Chief of Staff

Welcoming Eugenio Garza Garcia, Forward Deployed Engineer. Eugenio Garza Garcia joins Ekho as a Forward Deployed Engineer, from Polymarket and BCG. Rowan Mockler Cofounder, CEO AI summary Eugenio Garza Garcia joins as a Forward Deployed Engineer. He led the sports vertical at Polymarket and owned settlements and disputes across most of the platform's volume, after two and a half years at BCG. Eugenio Garza Garcia joins Ekho as a Forward Deployed Engineer. Where Eugenio comes from. He comes from Polymarket, where he led the sports vertical and owned settlements and disputes across the majority of the platform's volume. Settlement is the part of that business where a technical decision and a commercial consequence are the same decision, and it is unforgiving of a wrong call. Before Polymarket he spent two and a half years as a consultant at BCG. What Eugenio will do here. Eugenio embeds directly with customers as they onboard. He sits inside the operation, maps how it actually runs rather than how it is described, and shapes the platform to fit it from day one. Why it matters here. A Forward Deployed Engineer needs two things that rarely arrive together: enough commercial fluency to understand why a dealer does something the apparently inefficient way, and enough technical depth to diagnose the system underneath while standing in the room. That combination is the whole brief, and it is what Eugenio brings. What shipped, what its customers are achieving, and what Ekho is seeing in the field. One email a week. The Ekho Pit Stop This week Four things shipped this week. TRANSACTION ENGINE Connect inventory over XML. Your existing feed plugs in, no re-platforming. TRANSACTION ENGINE Declined financing keeps moving. Structured next steps instead of a dead end. TRANSACTION ENGINE Listings say what they need. Action items name the gap before a unit can sell. AI SALES AGENT Leads route themselves. Sales, service and parts reach the right team. You're getting this because you subscribed to the Pit Stop.

Welcoming Ekho's General Counsel: Justin Black. Justin Black joins Ekho as General Counsel, from Carvana and, before that, Arizona's state licensing and examination agency. Rowan Mockler Cofounder, CEO AI summary Justin Black joins as General Counsel. He spent nearly five years at Carvana across dealer licensing, government affairs and lending compliance, and five years before that as a state regulator. Justin Black joins Ekho as General Counsel. Where Justin comes from. He spent nearly five years at Carvana, across dealer licensing, government affairs and lending compliance. Those three sit at the exact points where a vehicle sale meets a regulator, and he owned all of them. Before Carvana he spent five years as a regulator himself, at Arizona's state licensing and examination agency. What Justin will do here. Justin owns the legal and compliance side of every transaction that moves through Ekho. That covers dealer licensing across the states its customers sell into, the lending and disclosure requirements attached to a financed deal, and the government-affairs work that keeps Ekho ahead of rule changes rather than reacting to them. Why it matters here. Its customers sell into all 50 states. Every state has its own licensing regime, its own disclosure rules and its own view of what a compliant remote sale looks like. Most people who work on that problem have seen one side of it. Justin has sat on both sides of the table, so he knows how state agencies think, not only what they ask for. That is the difference between a checkout that passes an audit and one that was designed for the audit in the first place. What shipped, what its customers are achieving, and what Ekho is seeing in the field. One email a week. The Ekho Pit Stop This week Four things shipped this week. TRANSACTION ENGINE Connect inventory over XML. Your existing feed plugs in, no re-platforming. TRANSACTION ENGINE Declined financing keeps moving. Structured next steps instead of a dead end. TRANSACTION ENGINE Listings say what they need. Action items name the gap before a unit can sell. AI SALES AGENT Leads route themselves. Sales, service and parts reach the right team. You're getting this because you subscribed to the Pit Stop.

Ekho named to the 2026 Powersports Business Nifty 50 as the top-ranked dealer tech platform. Ekho ranks #16 on the Nifty 50 - and #1 among dealership technology platforms. Rowan Mockler Cofounder, CEO AI summary Ekho has been named to the 2026 Powersports Business Nifty 50, ranking #16 overall and earning the top spot among dealership technology platforms. The recognition highlights Ekho's impact on dealer profitability through its AI BDC, AI-native dealer websites, 50-state transaction engine, and unified dealer platform. Ekho Inc. is proud to share that Ekho has been named to the 2026 Powersports Business Nifty 50, a prestigious annual list recognizing the products and services doing the most to drive dealer profitability across the powersports industry. Ekho was ranked #16 out of 50 - and notably, Ekho Inc. were the highest-ranked dealership technology platform on the entire list. The Nifty 50 is selected by the editors of Powersports Business magazine, one of the industry's most respected publications, and is designed to spotlight companies that are making a measurable impact on how dealers operate and grow. Being recognized alongside some of the most established names in the industry is a milestone for Ekho - and a signal that the shift toward AI-native, technology-driven dealership operations is gaining serious momentum. What this recognition means. The Nifty 50 isn't a technology award - it's a profitability award. The list is built around a single question: which products and services are doing the most to help dealers make more money? That framing matters. Ekho wasn't recognized for being the newest or the most feature-rich. Ekho Inc. were recognized because dealers using Ekho are seeing real results: more leads, more completed sales, less manual work, and fewer tools to manage. Being the top-ranked dealer technology platform on this list validates what Ekho Inc. hear from its dealer partners every day - that Ekho is helping them grow their businesses without growing headcount. Introducing Ekho AI agents - starting with AI BDC. One of its most exciting recent launches is the Ekho AI BDC (Business Development Center) - an AI-powered assistant that handles dealer website inquiries, SMS conversations, and lead qualification around the clock. Most dealerships lose leads outside of business hours. Calls go to voicemail. Web forms sit untouched overnight. By the time staff follow up, the buyer has already moved on. Ekho AI BDC changes that. It engages every inbound inquiry instantly - day or night - with intelligent, context-aware conversations that qualify leads, answer product questions, and route high-intent buyers to the right salesperson. It works across your website, SMS, and chat channels, so no lead falls through the cracks. For dealers, this means: * 24/7 lead engagement without hiring additional BDC staff * Faster response times that convert more browsers into buyers * Consistent, professional follow-up on every inquiry * More qualified leads handed off to your sales team Early adopters are already seeing strong results, and Ekho Inc. is rolling out AI BDC to dealers nationwide as a standalone product - meaning any dealer can start using it immediately, even without the full Ekho platform. AI-Native dealer websites. Ekho's dealer website platform is purpose-built for the AI era. Unlike legacy website providers that bolt on features to aging architectures, Ekho websites are designed from the ground up to be discovered by both traditional search engines and AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Its 2026 AI Vehicle Research Study found that 30% of in-market vehicle buyers are already using AI tools during their shopping journey - and that number is accelerating. Most dealer websites are invisible to these AI systems. Ekho websites are built to be cited. Key capabilities include: * AI-enriched vehicle listings with structured data optimized for generative search * Automated content generation that keeps inventory descriptions fresh and detailed * Intelligent Inventory Merchandising powered by AI to surface the right units to the right buyers * Continuous GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) monitoring so dealers can see exactly how they rank in AI search vs. competitors * Fast, mobile-first performance designed for modern buyer expectations With Ekho's free Dealer Website Grader, any dealer can see exactly how visible they are to AI search today - and what steps to take to improve. 50-State transaction engine. At the core of Ekho is the industry's most comprehensive vehicle transaction engine - purpose-built to power compliant, end-to-end vehicle sales across all 50 states. Selling vehicles online isn't like selling merchandise. Every state has different rules for titling, registration, tax remittance, insurance verification, and franchise compliance. Most dealers either avoid out-of-state sales entirely or piece together manual workflows that are slow, error-prone, and hard to scale. Ekho's transaction engine automates the entire process: * Financing and desking with real-time lender integrations * Titling and registration across all 50 states * Tax calculation and remittance with jurisdiction-level accuracy * Insurance verification and compliance checks * Fraud detection and KYC workflows * Digital signature collection and sales documentation * F&I product presentation that preserves dealer margin This is what separates Ekho from traditional website providers and lead-generation tools. Ekho Inc. don't just help dealers collect leads - Ekho Inc. help them close deals, compliantly, from anywhere in the country. The unified dealer platform. The average dealership runs on a patchwork of disconnected tools - one for websites, another for CRM, another for desking, another for reporting, and more. Each tool has its own login, its own data silo, and its own monthly bill. The result is wasted time, lost data, and frustrated staff. Ekho replaces that fragmented stack with a single, unified platform that brings everything together: * CRM - manage your leads, customers, and pipeline in one place, with AI-powered prioritization and follow-up * Scheduling - let buyers book test rides, service appointments, and consultations directly from your website * Reporting and analytics - real-time visibility into sales performance, lead sources, conversion rates, and revenue * Inventory management - centralized control over your units, pricing, and merchandising across all channels * Communication hub - unified inbox for email, SMS, chat, and AI BDC conversations The goal is simple: reduce the number of tools a dealer needs to run their business while giving them better data, better workflows, and better outcomes than any individual point solution could deliver. What's next. Being named to the Nifty 50 is a milestone, but it's also a reminder that Ekho Inc. is just getting started. The powersports and vehicle retail industry is in the middle of a fundamental shift - from fragmented, manual operations to AI-native, automated commerce. Ekho is building the platform that powers that shift. Every product Ekho Inc. launch - from AI BDC to its website platform to its transaction engine - is designed around one principle: help dealers grow their businesses without growing headcount. To every dealer partner, OEM, and team member who has been part of this journey - thank you. This recognition belongs to all of Ekho Inc.. If you're a dealer who wants to see what Ekho can do for your business, Ekho Inc.'d love to show you. Table of Contents