Auto Collabs
Collaboration through connection.
Hosted by Paul J Daly, Kyle Mountsier, and Michael Cirillo, Auto Collabs is your connect point to the human side of the retail automotive industry: what motivates its leaders, how they navigate change, and what keeps them pushing forward. It’s beyond-the-business-card conversations with real people powering dealerships, technology platforms, and everything in between.
From the team behind the More Than Cars movement, this podcast is built on one big belief: thriving people create thriving businesses. With candid conversations, industry insight, and just enough unfiltered banter to keep things interesting, Auto Collabs delivers authentic stories that inspire real collaboration.
// Auto Collabs is produced by Automotive State of the Union (ASOTU). Learn more at https://www.asotu.com
Auto Collabs
The Startup Rule That Beats Billion-Dollar Competitors And Dealers Should Pay Attention To
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Most companies chase growth—Sanjay Varnwal is chasing velocity, and it’s changing how dealers think about inventory, AI, and survival.
In this episode, the crew sits down with Sanjay Varnwal, co-founder of Spyne, to unpack how dealerships can compete in an industry where every day a vehicle sits unsold costs real money. From AI-powered merchandising to appointment-setting agents that never sleep, Sanjay explains why “inventory turnaround time” may be the most important metric dealers aren’t thinking deeply enough about.
But this conversation goes way beyond software. Sanjay opens up about building a company across two hemispheres, flying 16 hours between India and the U.S., scaling a 150-person team, and why startup culture survives on one thing: speed with focus. Along the way, the team dives into entrepreneurship, tennis psychology, bad in-flight movies, and the mindset every operator needs when the competition keeps getting faster.
Timestamped Takeaways
0:00 Why Every Unsold Vehicle Quietly Costs Dealers Money Every Single Day
2:36 The Moment Sanjay Realized Auto Retail Was a Massive Opportunity
4:41 How Spyne Helped Dealers Compete With Carvana-Level Merchandising
6:46 Scaling to 2,000+ Dealerships by Solving One Problem Exceptionally Well
7:53 What It Really Looks Like to Run a Global Company Across Two Hemispheres
10:46 The Hidden Mental Toll of Constant Time Zone Switching
12:17 The Startup Advantage Big Companies Can’t Replicate Fast Enough
14:42 Why Speed Is the Only Weapon Startups Truly Have
16:06 The Real KPI Dealers Should Organize Their Entire Business Around
19:30 The Tennis Lesson Every Entrepreneur Needs to Hear Right Now
21:38 How AI Agents Are Changing Appointment Setting and Dealer Operations
27:26 Velocity Isn’t Just Speed — It’s Speed With Relentless Focus
Connect with Sanjay Varnwal at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjaykv/
Learn more about Spyne at https://www.spyne.ai/
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