Piston Labs - Pitch Materials

Last Updated: 2026-04-01
Purpose: Investor and collaborator networking reference
Version: 2.1 (SMS $500/mo + Repair Intelligence $99/mo)

Quick Reference Card

The 10-Second Pitch

"We build shop management software that turns every repair order into structured diagnostic intelligence -- automatically. The tech just does their job."

The 30-Second Pitch

"We build shop management software for independent auto repair -- $500 a month, replaces four or five tools most shops run today. The architecture is fundamentally different from anything else on the market: structured diagnostics, work categories, scan tool photo capture, built-in compliance.

The real play: every repair order on our platform automatically produces structured diagnostic intelligence -- what was wrong, what caused it, what fixed it, and whether it actually worked. We sell that intelligence separately to non-myodo shops for $99 a month. The whole repair data industry runs on technicians volunteering their knowledge for free. We capture it from the work shops are already legally required to do.

We're raising $500K pre-seed on a $5M cap."

The 60-Second Pitch

"Independent auto repair is a $130B industry running on legacy software. Shops use tools built on flat line-item data models from the 2000s. Diagnostic data is unstructured free text. Service records are siloed per shop. And the $8B repair intelligence market depends on technicians voluntarily logging their fixes into separate systems. That contribution model is dying.

We're building myodo -- a shop management system at $500 a month that produces structured, verified repair intelligence as a byproduct of normal operations. Work categories replace flat line items. The diagnostic chain captures concern, cause, correction, and verification on every job. Scan tool photo capture extracts fault codes automatically. Compliance is built into the workflow, not bolted on.

We also sell repair intelligence access separately -- $99 a month for shops that don't use our SMS. Every shop on the platform makes the network smarter. We capture failed diagnostic paths -- what didn't work -- which no voluntary database has.

Four products, one platform: SMS is the lead, the repair intelligence network is the moat, Glovebox gives consumers free cross-shop service records, and Fleet generates near-term revenue. I'm Tyler -- I own a shop, I've been in the industry 13 years, and I'm building the product I wish existed. We're raising $500K on a $5M cap."

The Four Pillars (Canonical)

These are locked messaging pillars -- use them consistently:

1. The SMS Is the Data Engine

"Every repair order is an intelligence entry. The tech doesn't know and doesn't care."

The shop management system captures structured diagnostic data as a mandatory byproduct of doing repair orders correctly. No voluntary contribution. No separate system. Compliance produces intelligence.

2. Architecture Is the Moat

"Every differentiator forms a closed loop. Copying one is useless without the others."

Work categories, Three Cs, Raw+Rendered, scan tool vision, Living Health Document, five-status inspection, built-in compliance -- each depends on the others. Incumbents can't bolt these on without full platform rewrites that would break their existing products.

3. Data Flows From Compliance

"Shops are legally required to document findings, causes, and corrections. We structure that mandatory documentation."

The existing repair data industry asks technicians to voluntarily duplicate their work in a separate system, for free, with no direct benefit. We capture the same data from work they're already legally required to do. That's why we'll always capture more data.

4. The Network Compounds

"Every shop that joins makes the network smarter. Switching means losing the intelligence your data helped build."

True network effect: more shops = better intelligence = more value = harder to leave. Verified resolution data, failed diagnostic paths, cross-shop pattern detection, measurement trend analysis.

Approved Taglines

• "The Connected Shop Platform"
• "Repair intelligence from compliance, not contribution"
• "Every repair order makes the network smarter"
• "Shop software that learns from every repair"

Company Snapshot

The Problem

For the Industry

• Legacy SMS platforms (Tekmetric, Shopmonkey, Mitchell1) built on flat line-item data models -- diagnostic data is unstructured free text
• Repair intelligence market ($8B) depends on voluntary technician contribution to separate systems -- contribution is dying, data quality degrading
• Service records siloed per shop -- no cross-shop vehicle history, no consumer data portability
• 60% of customers never return after first visit -- retention tools are afterthoughts bolted onto operational software
• No verification loop in existing repair databases -- "verified fixes" are self-reported with no systematic confirmation

For Shops

• Paying $200+/month for shop software and $200+/month for a separate repair data subscription -- two tools for what should be one workflow
• Compliance documentation is tedious because legacy tools don't structure it -- shops know they need audit trails but their software makes it extra work
• No intelligence from their own data -- repair orders are dead documents after checkout

For Consumers

• Service records scattered across gloveboxes, email inboxes, and disconnected shops
• Carfax charges $44/month for incomplete, often inaccurate records (Tyler's origin story: Carfax reported "Replaced Timing Chain" when the shop performed "Inspect Timing Chain" -- a fabricated repair worth thousands)
• Maintenance is reactive -- no proactive planning, no budgeting, no time to shop around

The Solution: Four Products, One Platform

Product 1: Shop Management System (Lead Product)

Full SMS at $500/mo competing with Tekmetric, Shopmonkey, and legacy incumbents. Key architectural differentiators:

• Work Categories -- Inspection, Diagnosis, Repair, Maintenance at the data model level
• Three Cs Diagnostic Chain -- Concern, Cause, Correction + Verification closes the loop on every repair
• Raw + Rendered -- Tech's literal words stored alongside AI-synthesized customer narrative
• Living Health Document -- Persistent vehicle inspection record across visits and shops
• Five-Status Inspection -- Red/Orange/Yellow/Green/Blue replaces binary approve/decline
• Scan Tool Vision -- Photo capture extracts fault codes from any scan tool brand
• Built-in Compliance -- Using the system correctly produces compliant behavior and a complete audit trail
• AI Creates, Humans Audit -- System generates, humans verify. Nothing auto-committed.

Product 2: Repair Intelligence Network (The Moat)

Every repair order on myodo produces structured, verified diagnostic intelligence -- automatically, from compliance. The diagnostic chain captures what was wrong, what caused it, how it was fixed, and whether the fix actually worked. Historical RO imports mean shops get intelligence on day one.

Standalone access: $99/mo for shops that don't use our SMS. Opens a second revenue stream and extends the network to shops not ready for a full platform switch.

Product 3: Glovebox (Consumer Acquisition)

NFC-first digital glovebox. Consumers tap a sticker, access service records via web -- no app download. User accounts belong to consumers, not shops. Data is portable. Free to consumers. Every shop using the platform becomes a consumer acquisition channel.

Product 4: Fleet Dashboard (Revenue Engine)

Two tiers: full product with tracking + intelligent service planning ($25/vehicle/mo), or standalone service records that bolt onto any existing fleet system (no hardware required). Near-term revenue to pair with user growth metrics.

Business Model

Revenue Streams

Payment Processing Economics

Integrated payment processing via Stripe Connect + Stripe Terminal. Shops process card payments directly from the repair order -- no separate POS system or merchant account. This is a standard expectation of modern SMS platforms (Tekmetric and Shopmonkey both offer it).

At scale: $250/shop/mo payment revenue on top of $500/mo SMS subscription. Combined effective ARPU: $750/shop/month.

For context: vertical SaaS platforms derive 25-80% of total revenue from payments at maturity (ServiceTitan 25%, Shopify 57%, Toast 80%+). Our conservative model puts payments at ~33% of total revenue.

Multi-Front Strategy

This is not scatter -- it's leverage.

• SMS is the destination -- largest TAM, deepest moat, highest switching costs
• Glovebox + Shop Dashboard is the acquisition engine -- shops using the free dashboard are warm leads for SMS
• Fleet proves the technology and generates real revenue -- investors see both growth curves moving
• Repair Intelligence is the moat -- the value of the network grows with every shop, and switching means losing access to the intelligence your data helped build
• Payments adds ~50% to per-shop revenue with near-zero marginal cost -- table stakes for modern SMS, but significant to unit economics

Competitive Advantage

Why Incumbents Can't Copy

Note: Competitor names used here for competitive context. Omit these names when pitching to general audiences.

The Closed-Loop Moat

Each differentiator makes the others harder to copy:

1. Work categories enable category-based ROs
2. Category-based ROs enable structured diagnostics
3. Diagnostics require scan tool data
4. Scan tool data requires vision model
5. Vision model requires training data from real diagnostics
6. Real diagnostics require work categories

Copying one piece is useless without the others. Copying all requires full platform rewrite.

Current Traction

• $30K raised of $500K target
• SMS prototype built -- interactive at sms-prototype.pages.dev
• Beta shops committed (Era Automotive + additional shops in pipeline)
• Fleet dashboard functional with telemetry devices in the field
• Delaware C-Corp via Stripe Atlas, CA foreign entity registered, Mercury banking

What This Proves

• We can ship -- Working SMS prototype, functional fleet dashboard, live telemetry pipeline
• Go-to-market started -- Beta shops committed, distribution partnerships forming
• Founder-market fit -- Tyler runs a shop, knows the customer, designed the product from lived experience

The Ask: $500K Pre-Seed

Terms

• Instrument: YC Post-Money SAFE
• Valuation Cap: $5,000,000
• Raise: $500K ($30K raised to date)
• Dilution: ~10%

Use of Funds

See full Pre-Seed Budget & Hiring Plan for detailed compensation strategy and monthly burn.

6-Month Targets

The Team

Tyler Porras - CEO

• Owner/operator of Era Automotive (independent shop)
• 13 years in the automotive aftermarket
• Achieves 80% retention -- 2x industry average
• Started designing myodo in 2019 after ~7 years of market research
• Founder-market fit: Tyler IS the customer

Ryan Morris - CTO

• Technical co-founder
• Architecture, feature development, team technical leadership
• Building SMS, dashboard, and consumer experiences

Eli Lloyd - Director of Sales

• Beta shop onboarding, demos, distribution partnerships

Marisa - Director of Communications

• Sales language and pitch refinement, strategy condensing
• Consumer perspective litmus testing, fleet sales, shop follow-up sales

Post-Funding Hires

• Mobile developer
• Customer success
• ML engineer

Growth Trajectory

*Pre-Seed run-rate ARR: 50 shops x $750/mo (SMS + payments) + 5 fleet x 20 veh x $25/mo + 50 consumer subs x $8/mo. Pre-seed goal is product launch and proof of revenue -- growth happens at seed. Seed+ ARR includes SMS ($500/mo) + payment processing ($250/mo est.). All stages exclude repair intelligence standalone, Glovebox, and data licensing upside.

FAQ / Objection Handling

"How are you different from Tekmetric or Shopmonkey?"

They're cloud-based versions of the same flat line-item data model from the 2000s. We built from scratch with a fundamentally different architecture -- work categories, structured diagnostics, scan tool vision, built-in compliance. These aren't features they can add; they require ground-up platform rewrites that would break backward compatibility and cause mass churn.

"Isn't the repair intelligence market locked up by Identifix?"

Identifix proved the market ($8B+ information services layer). They also proved voluntary contribution doesn't scale -- their parent company Solera started reselling tech-contributed data to DIY consumers and parts retailers without contributor benefit. Experienced techs stopped contributing. We capture the same data automatically from compliance, with systematic verification that Identifix can't match.

"Why build an SMS when the market has established players?"

Because the SMS IS the data capture mechanism. You can't build a repair intelligence network without controlling how repair orders are created. The SMS is the input layer; the intelligence network is the output. Bolting intelligence onto someone else's SMS means you never control data quality.

"Four products seems like a lot for a pre-seed company."

It's one platform with four interfaces. Same backend, same data model, shared engineering. SMS is the lead product we sell. The repair intelligence network is an automatic output. Glovebox is the consumer layer that creates cross-shop visibility. Fleet is a separate market that generates near-term revenue. Each product feeds the others.

"How do you acquire shops?"

Three channels: (1) Glovebox + Shop Dashboard -- free tools that get shops in the door, warm pipeline for SMS upsell. (2) Beta relationships from Tyler's shop network. (3) Distribution partnerships with parts wholesalers (WorldPac, SSF discussions in progress).

"Pre-revenue is risky."

The product is built and working. SMS is prototyped. Fleet dashboard is functional. Telemetry pipeline is live. We're not building from scratch -- we're validating go-to-market, not technology.

Founder Story

"I've been in the automotive aftermarket for 13 years. I started designing myodo in 2019 after about 7 years of watching the same problems go unsolved.

The core insight came from running a shop: the data needed to deliver a great service experience already exists -- it's scattered across gloveboxes, email inboxes, and disconnected shop systems where nobody can use it. The secondary insight came from watching Carfax report 'Replaced Timing Chain' when my shop performed 'Inspect Timing Chain' -- a fabricated repair worth thousands of dollars appearing on someone's vehicle history.

I achieve 80% customer retention at Era Automotive through brutal manual work. Most shops can't. They lose 60% of customers after the first visit. And the software they use treats repair orders as flat lists of line items. No structure. No intelligence. No verification.

myodo fixes this at the architecture level. Every repair order captures structured diagnostic intelligence as a byproduct of doing the work correctly. The shop gets better software. The network gets smarter with every repair. The consumer gets accurate records they actually own."

Language Guidelines

DO Use

• "Connected Shop Platform"
• "Repair intelligence from compliance, not contribution"
• "Architectural differentiators" (not "features")
• "Closed-loop architecture"
• "Three Cs" (Concern, Cause, Correction + Verification)
• "Every repair order builds the network"
• "Data flows from compliance"
• "Raw + Rendered"
• "Living Health Document"

DON'T Use

• "Otto" (deprecated product name)
• "Piston Device" when talking about SMS (device is for fleet/telemetry)
• "CRM" when describing the SMS (it's shop management, not just customer management)
• "Marketing software" (we're not that)
• "One device, three products" (outdated framing -- SMS doesn't require a device)
• Don't lead with the device or mileage tracking -- lead with SMS and repair intelligence
• Don't over-explain the technology to non-technical audiences

Key Phrases to Repeat

• "Every repair order produces verified diagnostic intelligence. The tech just does their job."
• "The industry asks techs to volunteer their knowledge for free. We capture it from the work they're already doing."
• "The architecture forms a closed loop. Copying one piece is useless without the others."
• "The network gets smarter with every repair order from every shop."

Core Value Props (Networking Quick Reference)

Memorize these for quick conversations:

The Platform (Four Products)

For Shops

"Better shop software that does compliance right and gives you intelligence from your own repair data. No extra tools. No extra work."

For Investors

"$500 a month shop management software that generates a repair intelligence network as a side effect. $14.4B TAM across six markets. Architecture incumbents can't copy without full platform rewrites."

The Insight

"The $8B repair data industry runs on voluntary technician contribution -- and it's breaking down. We capture the same data automatically from work shops are already legally required to do."

Why Us (Pick One)

• Founder-fit: "I own a shop. 13 years in the aftermarket. Building the product I wish existed."
• Architecture: "Every differentiator forms a closed loop. Can't copy one without copying all."
• Data moat: "Every shop on our platform makes the intelligence network smarter. True network effect."

The Ask (Casual)

"We're raising $500K pre-seed to get the product live, onboard our first 50 shops, and prove the revenue model so we can raise a seed round for growth."

Conversation Starters

• "Did you know auto shops pay $200/month for repair data that depends on technicians volunteering to type up their fixes in a separate system after they've already done the work?"
• "The repair data market is $8 billion, and the entire thing runs on voluntary contribution that's breaking down. We figured out how to capture that data automatically."
• "The software auto shops use today still treats repair orders as flat lists of line items -- same data model since the 2000s. We rebuilt it from scratch."

Revision History