“They spent like hundreds of millions of dollars. It was a massive project. They had a failed project before, and after that I joined the second time to lead, to turn around the second time the same project was re-initiated and they named it as Project Phoenix.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading:
filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard
(the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Jay Vijayan
Disclosure
Tekion bought two live auto dealerships as an early-stage startup for R&D
“And that's what we ended up acquiring two automotive dealerships. It was a very high risk, high stakes. We had to do because Tekyon is a small company. We didn't have a lot of money.”
Jay VijayanOct 18, 2025▶ 11:49What is Tesla’s Former CIO Building Next? 4 Years Stealth → $4B Company | Jay Vijayan, Tekion
Disclosure
Tekion accepted a lower valuation to syndicate rival automotive OEM venture arms
“So in fact, we slightly settled on, not too much, slightly, very small, in grand scheme of things, I felt it settled on a slightly lower valuation to make sure that we bring both of them.”
Jay VijayanOct 18, 2025▶ 36:45What is Tesla’s Former CIO Building Next? 4 Years Stealth → $4B Company | Jay Vijayan, Tekion
Disclosure
Tekion co-founders took personal loans to buy dealership land for product R&D
“So personally, me and my co-founder, Guru, we took a loan to go buy the land of the dealership because I felt Techyan didn't have money to invest in the land. And then Techyan just invested in buying the dealership only because I felt if we buy the dealership …”
Jay VijayanOct 18, 2025▶ 38:47What is Tesla’s Former CIO Building Next? 4 Years Stealth → $4B Company | Jay Vijayan, Tekion
Insight
Vijayan: Lack of OEM integrations causes automotive retail startup failures
“For companies which had failed, I had seen that one of the biggest thing is not getting the OEM connection and integration and support on time.”
Jay VijayanNov 17, 2020▶ 21:40What made Elon Musk approach former Tesla CIO Jay Vijayan twice in 12 months?
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Vijayan: Dealerships save $15,000 to $65,000 per month moving to Tekion
“There are dealerships that save anywhere between 15,000 to, you know, 65,000 dollars a month by moving to our platform, ok?”
Jay VijayanNov 17, 2020▶ 41:27What made Elon Musk approach former Tesla CIO Jay Vijayan twice in 12 months?
Opinion
Vijayan: AI in auto retail will create more jobs than it eliminates
“I don't see that we can, it can reduce you know, the number of people needed because the end of the day, it will create more jobs in different areas because You know, today we are just adding friction. If you think about Amazon, people can say, you know, it ha…”
Jay VijayanNov 17, 2020▶ 44:11What made Elon Musk approach former Tesla CIO Jay Vijayan twice in 12 months?
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