Latest / Auto Collabs / He Built an AI Wingman for Dealers… and It’s Not What You Think with Jay Ku

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He Built an AI Wingman for Dealers… and It’s Not What You Think with Jay Ku · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  [upbeat music] Okay, I have a confession. I just wanna say, I just wanna say- No. [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. Okay, you go. Okay, do your confession. I like the confession starter.
• 0:15
  I- I'm just here for the popcorn. I have a confession. Go with the confession. When I drive up the 35 freeway here, there's a big billboard for a bank. Are you from California? Is that what- There's a 35?
• 0:27
  Is that allowed? Did you just say the 35? Yeah. Is that one that- Do they say that in California? They say that in Texas? Well, it's the 35... I mean, half of Texas is from California now, so. [laughs] That's true.
• 0:40
  [laughs] And I'm from Canada, which is basically- Or Canada. [laughs] Or, and I'm from Canada, which is basically extremely northern California. Okay, fair enough. [laughs] Okay, okay. Okay. Next. Take that easy.
• 0:53
  When I'm driving up the 35, there's a big billboard for a bank, and the, uh, bank is called D-A-T-C-U, but it's pronounced Datcu. And when I drive past Datcu- [laughs]... I always think of our guest today, J. Koo. J.
• 1:10
  Koo. No way. J. Koo, he's Datcu. He's Datcu. You know? Oh my gosh. He's Datku. Oh. Yeah, that's great. I, I, I just wanna... My claim was gonna be I think I'm the first one of the three of us to ever interview J. Koo.
• 1:24
  Is that so? Back when he was with TrueCar, this was a year- Oh, yes... year or two ago maybe, I think. That's right. We were hanging out with him. At the booth. At, at the booth. It was amazing.
• 1:34
  The conversation was absolutely incredible. The guy gets it. Like, when I say gets it, just he's a through-and-through au- like he- Gets it on all the levels... he gets people. He gets it on all the levels. Mm-hmm.
• 1:46
  So I'm super jealous because- I got to hang out with him... Paul's the only one that gets to hang out with him for this one, 'cause Paul's at, uh, eh, he's at the cool studios in Syracuse. By the studios. You know? Yeah.
• 1:57
  I don't know, though. Did you get free jeans from the guy? 'Cause I got tailored up at- So did I... at NADA. I got free jeans. Oh, yeah. We should all- Dope jeans... we're all wearing them right now.
• 2:05
  We should've all wore our [laughs]... And we all stand up and... No, no, we're not gonna do that. [laughs] Check out my derriere. Literally. Uh, okay, I think we've done enough damage for one show. We've done enough.
• 2:17
  Um, [laughs] let's get into this interview where I got to have a, a great conversation in person with the one and only J. Koo. [upbeat music] Thanks for coming out to Syracuse- Of course... in the wintertime, brave soul.
• 2:31
  Yeah, yeah. I feel like I got it easy, 'cause it's, you know, there's no whiteout blizzard, so. It's above freezing.
• 2:35
  We were joking today on the morning show that I, I walked outside, I was like, "Wow, it feels warm today." Yeah. It doesn't, it's not so cold it hurts. [laughs] Right, right. And it was, it was 37.
• 2:43
  Right, right, right, right. [laughs] It was 37.
• 2:45
  Well, I, my, my philosophy, 'cause I just brought, like, a light jacket, so they were like, "Oh, you should dress warm," but I'm like, "I feel like once you're cold, you're just cold." Absolutely.
• 2:52
  And so, [laughs] like- That's the great fly- I hate flying with a coat. I never do it- Yeah, exactly... unless I know I have to be outside. Exactly. 'Cause it's the same way, you know, in the South.
• 2:59
  You're, you're in Arizona. Yeah, yeah. And it's the same way in the, in the summertime. It's like you just go from, like, place to place. Yeah, right, right. You don't stay outside. No, no.
• 3:06
  You like- And a, and a little bit of a hot take, I would say 50 degrees in a desert climate like Arizona- Yeah... feels colder to me- It does... than 37 here. No, 50 in the...
• 3:15
  I, when I went, I was out there, and it was cold, and I was like- In-... "Why am I cold?" Right. [laughs] I mean, it's, it's only 50 degree. You're right. Yeah. You're right. I mean, you get calibrated to it.
• 3:22
  Yeah, exactly. And that's, and that's what happens. Yeah. Um, we met for the first time at the NADA- Yeah... show. You were TrueCar. Yeah. Um, since that time- Yeah... you've had these things rolling around in your head.
• 3:32
  [laughs] And you decided to bring them to life- That's right... like in the last four months. That's right. That's right, yeah.
• 3:39
  And so, um, we're basically announcing, uh, the launch of, of this new amazing venture company, uh, called Hey Green Light, and you know, it wa- it started and born from sort of a number, I mean, probably almost meetings with people, GMs, principals, uh, sales managers represented by almost, like, 1,000 different dealerships in my time at TrueCar.
• 4:01
  Yeah.
• 4:01
  It was, uh, my number one priority when I was there as, uh, as CRO and CMO to be out in the field, meeting with your, your large groups, your single points, your indies, everyone, because what happens at the ground...
• 4:14
  And, and, and really when I say on the ground level, what I'm meaning is the true interaction between a salesperson and a customer, right? Mm-hmm. Like, that was so important for me to understand.
• 4:23
  And so in the course of all those hours, in the course of all those meetings, just realizing, uh, outside of just my time at TrueCar and sort of the challenges and opportunities with, with being a TrueCar dealer and being in TrueCar, was effectively that the way that I saw it, there's kind of two major pain points that, that really kind of landed on me.
• 4:39
  And one was being the fact that, like, what your typical dealership might see 70, 80%, uh, turnover in sales staff in 12 months, right? And, and all the challenges that come with that.
• 4:48
  Yeah, that's a big problem in our industry. 100%. Um, and number two, the fact that when a digital lead comes into a dealership, you know, they don't know whether it's you or Kyle.
• 4:58
  Like, they know a name, they may be a number and an email, but that's all they know about you, right?
• 5:02
  It's not like you're a, a walk-in or anything like that where they can start talking to you, assessing who you are, getting a sense of where you live, what you care about, your family, anything like that. Mm-hmm.
• 5:11
  And so then when those come in, I'm just realizing that, you know, well, no wonder that the outreach a lot of times can be generic. Mm-hmm. No wonder the outreach can feel impersonal.
• 5:18
  No wonder the outreach can be maybe even pushy, right? To an appointment.
• 5:21
  And so I was just thinking about these things and realizing that there r- surely must be a better way of creating true engagement between, uh, a person in the dealership and the customer.So I wanna back up for a minute because I think your path into automotive, like a lot of people, is super unconventional.
• 5:37
  Yeah. [laughs] You left home at an early age. Yeah, yeah. You are, uh, you came into the auto industry because you were a professional cyclist. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Right? Yeah.
• 5:44
  So that's one that I hadn't heard about before. I was like, "We should talk about that- Yeah... a little bit." Yeah. So, like, let's talk about your path in there, because it involves cycling and Harvard and- Yeah...
• 5:53
  true, like, all the things.
• 5:55
  [laughs] Well, so yeah, so basically, so, uh, I left home when I was 14, and, uh, eventually, uh, it's kind of funny, I eventually found myself going to, uh, a high school in New Hampshire, um, and, uh, started picking up cycling and as a competitive sport, and purely for egotistical, narcissistic reasons- Yeah...
• 6:11
  because I was, uh, I played, uh, varsity soccer in the fall, was rest- varsity wrestling in the winter, and like every dumb kinda high school kid, I just wanted to be a tri-varsity athlete, right? Oh, okay, okay.
• 6:22
  Couldn't play baseball. Yeah, that's easy. Didn't run very fast. Couldn't do any, like, you know, tennis or anything in the spring. It's like, what am I gonna do in the spring?
• 6:28
  It's like, well, it's interesting, up here, like, cycling is, like, a sport, and you can actually get a varsity letter, whatever. So, uh- Seems like a very New Hampshire sport. Ex- [laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right?
• 6:37
  All us went to cycling team. E- exactly, yeah. [laughs] Like such a New England type of thing.
• 6:41
  [laughs] And so, um, convinced my dad to buy me a, a $900 bike, and, uh, road bike, and, and my first ride with the team, uh, probably due to my own arrogance, they just left me behind.
• 6:52
  I literally was lost in the back roads of New Hampshire. [laughs] You probably talked a little smack before you even started. Oh, I know. It was like, "What- Like, "Oh, we're riding bikes, guy"...
• 6:58
  are you guys, riding here?" Yeah. Like, I show up, I'm not, you know, they're all wearing, kitted out in the, in the Lycra and the Spandex, and I'm just wearing, like, gym shorts. I'm like, "Oh," like, "what is this?"
• 7:04
  Right. "This can't be that hard." [laughs] They leave me behind. Three hours later, I finally ma- make my way back to school. [laughs] And I'm like, totally in love, though. Yeah.
• 7:13
  So, um, so decided to, wanted to really pursue it. So when I was 17, I rode my bike across America. And- At 17? At 17. So I rode from Seattle to DC, and I would say- With other people, I'm assuming?
• 7:25
  Uh, yeah, there was like a, yeah, there was- I was gonna say. Okay, all right. [laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 7:27
  And so what was amazing about it, though, was that, um, you know, and, and, and again, like I've, you know, I've always sort of, uh, had this vision or this idea of like when I did that, like, just going town to town, meeting people.
• 7:40
  Uh, I would hitchhike my, I would, we would stop at an area. We'd camp out, but I would hitchhike my way into town.
• 7:44
  This was back before, really, like you had to go to, like, an internet cafe to, like, dial up and use the internet- Yeah, right... and things like that.
• 7:49
  And so, um, so would do that, and would just meet incredible people on that journey, and it sort of, it- it sort of like, th- that then s- kinda was a springboard into my becoming a, a, a, pr- a, a, racing bikes, and then ultimately, uh, getting my first pro contract my freshman year in college.
• 8:05
  But what was interesting about that was, um, there's such a intimate kind of r- connection between cycling and automotive.
• 8:13
  So if you look in Europe, all the major European pro sponsors team, pro, s- pro s- uh, teams are sponsored by auto brands in the Tour de France, all that stuff, so Fiat, Skoda, like, uh, INEOS, and all those companies.
• 8:24
  It's j- 'cause you're on the road. Yeah. Like, there's such an interplay there. Right, there's a tie. Countryside and road. Um, exactly.
• 8:28
  And so actually, uh, a little known fact, they say that, uh, it was because of bicycles that America paved roads.
• 8:35
  Until, uh, w- it was basically cars drove on dirt roads, and then because of bicycles and riding bikes that there was a strong push to pave roads- Interesting...
• 8:42
  for bicycles, that then led to, obviously, the roads we have today. Sure. Yeah. And so, um, and so this, so basically, uh, I, when I turned pro, our team was sponsored by Subaru. Makes sense.
• 8:53
  There's a lot of overlap- Absolutely... between that demographic- Without a doubt... in, in cycling. And so- What year about was this? This was 2002. Okay. And so, uh- Yeah, so Subaru's on their upswing too.
• 9:03
  Yes, exactly. Yeah. So was sponsored by Subaru. My first car that I got as a professional racer was a Subaru Legacy. [laughs] Mm-hmm.
• 9:09
  That, 'cause people on the team, we got, we got cars to drive around, and they were all s- Sure... you know, decaled and, and stickered out. And so man, I loved that.
• 9:16
  I loved that thing, and, uh, drove that all around the country, going to races, representing the team, and, uh, felt like a- Automotive was like, ah, this makes sense. Yeah, a hun- 100%.
• 9:27
  You know, it was great, and we, we would go to, like, local dealerships and do, like, we would, like, do rides and do charity rides starting at the local Subaru dealership and taking people out, and cus- they would get the customers in.
• 9:37
  They started to get the vibe. And I'm like- Yeah... oh, this is, like, really cool.
• 9:39
  Um, because the reality, growing up in Kansas, and I felt like, you know, just sort of that, you know, Midwestern experience, my fundamental belief that the four, the four pillars of every American city is your church, your school, your post office, and your car dealership.
• 9:53
  Like, I- That's right. I just feel like to me, like- We've never framed it up that way, but we always say, like, there's no industry that is such a staple- Yes... of every community. Yes.
• 10:00
  And to me, I just fundamentally feel like those are your four pillars. What'd you say? Your church, your school... Uh, your post office and your car dealership. Post office and the dealership. Yeah.
• 10:06
  I just feel like that's- I agree with that... that's just kinda like what makes a town feel like a town, and the people you know who work there, and then like, oh, I got my guy.
• 10:12
  It's just that, that element of it, and I would see that so much and so frequently driving to cities for races, when I rode my bike across the country, doing all those kinds of things.
• 10:21
  And so, so that was my exposure, kind of initial kinda getting into seeing how, like, the role that the dealership plays in a community, all this kinda stuff.
• 10:29
  And then, uh, once I decided to get a real job and realizing I can't pursue cycling [laughs] for the rest of my life, nor, you know, you know, and some guilt from my parents, they're like, "Wait, we paid for you to go to school and you're just riding your bike around?"
• 10:39
  Like, "What is, what i- what is that?" Um- And, and you went to, you went to Harvard? And then, yes, yeah, so I turned pro my freshman year at Harvard. Okay, so- Yeah... yes, so not only- Right...
• 10:48
  are they, like, [laughs] helping you go through Harvard- Right. [laughs]... but they go like- Right... "I'm gonna, I'm gonna cycle." Exactly. They're like, "Not quite why we paid for you to go to Harvard."
• 10:54
  [laughs] E- exactly. They're like, "So wait, you're in Europe riding a bike around?" [laughs] Like, "Uh, you're just, like, doing some touring?"
• 10:58
  It's just like, "No, this is really hard w- like, Mom, this is really hard." Like, I'm like, [laughs] "No." I'm a, I'm an athlete, Mom. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, exactly.
• 11:03
  Like- I just wear tight clothes and ride bikes all day. E- exactly, like this is r- you know? And they're like, "Okay."
• 11:07
  And so, uh- [laughs] So, so ended up getting, uh, like starting, uh, you know, getting some real jobs, and in the course of my career, worked with a lot of OEMs at the tier one level in, in different campaigns and marketing programs and things like that, which then had sort of manifestations at a tier three level at the deal- at the retail level, and th- to me, that was always more interesting to see it there.
• 11:27
  Mm-hmm. Right? To see, like, what's being decided and determined at, in corporate and seeing it come to life- I mean, it-... at the dealership...
• 11:33
  what I'm hearing is it seems like even from a young age-And why you enjoyed wi- riding across the country, the things you're bringing up are those human interactions. 100%.
• 11:42
  That's why you had to find your way into town from wherever you were camping. Yeah, yeah. That's why you, you said, you mentioned you meet so many interesting people. Yeah.
• 11:49
  And then when you had your dealership activations- Yeah... you're like, "Oh, this is where it all comes together," and the core tenants. So I'm seeing- Right...
• 11:55
  a common thread of you always navigating back to like, how are the people interacting, and why is that important? 100%.
• 12:01
  I mean, 'cause I think the reality is that, you know, and, and this is, uh, part of my, my, uh, kind of charge or, or mandate or, or responsibility at TrueCar, was really kind of from an internal perspective as well as externally, but shaping sort of like what's the purpose and the vision of why TrueCar exists?
• 12:17
  And, and I, my, just my belief just coming up and working in agencies and working for different brands that, like, you know, you need to sort of have, uh, a, a kind of a justification for why you exist in the world.
• 12:26
  Of course. Like, what's the value adding?
• 12:27
  And so one of the things that, uh, I sort of thought of when we were there, and, and again, it sounds high and mighty and philosophical, but you think about how it gets distilled down to, to, to real life.
• 12:36
  But, you know, I said like, "Well, you know, we should think about our role at TrueCar in that we're basically enabling upward mobility." Mm-hmm.
• 12:44
  And what I would mean by that is, like, the fact that, like, how critical a car is to your daily life and how important it is to find the right one at the right price that's the best price for you.
• 12:55
  You know, and, and, and ultimately what that allows you to do in your life, right? Mm. And so I was like, "Yeah, yes, we're...
• 13:00
  Yes, the si- yes, it's a, a marketplace site connecting, you know, dealers with customers, but at the heart of it, can we say that we are truly helping people enabling sort of an upward mobility in their life, right?"
• 13:10
  And so- Right. Tying it, I mean, I think the best, the best companies, and even if you wanna call it the best brands, find a way to tie their product to a human condition- Yes, right... somehow.
• 13:20
  And with cars, I always say we have such a benefit that we don't have to, like, do any acrobatics. Like, it's not like- That's right... "Oh, you make bottle caps, and bottle caps get screwed onto bottles."
• 13:29
  [laughs] "And people drink water so they can be hydrated-" Right "... so they can..." Right, right, right. You don't have to do all these steps. Right, right, right. It's like, no, everyone knows why you need a car.
• 13:35
  Right. It's not a, uh- You work. Your kids have to get places. Exactly. Right? It's a part of every major milestone in most people's lives. Right.
• 13:41
  It's not like a, "Oh, we're going to improve the world and human condition through SaaS-based cloud compute-" Da, da, you know? Yeah, yeah. It's not like there's not a... [laughs] Okay. Right.
• 13:48
  I can see the commercial in my head- Right, right... and it's already boring. Right, right, right. Right? Yeah. Right. There's a direct- You hear the voiceover. Right.
• 13:53
  There's a direct connection between what a car can do for your life and, and who it connects you to and how much...
• 13:58
  And, and I just love that, that idea behind it, and that's sort of what I wanted to, to bring when I was at TrueCar. And so, uh, and where does it all start?
• 14:05
  It starts with, you know, your coming into a dealership and that experience- Mm-hmm... and what, you know, what you take away from that. And everyone is- And how you feel going into it. Exactly. Right? Exactly.
• 14:12
  That's the big part. Right, right. Like, what are all... What are all... What's all the baggage, wh- all the things in the backpack- That's right... you're carrying into that dealership, right? That's right.
• 14:19
  That's right. Not only that, but you're probably, like, putting on your body armor. Right, right. [laughs] Right? Like, "Okay, I'm ready to fight." Right, right, right. And so- Right...
• 14:25
  all of that emotional weight- Yeah... comes into the dealership- 100%... with all your other world problems, right? People have problems.
• 14:30
  [laughs] No, 100, 100%, and then so, like, I would say, like, you know, I think every GM and every, you know, dealer, owner, principal, every-- They want customers to have a great experience in the dealership, right?
• 14:40
  Mm-hmm.
• 14:40
  But again, it's tough when, you know, salespeople are turning over, when, you know, and all these different types of things and, and, and, you know, it, it's, uh, training can be difficult, retention, all these different things.
• 14:49
  So how do you ensure that that experience can be as good as possible and, and that you're really creating, uh, trust, right? Yeah. And, and it's, it's difficult. It's hard. It is.
• 14:59
  I mean, I think every great business, and whether that, I mean, people will probably debate whether or not, like, McDonald's food is good or not. Right. But McDonald's business is- Right...
• 15:08
  because they found a way to systematize- That's right... making the lowest qualified person possible- Yes... competent to a certain point. Right, right. And every great system does that to different levels of scale.
• 15:17
  Right. Like, you look at a Disney- Right... and they do it- Right... to an extended scale, and they train their people to deliver through a system- Yeah... that brings an, an ordinary person, makes them
• 15:28
  do these extraordinary things. That's right. Right? And sometimes those are very simple things. Yeah. It's knowing what to ask at the right time, knowing where to stand, knowing where not to stand. Right, right, right.
• 15:36
  Being a little observant of what's going on. Right, right. And now, you know, with all of the AI talk and all of this replacing people- Yeah... and all this technology saying, "Oh, we don't need a person to do this.
• 15:47
  We'll have the technology to do that," there's, there's this whole gap in between of like, well, it's not gonna be just technology. Right. And it's not gonna be- Right... just people. Right.
• 15:55
  What's your perspective on that, that type of thinking? 'Cause we're, just hear so much about- Yeah... "We don't need these jobs anymore. AI's gonna do-" Right... "your thing." Right.
• 16:02
  You know, "AI's gonna do your thing." Right. How, how do you approach this? Because you obviously have the advantage of being a startup. Yeah, yeah.
• 16:08
  So you get to start from a place instead of having to, like, retrofit and build. Yeah.
• 16:12
  So, so yeah, so it's a great segue into just sort of like, you know, I think what I think is my purpose and real, real sort of hope in creating Hey Greenlight.
• 16:22
  And, and we call it Hey Greenlight 'cause it's, it harkens to, like, you know, "Hey Greenlight, help me out with this," or, "Hey Google," or, "Hey, Zer-" You know, this idea that, like- Okay. Yeah, yeah...
• 16:29
  AI and technology should be a support mechanism to level you up- Mm-hmm... not to replace. Mm-hmm.
• 16:34
  And so here, here, here's my general take on it, is that there's obviously a rush of, of people, vendors, and ideas in a agentic AI space, right? Yes. Everywhere you go. 100%, in every industry. Five new ones a day.
• 16:46
  Exactly. Yeah.
• 16:48
  For me, though, I feel like that they've skipped over the most important part, which is the person and the human, and that the thinking is that, "Look, today this is how it's kind of been done before, where you have a human that kind of fumbles, is unsure- uncertain, not saying the right things, messing things up.
• 17:01
  So let's just try-- let's just create AI to essentially take over a lot of those things from them, um, and perhaps do it better, perhaps replace them."
• 17:10
  But for me, the thing is, and a, and a lot of AI companies and a lot of vendors will say, "Well, we're gonna take the tasks off your people's plates so that they have more time or more bandwidth to do other things."
• 17:19
  To do other higher level things, right? Right. But here, here's what I'll say- You hear that a lot... what's the point of that if they're really bad at doing those things?
• 17:25
  What's the point of that if they're not trained well to do those things? What's the point if they don't have the mechanism to be as good as possible at those things?
• 17:32
  'Cause you're saying you have people in this position right now.And they have room for improvement where they are. Right.
• 17:39
  And they've struggled to get that improvement, which is why we're constantly training, trying to do things. Right. So you're gonna take them out of that- Right...
• 17:45
  and you're gonna put them somewhere else and expect that that problem still isn't going to exist- [laughs]... is basically what I hear you say. Yeah, yeah.
• 17:50
  Yeah, so, as I was saying, so, like, great, so they have more time, but more time to do what, and to do it how well? Right. Because the reality is training is still difficult. Mm-hmm.
• 17:57
  Making sure they're actually doing what they're trained is very difficult. Mm-hmm. Then what? Three, six months later they're gone, right? And for a number of different reasons they're gone. Right.
• 18:04
  Back to our turnover conversation- Right, right... in the beginning.
• 18:06
  And, and so for me, I'm like, you know, the, the, the opportunity with AI is, is, yes, there's those elements of taking some tasks off your plate, doing those types of things, but you know, my philosophy is that it should be something that levels up every individual to create better human-to-human interactions.
• 18:25
  Mm-hmm. Right? Like, that's what it should be there for. And you know, that's, that's just our fundamental belief with what we're building. Well, the core thesis is humanity. Exactly. Right, right. Right?
• 18:32
  You're at, at the bottom of it all. Right. You're like- Right... "We're trying to enrich humanity"- Right, right, right... "not replace it." Right.
• 18:37
  So, and so here's where I see that, uh, here's where I see it kind of then manifesting or ultimately it solving some problems at, at, at a ground level for dealerships, which again, when you think about the long tail of all the dealerships that are out there, there's a lot of things that they're juggling.
• 18:49
  There's a lot of challenges. And, you know, ultimately they all care about customer service, but where does customer service rank?
• 18:57
  Like, where are they in the stack rank of all the priorities and challenges that they have? It's more about we need to make... We need to sell cars. We need to move steel. Right.
• 19:03
  Sometimes it's like good enough is the rank. Exactly. Right? Exactly. So, so, so what I think about is this, and, and, and, um, you know, I love...
• 19:10
  Like, a lot of people, uh, have heard of sort of, uh, you know, what, what Chewy does when your- Mm-hmm... when your pet passes away. Yes. Right? Um, and you know- And if you haven't heard- Yeah... they... Go ahead.
• 19:21
  So, so basically a lot of people, you know, if you have a dog, um, you know, you're on a subscription where you get, you know, your dog food every three months when you need it.
• 19:28
  But when the sad moment comes when your, when your do- your dog passes away and you have to let Chewy know that, uh, oftentimes they'll send you, whether it's a, a, like a hand-drawn portrait of your dog or they'll send you flowers or they'll send you a card, something expressing condolences- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm...
• 19:41
  right, for your loss, and usually a handwritten note from an employee. Mm-hmm. Uh, it's not something they advertise that they do. Yeah. Right? But it's something that happens.
• 19:47
  It, it- It's gotten around because- Right... they do it excellently. Exactly.
• 19:49
  So the point is, is that they create true connection in a time of emotional vulnerability, not to sell, right, but to say, "Hey, w- we've all shared this human experience." Mm-hmm. "We know how difficult that is.
• 20:01
  We're here for you in that regard." So, so when it comes down to ultimately with dealerships, um, you know, how do you ultimately inject and incorporate some element of that into every dealer, right? And it's...
• 20:12
  Again, it's hard for, like... Again, sales p- salesperson is gone, so how do they remember to send a thoughtful note or something like that?
• 20:18
  Or, you know, you're just kinda try- you know, you're, you're busy in your day-to-day, so how do you do that? Well, you know, that's where I think AI and technology can come in- Mm-hmm...
• 20:25
  to cr- help facilitate and create true personal connections in that regard. Mm-hmm. Um, and that's what we're trying to build. All right.
• 20:32
  Tell me, give me a little bit more specifics, so now, um, what does the product do? Yeah. Okay. [laughs] So, so, so yeah. So that all sounds so good. Right, right. Right? So, so- I want it.
• 20:40
  [laughs] So the quick elevator pitch is this. So, so, uh, Hey Greenlight, we have two core products. One is called Signal. One is called Wingman.
• 20:46
  So again, and they address those two kinda key problems that I saw when I was at TrueCar. I really like Wingman because it's a great- Ex- [laughs] It's a great product name. Exactly.
• 20:53
  Like, kind of my mind is already going, "Well, yeah." You know? And so we've all, we hope- Signal and Wingman. Yeah. Hopefully in our lives we've all had a great wingman to help us out.
• 20:59
  Uh, and so- Not that we've wanted one. Exa- exa- exactly. We've seen one on TV- Exactly... and we're like, "Boy, that'd be nice." Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And so, uh, so they address those two problems.
• 21:06
  So s- what Signal is is basically, um, w- in, i- i- i- basically in the time since we've launched and since I left TrueCar, I went out and did deals with credit bureaus, data providers, uh, all these different companies where basically in less than 60 seconds when a lead comes into a dealer, they send that lead to us through their CRM, and on that lead we can append credit score, income,
• 21:30
  number of children, current car you own, any brand affinities that you have. Uh, but also with all that data, we, we rank and score every lead by how likely they are or how close or how soon they'll buy a car. Mm-hmm.
• 21:42
  And, and so if you can think about it, imagine a dealer... You know, a lot of times a dealer don't... Yeah, again, the person sends in a lead. You don't know those people from anyone different. Mm-hmm.
• 21:51
  But if I knew that someone submitted a lead, and you know, they have this amount of income and that this is their credit score, you know, and ultimately they currently own a competitive brand, that's a conquest opportunity.
• 22:02
  Absolutely. I should be approaching that person differently- Way... than someone who might be, you know, a 22-year-old woman in, you know, LA, new job, thin credit file. Uh,
• 22:12
  I should be talking to her differently, maybe earlier in the journey- Mm-hmm... than someone who's, you know, a 62-year-old really wealthy, well-off person and, you know, here in Syracuse or something, right?
• 22:20
  They're buying for different reasons, yeah. 100%. Mm-hmm. A dealer doesn't necessarily know that when a lead comes in. No. So we built a product to do that for them, where we can say, "This is who this person is."
• 22:28
  Now, you can't match 100% of the people. Mm-hmm. But our value is that we can say, "Look, of the leads you've gotten, these are actually, like, fake leads, just people putting in James Smith and da, da, da." Yeah. Yeah.
• 22:37
  "But all the other leads we can match about 80, 85% of those people." Mm-hmm. Say, "This is who they are." Mm-hmm. And therefore, hopefully your sales folk...
• 22:43
  'Cause then we put all that into the CRM, into the dealer CRM. So we work with all the CRMs. And then hopefully the salesperson can see that and be like, "Okay, before I smile and dial, this is who I'm talking to.
• 22:52
  This is what I know. Okay, now let me use that to help me sort of best engage this person," right? Does, does it tell them how to engage with that person? That's where Wingman comes in. Okay, okay.
• 23:01
  That's, that's the next step, right? Oh, yeah. [laughs] So- If your people are great, you only need Signal. Oh, 100%. But if you have normal people- Right... you need Wingman too. [laughs] Right. Well, well, yeah, yeah.
• 23:08
  But also, and also this is the great thing about Signal is all the marketing folks at those dealerships where they can say, "Oh, by channel," by Facebook- Without a doubt... or Google.
• 23:15
  We can say, "Of all the leads-" The marketing brain goes off. Yes... right, you get from all those sources, let us aggregate and tell you all these things about those people so you can then start seeing patterns, right?
• 23:24
  Yes. So here's where Wingman comes in.
• 23:25
  So Wingman is basically, uh, it's a, you know, kind of a really unique product where it's a fully, it's a real-time AI-generated sales teleprompter.So whether it's- Okay, I'm getting it now. Yeah, so whether it's...
• 23:39
  Yeah, and again, there's no-- The key thing that, and again, this is where I think it's so important for me to listen to dealers because it's not a SaaS product that requires an account creation. There's no dashboard.
• 23:51
  There's no like, "Hey, I gotta buy this thing," and then set up a, an account for every single one of my salespeople.
• 23:55
  I have no idea how you're pulling that off, but I think I can hear the round of applause- [laughs] So, yeah... in my head because we hear that all the time, another platform- Right...
• 24:02
  another login, another set- Right, and that is not the case yet. Yeah, another dashboard. Right. Okay.
• 24:06
  So basically, let me-- So what the product is basically at a high level, then I'll tell you how it works, is basically, um, you know, in real ti- lead comes in in real time.
• 24:13
  A salesperson can either be looking at their desktop computer or on their phone, so it's either one. Mm-hmm. And basically, we've built a system such that it listens to the customer- Mm-hmm...
• 24:22
  and in near real time, it tells the salesperson exactly what to say with the information, and it does it a couple ways. So signal data comes in. I see it's this type of a person. They're interested in a full-size SUV.
• 24:34
  We know that they're 42, female, this credit score, has kids at the house, so we know all this stuff about her.
• 24:41
  So therefore, the questions it asks, the responses it gives, the tone by which it gives those responses are custom to that person. I can now see how, like, these models would be very good at this. Yes.
• 24:52
  Right, and so that, that's kind of one of the things that I realized too with AI in automotive, but, uh, it just sales AI, AI used for sales in general, is that there's tweaks to, uh, there's tweaks to these LLMs and, and whatnot for the industry specifically- Absolutely...
• 25:06
  but not tweaks for the person. And so that's sort of what we've done now, where basically in the context of understanding who the lead is, we in real time dynamically customize- It, it absorbs it. Yes.
• 25:17
  It ingests the persona. That's right. That's right. And it c- comes back out- That's right... and I'm assuming in a way that feels natural to- 100%... the person. And that's the beauty.
• 25:23
  So like- And so it just comes up on their screen like- Comes up on the screen... "Here's your script." And listen, the beauty is that, is that the human element is you can extemporize.
• 25:29
  If they're like, "Oh, you know, yeah, I've, I have, you know, I need space for my three kids," "Oh," like the salesperson, "Oh, great, I actually have two kids of my own- Right...
• 25:36
  and, you know, I love this car for these reasons," and then but in the sales teleprompter- Right, the Wingman actually in all the things never actually takes over. No. They're always like- It's still a human...
• 25:44
  "We should go that way." So imagine you're talking to an AI agent, and you're just like, "Oh, yeah, you know, I don't know, could it fit three car seats in the back?" And you, let's say you don't know it's an AI.
• 25:51
  You're like, "I don't know. Have you driven this? What do you think?" AI agent can't reflect, right? Yeah. Well, human- Well, yeah, so I don't drive cars. Right, exactly. Right. Right. I can't tell you, but- Yeah...
• 25:59
  uh, this is what I see a lot. But some people say, yeah. Right, but like, um, but a human can be like, "No, actually I just drove one. I have one myself." Yeah. Or like, you know?
• 26:06
  And so, and so we need to, uh, think of it as almost like a Jarvis for Iron Man. Like it needs to make that- Another good one. Yeah, it needs to make that person better.
• 26:15
  But the more thing that I realized when, as we now roll it out and, and test it with some dealers, is that it actually conveys confidence, and if, as you know with anything, confidence is what sells. Right.
• 26:25
  And- And I bet, I bet the, the BDC rep or the salesperson feels confident- Yes... when they know- Yes... that they don't have to do all the mental- No. Because when you start burning brain cycles- Right...
• 26:36
  on the anticipation of what- Yeah... they're gonna say and how do I respond- Right... you stop listening. Right. Right? You start formulating what you're going to say next. Right.
• 26:43
  And they say this of all great conversationalists. Yeah. Right? Somebody who is, as you're talking, um, just like, "What am I gonna say next?" Right. [laughs] Right? You can never really- Right, right...
• 26:51
  be in a good conversation- Right, right... because you're not really listening. Right. I feel like this is one of-- And people pay a lot of money to get trained to do that. Yes. Right, right, right.
• 26:58
  And so this is like you're taking that emotional- Right... anxiety off the, like... And they can actually listen now- That's 100%...
• 27:05
  because they know there's gonna be, like, a response that they can choose to use or leverage- That's right... keyed up for them. So that's a key thing. So it's just sort of like imagine then you get to objections, right?
• 27:14
  And for us, the way that we trained Wingman is that they're not objections, they're opportunities to build trust, right? Mm-hmm. And so, you know, how do you ultimately handle those? But here, here's the thing.
• 27:24
  So like you can train salespeople, and great salespeople do this naturally anyways, but you can train salespeople all day on how to handle objections. Absolutely.
• 27:31
  When that moment comes and you're, you're facing the fire- It's a confidence issue. Right, like- Yeah... are you gonna say the right things? Is your tone gonna be confident?
• 27:37
  Are you gonna be not just saying the right thing, but then using it as an opportunity to bring them into building more trust with them? You know? Again, that's, that's a, a highly skilled salesperson- Ex- exactly...
• 27:46
  that has a combination of natural ability- Right... and- Right... training.
• 27:50
  And so Wingman puts that on the screen where the confidence there from saying, "Well, okay, I know this is what I need to say to this objection, um, so at least, at least I'm not stumbling in that regard." Mm-hmm.
• 28:00
  Mm-hmm. "And then let me convey it," saying like, "Okay, I'm not trying to find the words," or, "Oh, shoot, what was I supposed to say in this part?" Right? Like- Yeah... it's there.
• 28:06
  And so, so everything from information of being... So for example, like, you know, you could say, "Oh, how big is the trunk?" And they could be like, "Oh, it's, you know, 39 cubic feet," or whatever. Yeah.
• 28:14
  And, and then perhaps an AI or like a d- an answer will say that or if even if you look that up online. But then the way we've trained is that it's all trained and optimized in question-based selling is- Mm-hmm...
• 28:22
  is what we've sort of, uh, built into it. And so, you know, the real... Then, then it's like, "Oh, it's, it's, yeah, it's 39 cubic feet," but what does that mean to anyone, right? Yeah. Right. So then- Right...
• 28:31
  on Wingman, the prompt will say, "Well, just tell me a little bit about what are you usually carrying around every day?
• 28:35
  You mentioned that you had three kids, so I just want, like, I imagine da, da, da, da," like, and it says that all there, and it's asking the questions to get at the heart of like, what is this person really looking for?
• 28:43
  What do they really need? Mm-hmm. Um, and that's the beauty of it.
• 28:46
  And then, and so all the questions are leading based off of the information it's getting, but, but the key thing about it is prior, as you know, prior to a lot of phone calls, there's text messages being exchanged.
• 28:55
  Yes, yes. There's emails being exchanged. Oh, lots of communication.
• 28:56
  Wingman takes all of that-Builds it into the prompt for you so that the questions it's asking, the things it's referring to, are things that you've already texted about.
• 29:05
  So you're not starting from- Knows all the context... the beginning. Right. 100%. 'Cause there's nothing worse than that. Right. Starting- And everyone's had that- Right... "Oh, how can I help you?" It's like- Right.
• 29:11
  I just- [laughs] It's like, "Didn't you just-" [laughs] I've a- Right... yeah, I've answered that seven times already. Right, right, right, right. You're making me angry. Right.
• 29:16
  And so a, uh, dealers who are te- who are, uh, using it now, basically then Wingman can be applied and utilized at every different department- Mm-hmm...
• 29:23
  so that it's all that stuff is consolidated, and then we're actually, uh, we're actually working on some really cool things now. I don't know how much to say, but, uh- That's up to you.
• 29:31
  [laughs] Our, our, our team is working on actually really cool, some really cool things now that then use all of that information and that teleprompter technology for content creation. Mm-hmm.
• 29:39
  But also for us to take what's... 'Cause obviously when a person walks, walks in or there's a show up, like, there's a lot of conversation that's happening that's not captured digitally, right? And, or on a phone call.
• 29:50
  So we're actually working on technology that will take what's happening in the actual in-person interaction and putting that into Wingman as well. Oh, wow.
• 29:56
  So then the, so classic case, I'll just say this, is that, you know, so again, you know, we just had our, our third girl, our third baby. Oh, congrats. [laughs] Thank you.
• 30:03
  And, uh, and, uh, and, and I'm here, not at home helping out, but anyways. [laughs] Uh, no, but, uh, but, uh- Do you make Wingman for relationships too?
• 30:10
  Uh, uh, I was gonna say, uh- This is how you approach this whole- Right, right, right, right. [laughs] You know, put, put the, uh, the long, uh, upset text from my wife into ChatGPT and tell me, come up with a response.
• 30:19
  But, uh- I totally understand how you feel. Right. Right? Like all the- Right, right, right... the typical GPT responses. E- e- exactly. It must be very difficult. Can I use question-based selling to, you know- Yeah.
• 30:26
  [laughs]... respond to my wife? So no. Um, what I was gonna say is that, you know, so we're in the market to get a new family car and, you know, we're shopping around different dealerships.
• 30:33
  We live, uh, in, in, in Phoenix and Scottsdale. And, um, you know, a lot of the follow-up I'm seeing is very generic. Mm-hmm. Fine. Mm-hmm. Like, it's like, oh, you know, we go, we test drive.
• 30:43
  Get a text message saying, "Oh, you know, thanks for coming in. Do you have any questions? And, you know, are, are you still interested?" And whatever. Yeah.
• 30:49
  Um, but in the interaction between my wife and the salesperson, she's saying, "You know, we just had our third baby, literally two weeks old." Um- Oh, that context in a text message- Right. Yeah... would be amazing.
• 30:58
  Oh, uh, you know, I don't really care about, my wife doesn't care about technology. She cares about space. She cares about handling- Mm-hmm... right? And fitting three car seats in the second row. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
• 31:06
  But she could, she doesn't care about, you know- Oh, great... driver assist or this or that. Yeah. Uh- Like, "Why is the car beeping at me?" Yeah, exactly. I don't know. It's more of a distraction.
• 31:13
  Like I just, uh, I don't need that stuff. Yeah. Right? And so, but none of that is referenced in any of the follow-ups with her. If those dealers were on Wingman, it would though. Oh, that's big. Right.
• 31:23
  So- Yeah, I've never seen anything- Yeah... that wasn't a text message from a human- Right... who was trained well and was naturally good- Right, right... to build some of that. Wingman, every salesperson can do that.
• 31:32
  Because what Wingman will say is like, you know, either, look, look, if a dealer, if a salesperson's sending texts to their CRM, fine, they don't have to send it through Wingman, but Wingman provides all the recommended things to say based off of the conversation that's happened, based off of all the previous prior interactions and engagement.
• 31:46
  "Hey, it's been two days. Follow up with this text message. Hey, Sar, again, thanks so much for coming in. Congrats on the baby. We're so excited at the thought of being, uh, you know, your family car.
• 31:57
  Hope you're getting some sleep." Yes. [laughs] Uh, you know, like, what, you know, so, like that reference, right, is really- Oh, that's such a game changer. Right.
• 32:03
  You know, uh, I've heard the phrase a lot, "AI is democratizing things." Mm-hmm. Right? Like, it- Right... democratized, um, creative now- Yeah... more, more than ever, right? Right, right. Oh, anyone can make pictures.
• 32:14
  Just the way that Instagram did- Sure, yep... democratizing photography. Mm-hmm. Now, what you're tel- talking about is, like, it democratizing context. Yes. Empathy. Yes. Right? Right. In, in a high level. Right.
• 32:24
  So back to the beginning, we were talking about the, the lowest qualified person possible- Right... can be built up- Right... to deliver these exceptional experiences, even an exceptional text message. That's right.
• 32:32
  That's right.
• 32:33
  And so that's why, so look, so part of Wingman is we, we call it, so, like, th- look, again, there's a lot a, there's a lot of things AI can handle on its own, and we have that product like a lot of the other folks out there.
• 32:43
  We call her LANE, which stands for Lead Augmentation and Nurture Engine. Mm-hmm.
• 32:46
  So LANE can handle those things and effective- But the way we see it is that LANE is the salesperson's true AI assistant versus an AI technology for the dealership. Mm-hmm.
• 32:56
  So person calls in, "I'm a salesperson," LANE's gonna say, "Hey, Paul, thanks so much for calling Jay. Look, he's on the phone right now. I'm his, I'm LANE, his AI assistant. Happy to have him call you back.
• 33:06
  Let me know when works best. Or if you have any specific questions, I'm happy to just answer them for you first, and then I'll let him know so he can follow," or whatever, right?
• 33:12
  But, like, so the way it's framed is that, and we- we're always very upfront that LANE is AI. Mm-hmm. Because I think our industry already has some credibility issues with dealers. For sure.
• 33:20
  Like, I- we don't want to- For sure... mass effect only- Yes... to find out, like, "Wait a second. I'm talking to an AI." All done. Yes. Yeah, right? Yes, yes, yes. So we're very upfront that it is.
• 33:27
  Uh, we actually find in our tests, in our, in our, in our tests with that, that actually, it actually more people engage with it knowing that it was AI than they didn't. I, I, I believe so. Right.
• 33:34
  And so, um- Takes some pressure off, actually. 100%. Yeah. She actually jokes. She's like, 'cause again, my whole thing is that there should be joy, there should be fun.
• 33:40
  Like, I know it's like, but, like, she jokes, she's like, "Listen, I'm AI, so you could be talking to me in the bathroom." Yeah, right. If no awkward- No judgment... no awkward- Yeah, yeah.
• 33:47
  [laughs] Yeah, no awkward goodbye. [laughs] Just hang up if you want. You know? Yeah. There's no question that, I think every question you ask is a brilliant question. Yeah. [laughs] Right?
• 33:54
  So, like, she jokes about those things 'cause again, it, it should be that, that's the human side to the degree you can incorporate that into AI work, I think. Yes.
• 33:59
  Yeah, and I think that we're saying, like, hey- 100%, 100%... we're building a great experience. But Wingman is that thing where, again, the human element I think is going to be so central- Mm-hmm...
• 34:09
  to that car shopping experience. Let's make them better, one, and then two, um, ultimately to, we, the other thing, we, we actually, we have call scoring integrated into it- Mm-hmm...
• 34:19
  so that the dealer will see how well that salesperson is actually using Wingman in that regard, um, in terms of following the prompt, saying what they're saying, enthusiasm, empathy, like a discovery, the question.
• 34:29
  Like, and yes, as, as long as they follow Wingman, it should score very highly. Mm-hmm. But it can, but it can, but it'll still provide that feedback too. Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah.
• 34:37
  And then, um, yeah, and then we're, we're working on a number of things to then help that salespeople create content for that customer after the call as well. Well, Jay, we love a good startup story. Yeah.
• 34:46
  [laughs] And we especially love one that's leveraging technology- Yeah... to make the humans better. Yeah, yeah.
• 34:50
  That's, that's, that's just what we're trying to do, 'cause I think ultimately it's, it pains me to think about a dealer paying good money for leads, burning those leads while they train somebody, uh, only for that person to leave at some point and, and, and, and sort of not, not giving that person the best shot at being successful.
• 35:07
  That, that to me- Mm... is really, really important, and I think success is born from a true engagement interaction between that salesperson and that customer. Man, I couldn't agree with you more. Yeah.
• 35:18
  Well, thanks for making the trip out to, to- Oh, I appreciate it... to Chili's here in Houston, be in the studio today. Of course. [laughs] Can't wait to follow the journey next year. Thank you for having me.
• 35:23
  Thank you for having me. Yeah.All right. I love-- We've been talking about the 2026 being the year of the human- Yeah...
• 35:34
  when everyone's talking about the year of AI, the year of robotics, and Jay just embodies that mentality through and through. He understands what technology is intended to do. It's not a fix-all.
• 35:44
  It's not something that is supposed to replace human thinking or strategy or the human connection.
• 35:50
  It's something that's supposed to enhance it, which is why I'm so excited about what he's doing, and I'm so excited that he's got a voice in this industry. Okay.
• 36:01
  A- because you said it first, and I think this is a fundamental position that we ha- we all share, I mean, Kyle and I have talked about this, um, off and on, which is technology in a vacuum
• 36:15
  can actually cause more problems than it's worth- Yeah... sometimes than it should. Well, abso- I would say absolutely.
• 36:22
  But if the methodology or the, the brainwave around technology and its adoption is to speed up human connection, like, "Hey, I'm adopting this because it will bring people into my environment to experience me, the hospitality, the environment, the process," so on and so forth- Mm-hmm...
• 36:40
  that's where you really win, and I think that's what makes Jay's positioning here, uh, brilliant is he's not thinking about technology.
• 36:48
  A- as a, as a martech entrepreneur, he's not thinking about it as, "Hey, this is gonna look really good on your P&L." I know, Paul, you've talked about this before. Mm. This is gonna speed up human connection.
• 36:59
  This is gonna allow or empower the customer to experience the best your people have to offer them. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, I'm, I'm obsessed with that mentality when building technology, that it is...
• 37:12
  it's a, it's a connector enhancement instead of a removal. Uh, and I'm grateful that we got to hang out with, uh, wi- with Jay and hear from that. So, uh, Paul, thanks for f- conducting the great interview.
• 37:24
  On behalf of Paul Jay Daly, Michael Cirillo, and myself, Kyle Mounts here, thanks for joining us on Auto Collabs. Like, subscribe, mash the buttons. Go.
• 37:32
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• 37:46
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