it.

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THE HONEST PART Three operating truths

You already have the data. You just can't get to it.

Every legacy business we meet has the same problem. The numbers exist. They are trapped in a dozen places, touched by human hands, and stale by the time anyone acts on them.

01

Your ERP is not the problem.

It works. It has worked for 15 years. The problem is everything around it: spreadsheets, shared inboxes, PDFs, and tribal knowledge.

02

AI is not magic. It is plumbing.

The win is not a chatbot. It is connecting systems, cleaning data, and automating the 40 small manual steps nobody has time for.

03

You do not need a transformation.

You need one painful workflow fixed, measured, and proven. Then another. That is how real operating leverage gets built.

METHOD Diagnostic → Pilot → Managed

Map it. Rank it. Ship it.

We do not sell abstract strategy. We show up, understand the systems you already have, rank what is worth fixing by ROI, and ship working software your team can actually use.

01
PHASE 01

Operating Diagnostic

We inventory every system, interview the people who actually do the work, and rank the workflows by ROI. You walk away with a live dashboard seeded with your data, a readiness score, and a roadmap with named owners.

02
PHASE 02

Portfolio OS Pilot

We build the operating layer for real. Workflows automated, KPIs flowing into a live CEO / CFO dashboard, monthly operating review on autopilot. You approve every number that hits the board.

03
PHASE 03

Managed Operating Layer

We stay on as your ops infrastructure partner. New workflows ship on a cadence. Close time gets shorter. Reporting gets sharper. Your team stops doing the manual work that was killing them.

ENGAGEMENTS Two ways in · one product

Two ways to deploy Portfolio OS.

One operating company, or a fund-wide rollout. Every engagement is scoped to your systems and set during the conversation.

FOR OPERATORS

Portfolio OS

For a single operating company. We build your operating layer: workflows automated, one dashboard your board uses, monthly review on autopilot.

  • Systems inventory and data readiness score
  • Production workflow automations
  • CEO / CFO / Board dashboard
  • Monthly operating review packet, auto
  • Human approval on every board number
  • SOC 2 roadmap and data handling policy
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FOR FUNDS

Portfolio OS for Funds

For a PE fund or family office. Deploy Portfolio OS across the portfolio. Standardized operating reviews. Cross-company benchmarks. One control tower.

  • Multi-tenant Portfolio OS
  • Cross-company benchmark layer
  • Standard operating review template
  • Fund-level control dashboard
  • Quarterly business review
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OUR STORY Named after a walking dragline

Named after the heaviest machine that ever moved on land.

The walking dragline was an American invention. Marion Power Shovel Company, in Marion, Ohio, built the biggest of them. Big Muskie, a 13,500-ton machine, moved more earth than any single piece of equipment in history.

Marion also built the crawler transporters that carried every Apollo rocket to Pad 39A, including Saturn V for Apollo 11. Those crawlers still run at Kennedy Space Center today.

My grandfather was an engineer at Marion.

His generation used draglines to move mountains. I use software to move operations. Same principle. Reach the hard-to-get places. Pull something valuable out.
Jonathan Deeter
Jonathan Deeter
Founder, Dragline

Based in Brooklyn. Ten-plus years in startups, fintech, and structured products. Built AI-powered dashboards for institutional investment funds managing over a billion dollars — portfolio tracking, automated alerts, financial modeling. Now bringing that same firepower to the lower middle market.

— J.D.
FOR CEOS, CFOS, AND OPERATING PARTNERS

A partner, not a vendor.

We work with operators, not IT departments. We show up in person, we talk to the people who do the work, and we ship things that make their jobs easier, not harder.

If you are a CEO three months into a turnaround, a CFO who dreads month-end close, or an operating partner trying to drive value creation across 8 portcos, we built this for you.

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  • Read-only integrations by default. We do not touch your ERP's transaction layer in year one.
  • Human approval on every board number. AI drafts. Your controller approves. The board trusts.
  • Fixed-fee engagements. No hourly billing. No scope-creep games.
  • Security-first architecture. SOC 2 roadmap, per-tenant encryption, full audit log.
  • No transformation decks. Working software in 8 weeks or less.
  • We pick up the phone. Real humans. Your timezone.
STAY IN THE LOOP

Get the operating edge.

Monthly dispatches on AI operations, workflow automation, and real results from lower middle market companies. No fluff.

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Let's find out where the leverage is.

Every engagement starts the same way: a conversation, then a diagnostic. No decks. No abstract strategy. Working software your team can actually use.

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