By: Taylor Graveline
A Vision Rooted in Dealer Experience
David Boice began his career rotating through five or six stores each week, working in finance and aftermarket departments. During his first six months, in the era of green-screen terminals, he observed a significant challenge in the automotive industry: dealerships lacked cohesive technology. Each new software solution required staff to re-enter data, creating fragmented customer records and complicating the buying process. In the years that followed, he witnessed hundreds of tools flood the market, but many still failed to effectively communicate with each other.
With Apollo, this fragmentation is addressed by bringing together websites, advertising, equity mining, and service scheduling under a single login. Positioned as an all-in-one customer-experience hub, Apollo primarily focuses on consolidating functions that sit outside the Dealer Management System (DMS) into one centralized platform. Since all modules rely on a shared customer ID, sales managers, finance teams, and service departments all see a unified customer view that is updated in real time.
From Startup to Industry Standard
Team Velocity was founded in 2005 with a small team of five employees and a set of direct-mail templates. By 2012, the company had retired its mailers, launched Apollo, and pivoted toward a software-based model. Today, that decision supports over 20 OEMs and nearly 2,000 dealerships across the country.
The success story of Toyota of Tampa Bay serves as a useful case study in how Apollo has enabled dealerships to manage their digital presence—from their website’s performance to customer retention efforts. Ninety days after Apollo’s launch, the dealership saw 7,000 unique customer sign-ins, which highlights the platform’s potential for improving digital engagement.
At a recent Automotive Leadership Roundtable, Team Velocity’s CEO, David Boice, discussed how streamlining the customer journey has a direct impact on increasing engagement. This metric illustrates how a unified login can create a seamless experience, something consumers increasingly expect as they engage with businesses online.
Leading Through Change and Complexity
Boice managed to scale Apollo without relying on venture funding, a path he chose to keep strategic control and timing in the hands of the founders. He believes that self-funding forces every decision to pass a higher bar, which turns capital efficiency into both a safeguard and a potential growth engine. This strategy has allowed the company to move quickly on emerging technologies, such as AI-driven logistics, which now support Ford Motor Company’s pickup-and-delivery service. At the same Automotive Leadership Roundtable, FordDirect CEO Dean Stoneley revealed that the program had completed 3.8 million service appointments, contributing to a 17% increase in return on investment, gains attributed to Apollo’s routing intelligence.
The Roundtable also featured candid critiques. Moderator Yossi Levi emphasized Amazon’s deliberately simple user interface as an example of how streamlined processes are often more effective than complex designs. Brian Benstock, General Manager at Paragon Honda (the country’s largest Honda dealership), elaborated on the point, suggesting that the customer experience bar is continuously raised by tech giants, and dealerships must adopt proven practices while emphasizing their own unique strengths.
Looking to the Next Decade
Two decades after launching with a handful of direct-mail templates, Team Velocity has emerged as a company known for its focus and perseverance. The company has addressed fragmentation in an industry that has often been hindered by it, scaled without relying on outside funding, and achieved measurable results backed by recent studies. Even as direct-to-consumer competitors challenge dealership margins, Boice’s approach continues to offer valuable insights into building a sustainable business.
As Boice looks to the future, he remains confident that innovation will continue to evolve. Whether that innovation comes in the form of AI chat solutions or streaming video, Boice emphasizes that the goal is always to eliminate friction, both for dealers and customers. After two decades of steady progress, Boice believes the principles that have guided Team Velocity will continue to shape the company’s next decade.
Disclaimer: The content of this article is for informational purposes only.. Individual results may vary depending on various factors. The information provided does not constitute financial, business, or investment advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with qualified professionals before making any business decisions or adopting strategies discussed in this article.
