St. Louis · serving nationwide
Hernando Media. A modern media company.
We publish, we build, we solve — for small businesses, nonprofits, and anyone trying to run a real operation. Eight practice areas. One team. A publication called Draft.
Practice areas
One firm. Eight directions.
We pick our spots. Strategy for the operators, structure for the missions, and the modern tooling that ties it together.
Selected work
Built here, running now.
All of it live, all of it public. Every build lives in one of the eight practice areas — open any of them.
Small Business Strategy
CardMaps
The card hobby, mapped. A product of the practice — built to route collectors back through local shop doors.
Free to browse, always
product · visit
Nonprofit
The Crossings Church STL
A church in Maryland Heights with a front door as warm as the room inside. Plain language, fast pages, built for the newcomer.
Service times, above the fold
client work · visit
Nonprofit
The Antioch Collective
Churches, planters, and everyday disciples, gathered. The invitation stays up front — built to serve.
Every past session, watchable
community build · visit
From Draft
Field notes from the work.
Draft is the publication arm of Hernando Media — short essays and longer arguments pulled live from the practice.
- Aug 9, 2026 Nonprofit
Program before paperwork
The order most new nonprofit founders get wrong: file the 501(c)(3), then go find the work. Flip it. Run the program first, borrow the tax status, and let the receipts earn the paperwork.
- Aug 9, 2026 Prompt Engineering
Write the receipt first
Everyone's selling you an eval platform. You don't need one. You need a written line about what good looks like — before you write the prompt. That's the whole craft now.
- Aug 9, 2026 Small Business Strategy
Document, then delegate.
Owners say no one else can do it right. They're correct — the right way lives in one head and nowhere else. The fix isn't a hire. It's a page.
- May 29, 2026 Small Business Strategy
The flinch rate.
Most solo founders price on fear. There's a better signal hiding in your sales calls — and if you're not hearing it, you're leaving the work undercharged.
About the firm
A small firm with a wide stack.
Hernando Media is a St. Louis-based firm working with small businesses, nonprofits, and the people running them. We started the way most modern shops do — at a counter, with a laptop, and a short list of operators who needed help.
We pick our spots. Strategy and structure for the founders and the missions; problem solving and supply-chain dashboards for the operations; websites and marketing for the people who need to be found. And a publication, Draft, where we put down what the work is teaching us.
The firm is small on purpose. One team, no agency middlemen, no decks designed to win you over from the inside of a slide. When we work with you, the person you talk to is the person doing the work.
The principal
Matt Hernando
Founder & Principal
Matt brings deep operations, marketing, and software experience to small business and nonprofit work. New York City roots, St. Louis based today — the practice runs from here, and the publication runs out of the same room.
How we work
You'll know what done means before we start.
Four steps, no theater. The same discipline whether the job is a website, a workshop, or untangling an operation.
01
The first call
Ninety minutes, free, not a sales pitch. We listen, ask hard questions, and tell you what we would do if it were our shop.
02
The scope
Every proposal names five things: deliverables, assumptions, exclusions, what we need from you, and what done means. No vague statements of work.
03
The build
We ship, then refine. Status comes in plain language, and risk — budget, scope, timeline — gets flagged the moment it is real, not after.
04
The handoff
Done is signed off against the scope, not drifted into. You own everything we build, and you leave knowing how to run it.
Pricing is bespoke — scoped to the work, the stakes, and the size of your operation. No rate card, no surprise invoices, and no change to scope that hasn't been priced and agreed first.
24h
a landing page, live in a day.
Engage
Bring a problem. Leave with a path.
First call is 90 minutes, free, and not a sales pitch. We listen, ask hard questions, and tell you what we'd do if it were our shop. Most calls end with a plan you can run yourself — or a quote to have us run it for you.
Not ready to book? Send a message or write us: general@hernandomediallc.com