The conversation centers on the NCM event in Kansas City and the tight-knit V20 community behind it, including how David Cain “handpicks the people who are here.” Tim Hayden shares how his team educates clients on data and artificial intelligence, with an eye toward what’s next—agents, quantum computing, solar energy, and even electric cars. The hosts connect that to dealer readiness for AI agents, then zoom out to how partnerships and iterative “brewing” help the industry learn together.
In this special Series NCM Event Conversations we grabbed a few of our favorite guest to talk about their experiences and whats happening in our Industry. In this interview Lou Ramirez and Fred Lennartz speak with Tim Hayden.
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"and pumped up about that. And V20 in the house. We got a lot of V20 members that are out here for this event rightfully."
“V20” here means a specific group of automotive members. It’s basically a club/community name, not something about a particular car.
“V20” is being used here as a named membership group/category for automotive people attending the event. It’s not a car model or a standard automotive term; in this context it functions like a branded community label.
Topic
NCM Event Conversations
"and pumped up about that. And V20 in the house. We got a lot of V20 members that are out here for this event rightfully."
This segment is a conversation tied to the “NCM Event Conversations” format, focusing on attendees and how the event community is built. It’s more about the event network and participation than specific vehicle tech.
Term
Z2
"Several people from my cohort, cohort, which is two were the deuce, right? The deuce in V20. [171.7s] Z2. They're here as well."
“Z2” is said like a label, but the transcript doesn’t clearly explain what it means. It could be a car reference or an internal group name.
“Z2” is mentioned as part of the speaker’s group context (“The deuce in V20. Z2.”). Without additional context, it’s unclear whether this refers to a specific car model/trim or another internal membership label.
"somebody said yesterday that David Cain is the most trusted guy in automotive. And if he's the most trusted guy in automotive, I think we're seeing that materialized here in terms of who he trusts and wants to be here, right?"
David Cain is mentioned as a well-known, trusted automotive person. The host is saying he personally chooses and invites the right people to events like this.
David Cain is presented as a highly trusted figure in the automotive space, and the speaker describes how he curates who gets invited to the event. The discussion frames him as an influencer/connector whose network shapes participation.
"It was traditionally in Lexington. Now that we're having it here in Kansas City, this is your very first one being part of the V20 group."
Lexington is mentioned as the event’s old home location. The speaker is saying the event has moved to a new city.
Lexington is referenced as the event’s traditional location before it moved. In this segment, it’s used to highlight a change in where the automotive gathering is held.
"It was traditionally in Lexington. Now that we're having it here in Kansas City, this is your very first one being part of the V20 group."
Kansas City is where the event is being held this time. The host is contrasting it with the previous usual location.
Kansas City is named as the current host city for the event, replacing the prior traditional location. The speaker uses the move to set up why this attendee’s first time is happening there.
Select text to request an explanation
Hello and welcome to the CarGuy Coffee Podcast. You are listening to the interbrews at the NCM
Client and Friends event. Enjoy these conversations. Let's brew! What's going on CarGuys and CarGuys?
We are excited to be brewing solutions for you. We are the NCM Associates Clients and Friends
Workshop over here in Kansas City and Fred. We are having a fun old time, aren't we?
Man, I've been having a blast all day long. I don't know how many interviews we've done so far,
but it feels like we're still at the first one. I'm feeling that fresh, man. And it's because the
conversations have been that fresh. Coming up next is one guy that I know is going to bring
some dynamic stuff into our language today. I can't wait to really drop some dimes with him,
but man, no pressure at all, right? No pressure at all, but this has been a great day and there's
been some really great people on the stage talking about some really amazing things. And it's just
beginning. There's still a day and a half left after today and tonight we're going to Arrowhead.
We're having some fun, but these conversations, they keep running. In this hallway, I've heard
so many different conversations and excuse me, pardon me, to the point where I'm losing my voice.
But I'm getting choked up over here. I think I caught a little dust in my throat, right? But
on the serious note, it's been some great conversations. And Tim, I can't wait to talk
about it with you, but Lou, we have to make you welcome the right way. So ladies and gentlemen,
ladies and girls, children of all ages, all you car guys and car guys that are out there,
make sure that you do tag a car guy, gal, share,
get it out there. The only Tim Hayden. I have friends. Here we are. Absolutely.
Again. Why are you here? What made you want to come out to this event? I have for years,
like a lot of people, I've seen David Cain throw outrageous events and I've been on the other side
of LinkedIn, right? I haven't been in the room. And then I joined V20 last year and they, Sponarchy,
reached out to me and said, Hey, you got to do this. And little did I know that was a Cain Sponarchy
thing. And you get a little dose of Cain and he says, Hey, come to Kansas City. What do you do?
You come to Kansas City. That's why I'm here. We're excited about that. Glad that you came through
and pumped up about that. And V20 in the house. We got a lot of V20 members that are out here for
this event rightfully. I'm not special when it comes to that, right? There are, there are a number
of V20 folks. I know, are you guys in V21? We're in the very, we're the OG founding members.
Yes, we did. Yeah. On Monday morning. Yeah. Which I thought was brilliant
for y'all to come here and have that meeting here and then be here for the event. Yeah.
Several people from my cohort, cohort, which is two were the deuce, right? The deuce in V20.
Z2. They're here as well. But I think that just is a testament to good people, right? I think
somebody said yesterday that David Cain is the most trusted guy in automotive. And if he's the
most trusted guy in automotive, I think we're seeing that materialized here in terms of who he
trusts and wants to be here, right? No offense to anybody who's not here. I just think that's how
we're rolling with it. 100%. David Cain, I feel like literally handpicks the people who are here.
A lot of people reach out to him. This is an event to your point that a lot of people who haven't
been here on the other side on LinkedIn, watching it, having FOMO, wishing they were there. And
when, and then when you had the chance to get here, of course you want to be here. But a lot of
those businesses, it's not that David hasn't picked them. David just doesn't know them yet, right?
And when he gets to know a business and the people more importantly, he wants them to come
be involved in something like this. He invited Lou and I 34 years ago for our first one
where we just came in, we were just spectators and he wanted us to see what the event was all about,
see what the energy was like. And man, we fell in love with the event that day, that moment,
and we knew we would be coming back for many years that he would have it. It was traditionally in
Lexington. Now that we're having it here in Kansas City, this is your very first one being part of
the V20 group. Now you're a year in, you're taking everything to the next level. How important was
it for you to be here? Not just by the suggestion, but what, how important was it for you to be here
because of what you heard about this event? I think it's everything we've already said about
David and, and it's in the people we know that have been there before and talked about it, right?
And to the point you already made about conversations in the hallway, I think that
is probably one of the qualifiers that David and the NCM team have in terms of who they invite.
When it comes to V20 to a certain degree, but certainly for this event, people that are actually
going to meet and be somewhat collaborative, cooperative or visionary in how we can work
together. And my world of customer data platforms, connected data warehouses, artificial intelligence,
that's what that's all about, right? Is integration, everybody cooperating. And to me,
that's my short answer of why I felt like this year, 2025, Kansas City with a football team that's
owned by people in Texas, the original Dallas football team in Kansas City, the Dallas Texans.
It had a number of reasons that I wanted to be here. Really had nothing to do with that last part.
I'm just going to remind everybody at Arrowhead tonight about that, but history lesson, history
lessons, right? But yeah, no, it's just about the timing of, I think people that are here are all
doing things that are about perseverance for the industry. People working together. It's what you
guys do in, in the way you go out and you activate folks and you, and you create champions in the
industry. You certify folks, right? Is to make sure that they're ready for what's next. Amen to that.
I love that, Tim. And that's what you're here doing. You're here getting ready for what's next.
And what's next for you, by the way? So tell everybody a little bit about your company,
what you're doing here and what you're trying to do next.
In Brain Trust Partners, we first and foremost, we go when we educate our clients about what's
going on in the world of data, what's going on in the world of artificial intelligence,
and possibly what's coming after that with agents and even further down the road,
quantum computing, solar energy, electric cars, all kinds of different things that are going to
happen there. But it all starts with data, right? It all starts with data. And we're partner with
helium and we run a lot of their implementations for them, the configuration of that system.
And then we also partner with Snowflake, which is a fantastic place for you to host AI that you
control. As we're doing that, just here today and last night, I've probably had five different
dealers who tell me they're ready to start to use AI agents. When in fact, a lot of people told me
six months ago, automotive is not going to do that. They're not. No, dealers are ready to talk
about that. I've got dealers that are saying, hey, I'm ready for agents to start doing stuff for me.
That's what's next. That's what's for sure next. What comes after that? Probably more agents.
Amen. We don't know with the speed of technology today, some beautiful stuff's going to come from
that. I think that no doubt you all will be right there on that leading edge, making sure that you
guys are supplying that for your clients, right? And that's what it's all about. We believe
solutionaries. We don't look for problems. We look for solutions, right? And if we could bring
solutions to the market, that's all great news, right? So the more solutions that we could bring,
the better the world's going to be. And that's what Brain Trust is doing right now. I love that.
I love the name of the company, by the way. That's a really cool name. How'd that name come about?
Do you know? I do. Our very first client, our first two clients were Brian Benstock at Paragon.
And then a good friend at General Electric. And it was him at General Electric was on a phone
call with Scott Monty and I, Scott Monty, who ran digital media for Ford Motor Company for about
seven or eight years. Scott and I started this company. We were on the call with our friend at
GE and we had pitched an idea to them. And before we hung up and before we named the company,
the friend said, all right, I'm going to go talk with the Brain Trust and I'll be back to you to
let you know next steps. We hung up the phone. We called each other and said, did you hear that?
And went to GoDaddy and found a domain that was open and available. And that's how that's how great
companies are born is on GoDaddy. You know, it's so pretty true, Tim. We experience the same thing
of putting our name in there to see if we could get it to come out. And then of course, purchase.
That's the one. Purchase it. Let's go. That's so funny. But that's how it happened. Wow,
that's what it's going to be. And the role we take as partners to your point about,
we're not certified solutionaries yet. But I would say bottom line is being partners
as not a vendor, but being a partner to our clients and having them be partners. Because
this is all new, right? There are no experts right now in AI. There are people that are students
like everybody else that are trying, experimenting, breaking things, proving things, or going back to
the chalkboard proverbially, right? And trying to figure out how this stuff works. So this is about
partnerships. This is about everybody being all in in the deep end, if we want to call it that,
and jumping in together and saying, let's figure it out. And it's different dealer by dealer,
business by business, the work we do outside of automotive, inside automotive, nobody's special,
nobody's further behind or further ahead. And I hear too many people in automotive say that
we're so far behind. No, they're not. They're, they're marching along the same way everybody
else is just figuring it out. And that takes great partnerships. That's good. And very, very, very
well said. Extremely well said. At the end of the day, car guys and car guys, you know what
speaking is true, right? It is so very important that we all lean in and learn what we're all
learning together. The thing that's learning just as much as we're learning is the AI itself.
It's learning us. And as we begin to actually take steps forward to be able to truly brew
solutions for the industry in a new way, we do need to continuously pour out the cup,
make another batch, pour out the cup, make another batch. And this habit of ruined solutions,
this habit of getting better is constantly something that we got to continue to discipline
ourselves to learn in order to then eventually we habitualize using all of this incredible
technology until there's something new. There's something fresh and we're always down for something
new and something fresh. And you are a breath of fresh air. We appreciate your excitement and your
joy. But brother, you're, you're, you're on some, some really, really great stuff. I love the story
about the names because do go daddy does broke a lot. We understand that so many of you company
owners out there have gone to go daddy to say, is this really a thing? Can I really own this?
And that's huge. But there is something that you also said and it became to how it is that we are
actually all brewing out here together. And that is something that's the, the intimate part of what
it is that we have here is that there may be some competing people here. There is a whole lot of
overlap inside of this room where a lot of people would literally say, you are a direct competitor
for me, but they're sitting down the break and bread and figuring out how to make each other
better in order to better serve this industry. That's right. That's part of why we even want to
put a microphone in front of anybody is to be able to show all the people out there how many
different arms there are to this industry. And isn't it exciting to be able to just see all the
different meetings that we have to be able to brew solutions for dealers in this industry?
Oh, it absolutely is. And competitors is right. There are, there's, there's cooperators, right?
There are those folks that strange bedfellows that are doing work together. But the next day,
they're going after the same customer trying to sell something very similar or the same
share of wallet, right? So I think that's, it's, it's critical for everybody to understand that
the language that we've even used historically, conquesting, targeting, these are, these are
war terms. And we're going after customers, right? We're going after share of wallet, but we also
have to understand that as times change, we're going to find out that we have non-obvious and
obvious partnership that help us push forward and do things differently. Like you said, a batch
after a batch and the next batch after that better be better than the last. That's right. That's
right. Definitely want to brew backwards. No, no, you don't want to do that. The filter doesn't work
too well. No, it spits out all the nasty, right? And that's for sure. But I love what you just said
there, man. You definitely are very elegant with your words, but you're very thoughtful with your
words. And that tells me that you really care about what you do. And the passion just shines
through, man. Like a sense of energy inside you. And, and I know that the people that work with you
feel the same thing. And there's no doubt success is going to be keep coming for you. As long as
you keep evolving and keep changing and coming to events like this, there's no doubt that you're
going to learn things that are going to help you elevate and take it to the next level. Nobody can
read a poem better. I appreciate that, man. And we appreciate your time today. How can people
get ahold of you if they want to learn more about brain trust and what you do? I'm on LinkedIn and
I probably spend the most of my time there, right? I mean, the Tim Hayden on Twitter or X,
I'm not there a whole lot. I don't know anybody who's there a whole lot the way they used to be.
But LinkedIn and then brain trust dot partners is our website. And we try to pump out the fresh
stuff there as much as we can as well. We have a newsletter that has been inconsistent, but is
getting more consistent. But these are these the places you can go, you're not going to see a lot
of us on Facebook. You're not going to see that where we want to separate that, which is the family
and that, which is the business, I think. But honestly, goodness, those two places and David
Kane events, that's where you'll find us. Amen. And if you're joining V 20, there's going to be a big
gathering where it's going to be like day after coming up at one of these events.
So I'm excited to hear about that and how that goes. And welcome to the V 20 family, brother.
Thank you, man. We appreciate you. And I love that you're in it. Because all I know is that
means you're trying to take your business to the next level. So let's keep bringing everything
to the next level. And our favorite way to keep growing is to drop fbombs. Yes, it is. We do.
We like to drop these fbombs that don't offend the moms. We had the whole room doing it earlier,
and we're going to do it right now. And these fbombs are really simple and they're really fun.
We're going to forgive, we're going to focus, and we're going to fly so that we can keep
growing all the time. So let's get down with it. All right. All right, Tim, here we go. All right.
3123 forgive, focus, fly, and keep growing, keep growing. Thank you so much.
Thank you, man, everybody. You've been Ruined Solution, the little car guy called the podcast
in Kansas City with the one, the only, Tim Hayden.
Peace.
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