MomentumLabs — Ryan Urtheil

Strategy that reaches production

I don't hand off decks. I stay in the work — aligning teams, clearing blockers, and making sure ideas actually ship with the right ownership and urgency.

Performance built to last

Site speed, SEO, Core Web Vitals, and ad monetization — the infrastructure work that compounds over time and directly impacts revenue and audience growth.

AI that actually reduces friction

I help teams cut through the hype and integrate AI tools that create real workflow gains — across editorial, product, marketing, and operations.

What I do

Four ways I make your product move.

Rooted in media and publishing, applicable wherever digital performance and execution matter.

Digital Strategy & Product Execution

Roadmap clarity, prioritization frameworks, and the hands-on leadership to get ideas out of decks and into production. Real ownership, not slide decks.

Roadmapping Agile Stakeholder Alignment

Performance, SEO & Core Web Vitals

Deep technical work on site speed, search visibility, and infrastructure quality. The kind of durable improvements that scale with the business.

Core Web Vitals SEO Audits CMS Architecture

Monetization & AdTech Optimization

Viewability, programmatic yield, paywall strategy, and partnership integrations. Revenue growth without compromising user experience or long-term trust.

Programmatic Paywalls Ad Placement

AI Tool Integration & Workflow Design

Practical AI — not hype. I help editorial, product, and marketing teams evaluate, select, and integrate AI tools that actually reduce friction and increase output.

Editorial AI Workflow Automation Claude / GPT

Analytics & Data Infrastructure

From Looker dashboards to KPI frameworks — centralizing editorial, audience, and revenue data so your team can actually make decisions from it.

Looker GA4 Product Analytics

Partnerships & Marketplace Products

Revenue-generating integrations with third parties — from API-powered data products to SMB marketplaces and affiliate ecosystems built to convert.

API Integrations Revenue Partnerships SMB Platforms

Case Studies

The work, with receipts.

Real engagements, real outcomes, real numbers.

TheWrap · 2023–2024

Platform Rebuild & Monetization Overhaul

Led a full platform rebuild for a high-traffic entertainment publisher — new architecture, CMS migration, AI editorial tool integration, and a subscription paywall launch. Parallel workstream: rebuilt the entire ad stack from scratch to recover dying CPMs and viewability.

65%+

Ad viewability (from 30%)

$2+

CPM floor (from <$1)

Zephr

Subscription platform launched

Sophi

AI editorial tooling integrated

Patch.com · 2021–2022

Local Business Marketplace & Ad Performance

Built "Find a Local Pro" — a Thumbtack-powered marketplace — while simultaneously improving ad performance across a national local news network. Launched enterprise revenue partnerships with Verizon, Amazon, GoodRx, and Newrez alongside a high-growth real estate newsletter.

75%

Viewability achieved

$10

Peak CPM reached

Revenue partnerships launched

↑

Newsletter exceeded benchmarks

Tribune Publishing · 2018–2020

Multi-Market CMS Migration & ADA Compliance

Led ARC CMS migrations across NY Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and others — while owning front-end performance, SEO, and an ADA accessibility initiative that resolved 350+ issues to reach 80% compliance in 6 months. Also served as product lead for the 2020 Election publishing platform.

350+

ADA issues resolved

80%

Compliance in 6 months

Major publications migrated

ARC

CMS platform standardized

Ryan Urtheil

Founder, MomentumLabs · Merrick, NY

Email LinkedIn

About Ryan

15+ years of shipping, not just strategizing.

I started with a BFA in Graphic Design (URI) and web training at the School of Visual Arts — so I've always seen product through a design lens. That foundation in how things look and feel informs every roadmap I write and every system I build.

I've spent the last 15+ years in digital media — at Tribune, NY Daily News, Patch, and TheWrap — running platform rebuilds, ad stack overhauls, CMS migrations, and AI integrations. I'm not a consultant who shows up with frameworks. I show up with context, and I stay until it ships.

MomentumLabs is a founder-led practice — that means you get me, not a team of junior associates. Senior thinking, hands-on execution, no markup.

Product Strategy & Roadmapping

AdTech & Programmatic

SEO & Core Web Vitals

AI Tool Integration

CMS Architecture (ARC, WP)

Subscription & Paywall (Zephr)

Looker & Analytics

Partnership & API Products

"Ryan is a complete product manager with a sophisticated understanding of the modern media landscape… he brought a full set of product leadership tools to help revitalize advertising revenue."

Angus Frame

News Executive, former direct manager at Patch.com

"He can talk to designers, engineers, and product in their own language. Better yet, he will translate between groups, plan features, and make sure everyone involved is on the same page."

Buddy Lamers

AdTech Engineering Specialist, Patch.com