S4E19 - From Tesla to Tekion: How One Founder is Redefining the DMS

Jay Vijayan, Founder & CEO at Tekion, discusses the dealership pain points he saw which led to the creation of his business. He also shares insights on AI and digital retail and lessons he learned from his leadership role at Tesla. For more information about our guest, visit their ⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠. Episode Breakdown0:00 - Jay’s introduction to the automotive industry 7:42 - Why Jay’s company decided to acquire dealerships  10:23 - The major pain points he saw dealerships facing 15:38 - What Jay learned from owning dealerships 21:14 - How a focus on people drove their platform creation 26:11 - Addressing dealers’ concerns with changing technologies 33:03 - What can dealers expect from AI in the next few years? 37:56 - The F&I process and what dealers are saying 39:53 - Best Bets: Cloud platforms, the next industry disruptor and APIs 42:32 - Lessons learned from working at Tesla Liked this episode? Find our full episode library ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.