McKinsey charges six figures for strategy reports.
An Indian AI startup called Rocket thinks that’s absurd. They’re offering what they call “McKinsey-style reports” starting at $25 a month. Yes, you read that correctly. Twenty-five dollars.
I’ve spent the past few years reviewing AI toolkits for agntbox.com, and I’ve seen plenty of startups promise to “disrupt” expensive professional services. Most of them are selling glorified templates with a chatbot slapped on top. So when Rocket showed up claiming to replace elite consulting firms, I was skeptical.
What Rocket Actually Does
Rocket’s pitch is straightforward: they generate consulting-style product strategies to help people decide what to build. Their platform launched in India and has been operating through 2026, targeting founders and product teams who need strategic direction but can’t afford traditional consulting fees.
They offer three pricing tiers. The entry level costs $25 monthly and focuses on application building. The middle tier runs $250 monthly and includes strategy and research with 2-3 reports. The top tier is $350 monthly for their full suite.
Compare that to what McKinsey charges. A single engagement can easily hit $500,000 or more. Even boutique consulting firms rarely dip below five figures for strategic work.
The Vibe Economy Meets Professional Services
Here’s what makes Rocket interesting from a toolkit perspective: they’re not trying to replicate the actual value of a McKinsey engagement. They’re replicating the vibe.
That might sound dismissive, but it’s actually smart positioning. A 23-year-old founder doesn’t need the same depth of analysis that a Fortune 500 CEO needs. They need something that looks professional, covers the basics, and gives them enough structure to make decisions.
Rocket is betting that AI can generate “good enough” strategic frameworks at scale. The reports probably won’t uncover brilliant insights that a team of MBAs working for three months would find. But they might help someone organize their thinking for the cost of a nice dinner.
What This Means for AI Toolkits
I test a lot of AI tools that promise to replace expensive human services. Most fail because they’re solving the wrong problem. They try to match the quality of the expensive option, fall short, and end up in an awkward middle ground where they’re too expensive to be a casual purchase but too limited to replace the real thing.
Rocket seems to understand that the market they’re targeting isn’t choosing between them and McKinsey. Their customers are choosing between Rocket and nothing. Or between Rocket and spending weeks trying to figure things out themselves.
That’s a much easier value proposition to deliver on.
The Honest Assessment
Will Rocket’s reports match the quality of traditional consulting? Almost certainly not. Can they provide useful strategic frameworks for early-stage founders and small teams? Probably.
The real question is whether AI-generated strategy reports are useful at all, or if they’re just creating an illusion of strategic thinking. A bad strategy executed confidently can be worse than no strategy at all.
From a toolkit review perspective, Rocket is worth watching because they’re testing an important hypothesis: can AI compress the value of professional services into an affordable product without becoming useless?
The pricing suggests they’re serious about accessibility. Starting at $25 monthly puts them in impulse-purchase territory. That’s smart. It means people will actually try the product instead of endlessly evaluating whether it’s worth the investment.
Whether those people stick around after seeing what $25 gets them? That’s the real test. And that’s what I’ll be watching as this space develops.
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