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Articles by Michael
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14K followers
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Michael Affronti shared this💤 Most dealerships are sitting on decades of customer records they can’t actually use. People moved. Phone numbers changed. Cars got sold, traded in, handed down to a kid in college. The record that was gold in 2014 is a dead end in 2026. And here’s the part the industry keeps skipping: every AI tool is only as smart as the data underneath it. An agent texting a number that’s been disconnected for six years isn’t intelligent. It’s just fast. ⚡ That’s the problem behind this week's news. 🤝 DriveCentric is partnering with Data Axle to turn dormant dealership records into live, AI-ready customer intelligence. ✅ Verified contact info ✅ Linked customer and household records ✅ NCOA and Do Not Call screening built in All of it flows into our Customer Data Platform, where it powers Genius AI, AI Agents, and every engagement workflow on the platform. The thesis is simple. Before you ask AI to work your database, make sure your database is telling the truth. 🚀 Big credit to Joe Hampton and the Data Axle team for getting this one done. Rolling out to DriveCentric dealers later this quarter. https://lnkd.in/g4wEai8QDriveCentric Partners with Data Axle to Turn Decades of Dormant Dealership Records into AI-Ready Customer IntelligenceDriveCentric Partners with Data Axle to Turn Decades of Dormant Dealership Records into AI-Ready Customer Intelligence
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Michael Affronti shared this🧠 AI gets a lot of attention. The data underneath it matters just as much. 🚀 We just announced the DriveCentric Customer Data Platform (CDP), a new data foundation for group-level customer intelligence. ➡️ Here’s the problem every dealer group knows: customer data is fragmented by store and by system. CRM here, DMS there, third-party tools everywhere. Nobody sees the full relationship. But your customers don’t think of themselves as belonging to one store. (Thank you Dennis Gingrich at The Niello Company for saying it perfectly.) The CDP combines customer, vehicle, transaction, service, and communication data into one complete record across every rooftop. The first component is the Enterprise Customer Profile: identity, deal history, service history, and activity unified across the group, with permissions and store-level attribution intact. This is not another place to manage data. It’s the foundation that makes everything on top of it smarter. Engagement, reporting, and AI all get better context, because fragmented data produces incomplete intelligence. One platform. One customer. Now at the group level. Huge credit our teams that built this. Early Access is open for dealer groups now: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gU34rUdb #AIEngagementPlatform #AutomotiveRetail #CustomerDataPlatform #DealerGroupsDriveCentric Builds New Data Foundation for Group-Level Customer IntelligenceDriveCentric Builds New Data Foundation for Group-Level Customer Intelligence
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Michael Affronti reposted thisDC20 was amazing. Learning. Meeting great people. And the harbor cruise!!!Michael Affronti reposted thisA full day of big takeaways, new ideas and pages of notes. Then we took DC20 West to the water. 🌊🛥️ From rethinking tasks and manager accountability to engagement strategies dealers can take straight back to their stores, Day 1 gave us plenty to talk about as we cruised the San Diego Bay. The best part of DC20? Learning from each other, building relationships and having a little fun along the way. 😎 Steve Roessler Car Wars Informativ CallRevu ACV Auctions GoTo automotiveMastermind Inc. Urban Science RockED #DC20West #DriveCentric #AutomotiveRetail #SanDiego
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Michael Affronti reposted thisMichael Affronti reposted thisAll you have to do, is shake my hand and you are at #DC20. Anyone want to go to the next one? 😎. DriveCentric
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Michael Affronti reposted thisMichael Affronti reposted thisSan Diego, we’re here! 🌴🌊 DC20 West officially kicked off with a packed welcome party at the Omni San Diego! Dealers from across the country came together for a night of great conversations, new connections, and a little fun before we get down to business. The room is full, the energy is high, and we’re just getting started. 😎 Day 1, here we come! Steve Roessler Matthew Leone Michael Affronti Eric Bluhm Dennis Gingrich Brittany Ouellette #DC20West #DriveCentric #LiveWithDrive
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Michael Affronti reposted thisMichael Affronti reposted thisCRM Survey data collection ends in 4 days. The customers of DriveCentric and VinSolutions by Cox Automotive are enthusiastic in helping make this survey a meaningful part of the 2027 Automotive CRM Research Report. Dealership leaders with CRM experience are invited to take the survey: https://lnkd.in/eatBkjZM
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Michael Affronti shared thisThe best AI doesn't just automate tasks. It knows when to act. 🧠 A customer gets a trade valuation on your website. That's not a form fill. That's someone telling you, right now, they might be ready to sell. The window is minutes, not days. Acquire Agent lives in that window. It picks up the exact number the customer just received (no new number, no recalculation) and starts the conversation toward an appointment before they take that valuation down the street. What I care about most is how it's built. Native to the DriveCentric Engagement Platform. Same Customer Card your team already works in. No bolt-on, no new vendor. Service-to-Sales Agent went GA in August. Acquire Agent opens Early Access October 15. Our AI Labs team is shipping a new native agent roughly every 30 days, and each one gets smarter because they share the same customer context. Purpose-built agents. One platform. One customer. That's the bet. 🤘 Big credit to the DriveCentric AI Labs team who built this one from the ground up with our amazing customers. 💪 #DriveCentric #AcquireAgent #AutomotiveAI #DealershipTechnology Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/g59GCHMv
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Michael Affronti liked thisMost physical AI that's here was started years before the hype cycle. Diego Ferreiro Val, Trebellar, Jenny Fielding, Michael Barone, Eileen McRaeMichael Affronti liked thisBuildings generate plenty of data. The teams running them still struggle to get a clear picture of what’s happening. When occupancy, maintenance, and workplace data live in separate systems, even basic questions take work: Which spaces are underused? What needs attention? Where can we cut costs? That’s what Trebellar is building: one AI-powered platform that connects the data and helps teams act on it. With their $18M Series A, Diego Ferreiro Val and the team are bringing that approach to more enterprise real estate portfolios. Excited to be part of the journey! cc Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Michael Barone, Eileen McRae, Diego Ferreiro Val #PropTech #AI #EverywhereVentures
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Michael Affronti liked thisMichael Affronti liked thisAmit Chandarana is heading West! Amit grew up in his dad’s tire shops, so he learned early that service is what keeps a store’s doors open. He went on to build a career across the auto industry, with stops at Toyota, Edmunds and Roadster, before becoming CEO of Curbee, the technology behind dealership mobile service. That service-first instinct still shapes how he thinks about growing a store. When a dealership needs more service capacity, the usual answer is another bay. Amit’s case is that a mobile unit can add that capacity for a fraction of the cost and meet customers where they already are. He’ll make that case on the mobile service panel at ASOTU CON West alongside Ed Roberts and Amir Alahwal! Don’t miss “Mastering Mobile Service With The Best In The Business” on November 18 in Los Angeles: asotuconwest.com
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Michael Affronti liked thisMichael Affronti liked thisWe have a few roles open at Sol. Pinging my network to see who's game to help with our product marketing ramp. Amazing company of experts. Come join us! https://lnkd.in/gSDs5hjr
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Michael Affronti liked thisMichael Affronti liked thisIf you know me, you know i work hard and play harder. Made it to #55 today and what better song to play! Appreciate all the people ive met over the years in 3 different industries. Thanks for all the bday wishes. Enjoy!
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Michael Affronti liked thisThank you Tully Williams for telling it like it is. I’m very excited to help build the Service Engagement Hub for our dealers. Exceed customer expectations. Increase customer retention. Drive customer engagement. HWFG!Michael Affronti liked thisMeet FixedOps & Furious with Tully Williams. 🎬 Tully is the fixed ops director at Niello, and he knows what separates a great service drive from an average one. Most dealers are trying to get the money today, while the best dealers are building a service drive that brings customers back, gets them into their next car, and sends their friends and family along too. In his words, “Repeat and referral business is the business that we’re truly in.” New episodes every other week, so follow along. #DriveCentric #FixedOps #LiveWithDrive
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Michael Affronti liked thisMichael Affronti liked thisMoving fast is one of the strongest signals a founder can send. For investors, speed, responsiveness, and follow-through can go a long way in building confidence in the vision. Scott Hartley, recently joined the Next Round Ready podcast to share his perspective on what investors look for in founders and lessons learned from investing in startups around the world. Check out the clip below! 👇 Full episode linked in the comments. #EverywhereVentures #VentureCapital #StartupFounders, #Entrepreneurship #PreSeedInvesting #NextRoundReady cc Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Michael Barone, Eileen McRae, Christopher Hines, Next Round Ready
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Michael Affronti liked thisMichael Affronti liked thisThe real power in this room wasn't on the stage. It was sitting in the seats. Decades of experience. Millions of decisions. Businesses built, lessons learned, and some of the brightest minds shaping the future of automotive, all under one roof. For me, here's what made it special. The people who came to teach also came to learn. Titles didn't matter. Curiosity did. Ideas were challenged, perspectives shifted, and new relationships were built. The Automotive AI Summit was never meant to be just a one-day event. The real impact begins when the room empties, the conversations continue, and the lessons turn into action. We're just getting started.
Experience & Education
Licenses & Certifications
Publications
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This is How Long it Should Take to Make a Decision
Fortune.com
See publicationData alone won’t suffice.
The Entrepreneur Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question “When making a tough business decision, how do you know when to trust your gut?” is written by Tim Flannery, a venture partner at Pilot Mountain Ventures. -
"ThinkingPhones collaboration app integrates with Gmail"
TechTarget
See publicationThinkingPhones integrates click-to-call, instant messaging and presence capabilities into Gmail. The collaboration app looks to limit context switch.
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A Product Manager Should Be The Most Curious Person In The Room
AlleyWatch
See publicationWhat is the simplest advice that I can give? Do not wait if you are curious about why something is. Get curious and ask questions.
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Eat Your Dogfood
AlleyWatch
See publicationI remember when I first heard the question “Are you dogfooding?” shortly after arriving at Microsoft in 2004. I was puzzled why anyone would not use their own company’s products, especially when they were on the product team that built them.
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How I Grew My Network By 142 People Last Month
AlleyWatch
See publicationI’ve always loved meeting new people. When I was a child I walked around the play area at my kindergarten school and offered up whatever toy I had in my hand to other kids to get them to share and play with me. It’s been thirty...
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How I Actually Get Work Done At Work
AlleyWatch
See publicationIt’s here. One of those miraculous days where you only have a few meetings, no travel, and there are some open spots on your calendar. Incredible!
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Earning Your Customers Trust: Act Like Their Butcher
AlleyWatch
See publicationIn the early 1960s my grandfather and his brothers, entrepreneurs in the truest sense, opened a small Italian-style butcher shop on Smith Street in Brooklyn called LosPaisanos Meat Market.
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How I Use LinkedIn As a Personal CRM System
AlleyWatch
See publicationIn addition to the standard ways of using LinkedIn – searching for people you’ve met or will meet, connecting with them and then browsing their co-workers – you can use LinkedIn as a lightweight CRM system that has great mobile integration.
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Why I Wake Up at 4:22 AM
AlleyWatch
See publicationRoutines, established schedules and quality sleep patterns can help boost productivity. Check out this example.
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Crossfit and Startups Are Basically The Same Thing
AlleyWatch
See publication“Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary, because health is worth more than learning.” — Thomas Jefferson
Patents
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Predicting preferred communication patterns
Issued US 10,764,232
See patentMethods for predicting preferred communications patterns are provided. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a request from a first user to initiate communication with a second user by a first communication method, determining a communication preference hierarchy of the second user based on a plurality of factors concerning the second user, wherein the plurality of factors include a presence state, selecting a second communication method from the communication preference hierarchy, wherein…
Methods for predicting preferred communications patterns are provided. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a request from a first user to initiate communication with a second user by a first communication method, determining a communication preference hierarchy of the second user based on a plurality of factors concerning the second user, wherein the plurality of factors include a presence state, selecting a second communication method from the communication preference hierarchy, wherein the second communication method is preferred over the first communication method in the communication preference hierarchy, and in response to the request from the first user, providing a recommendation to the first user to communicate with the second user by the second communication method. Systems and machine-readable media are also provided.
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Sharing Framework for Resource Sharing
Issued US 7,702,802
See patentA sharing infrastructure is directed at providing a framework for sharing resources between initiators and participants. The sharing infrastructure is designed to manage and direct various sharing providers, articulate information about sharing relationships, and to provide a framework for pluggable data sharing, data discovery, schema translation, and conflict resolution. The infrastructure allows for common sharing operations to be implemented in a more centralized fashion, and eases the cost…
A sharing infrastructure is directed at providing a framework for sharing resources between initiators and participants. The sharing infrastructure is designed to manage and direct various sharing providers, articulate information about sharing relationships, and to provide a framework for pluggable data sharing, data discovery, schema translation, and conflict resolution. The infrastructure allows for common sharing operations to be implemented in a more centralized fashion, and eases the cost of implementing new sharing providers. An extensible and pluggable provider model eases remote and local configuration; schema mapping; and protocol handling. A sharing protocol is defined that relates to establishing and managing a sharing relationship.
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Automatic Conversation Techniques
Issued US 8,402,096
Automatic conversation techniques are described. An apparatus may comprise a computing device having an incoming message module operative to receive an incoming message, a conversation identification module communicatively coupled to the incoming message module, the conversation identification module operative to determine the incoming message is part of a conversation thread, and associate the incoming message with the conversation thread by setting a conversation identifier property of the…
Automatic conversation techniques are described. An apparatus may comprise a computing device having an incoming message module operative to receive an incoming message, a conversation identification module communicatively coupled to the incoming message module, the conversation identification module operative to determine the incoming message is part of a conversation thread, and associate the incoming message with the conversation thread by setting a conversation identifier property of the incoming message to a conversation identifier for the conversation thread, and a conversation manager module communicatively coupled to the conversation identification module, the conversation manager module operative to determine a conversation rule is associated with the conversation thread, and apply the conversation rule to the incoming message. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
Other inventorsSee patent
Honors & Awards
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Microsoft Technology Research Transfer Award
Microsoft
I co-wrote the business case for the Outlook Social Connector (OSC), a v1 social networking project, by defining the overall strategy and pitching the concept for executive leadership buy-in. We had a very fast, compressed schedule, and I led a unique collaboration with the Creative Systems Group within Microsoft Research to prototype and test the OSC outside of the standard Office development process.
My partnership with Microsoft Research was recognized by my leadership with a…I co-wrote the business case for the Outlook Social Connector (OSC), a v1 social networking project, by defining the overall strategy and pitching the concept for executive leadership buy-in. We had a very fast, compressed schedule, and I led a unique collaboration with the Creative Systems Group within Microsoft Research to prototype and test the OSC outside of the standard Office development process.
My partnership with Microsoft Research was recognized by my leadership with a Microsoft Research Technology Transfer Award. -
Microsoft Executive Bench Program
Microsoft
I was selected as part of the top 1% of employees at Microsoft to participate in a multi-year training and education program that prepared us to enter the executive leadership team at Microsoft. I began the program during my second year and was continually re-accepted each year throughout my tenure at Microsoft.
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