Four files to one grade
Payments Diagnostic
Four files become a graded Report Card, normalized P&L, and sequenced list of money on the table.
GRADED REPORT CARD
View ServiceServices / Operating Surface
Every payments move, made visible.
Fourteen equal-weight services, organized from understanding the evidence to owning the outcome.
01Understand04 Services
02Strategize03 Services
03Execute04 Services
04Build02 Services
05Operate01 Service
The Instrument Catalogue
One practice. Fourteen precise jobs.
Each row shows the work before you open the service. Follow the phase that matches the decision in front of you.
Understand / 0104 Services
Reconciliation chain
Residual Audit
Reconcile every residual line to the contract, isolate underpayment, and size the recovery claim.
SIZED CLAIM + RECOVERY PATH
View ServiceForward margin ladder
Optimization Analysis
Model forward margin across pricing, cost, revenue share, and structure, then sequence the highest-value levers.
PRIORITIZED LEVER MODEL
View ServiceIC memo and model
Buy & Sell-Side Diligence
Turn a target’s payments stack into an IC-ready baseline, pressure-testable model, and post-close watch list.
4-6 SLIDE IC MEMO
View ServiceStrategize / 0203 Services
Five-year J-curve
Business Case Formation
Convert a payments opportunity into a board-ready deck, driver-level workbook, and decision.
DECK + WORKBOOK + WALKTHROUGH
View ServiceOperating-model continuum
Sponsor Bank Architecture
Choose the operating model, bank relationship, economics, and contract sequence behind the next phase of scale.
ARCHITECTURE RECOMMENDATION
View ServiceFive-step motion and handoff
GTM Strategy Design & Implementation
Assess the current motion, design the operating model, build the tools, and hand off a working playbook.
FRAMEWORK + TOOLING + HANDOFF
View ServiceExecute / 0304 Services
ECB before and after
Contract Negotiation
Decompose the incumbent’s effective cost, set the leverage position, and carry the counter cycle to executed terms.
RENEGOTIATED TERMS
View ServiceEight-vendor cross-section
Vendor Selection
Normalize every processor bid to one cost basis and carry the field from longlist to term sheet.
8 VENDORS / ONE ECB NUMBER
View Service48-hour timeline
RFP Response
Map the question set to approved evidence and return a sourced, human-reviewed first draft within 48 hours.
48-HOUR DRAFT
View ServiceMigration burn-up
Managed Vendor Migration
Build the product bridge and move the book merchant by merchant with dual-run and rollback controls.
BOOK AT 100% LIVE
View ServiceBuild / 0402 Services
Integration control plane
Payments Engineering
Build and own onboarding, tokenization, webhooks, ledgering, routing, and reconciliation.
OWNED INTEGRATION
View ServiceNormalization spine
Data Activation
Normalize processor data into one warehouse foundation for reconciliation, merchant P&L, forecasting, and oversight.
NORMALIZED WAREHOUSE
View ServiceOperate / 0501 Service
Four-quadrant ownership
Fractional GM of Payments
Install a named payments operator who owns the P&L, vendor work, growth motion, and handoff.
NAMED OPERATOR IN SEAT
View ServiceThe Common Instrument
Every service starts from the same economic truth.
Effective Cost Basis and the 4-of-4 data room keep every service anchored to the same evidence.
Shared Operating EngineMethod / Common Across The Practice
Four sources establish a comparable basis.
No single input verifies the chain alone. Straata reconciles the complete evidence set, then translates it into the economic basis used for the next decision.
4-of-4
Residual reports, contract and Schedule A, transaction detail, and merchant statements.
ECB
One effective cost number that makes fees, vendors, options, and outcomes comparable.
Public-Safe Proof
Priced and judged on the outcome.
Executed, modeled, and identified evidence stay labeled so the decision never outruns the source.
Outcome Evidence RegisterDe-identified
Modeled
$10.3M
Five-year savings forecast from renegotiation
The incumbent rate was decomposed, benchmarked, and renegotiated against a credible alternative.
Executed
$20M
Recovered across clients in six months
Contract terms were reconciled to residual payments, and validated claims were carried through recovery.
Identified
~16x
ROI on a de-identified engagement
Sized impact was compared with the engagement cost after the opportunities were normalized and sequenced.
Executed
100+
Engagements across the payments stack
The count spans completed diagnostic, strategy, execution, build, and operating engagements.
Executed
$15Bto$20B+
Volume placed under RFP
Processor bids were normalized to Effective Cost Basis before volume entered competitive RFPs.
Start With The Decision
Bring us the payment question you cannot yet price.
We will identify the evidence, the right service, and the cleanest route to an owned outcome.
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