🔧 THE FOUNDATION TRANSFORMATION

In this compelling episode of "Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling"—the only podcast examining mobility through the lens of storytelling—we sit down with Stef Balkowiec, Co-Founder of GraphDome and former Managing Director at Cosworth Electronics, to uncover what happens when a technical founder puts their company presentation through real scrutiny. This isn't a theoretical discussion about pitch decks—it's the actual behind-the-scenes journey of transforming a technology-heavy presentation into a positioning-driven story that opens doors.

🎯 KEY INSIGHTS

Technology vs. Trust: The Founder's Blind Spot

Stef reveals how his 60 years of combined expertise was buried at the end of his deck—and why technical founders consistently prioritize what they find interesting over what audiences need first. Discover why credibility must lead, not follow.

The "How Does It Make You Feel?" Framework

Learn how Stef rebuilt his entire deck from scratch by focusing on audience transformation rather than technical features. From vector databases and graph ontology to productivity gains and cost reduction—same technology, completely different story.

Positioning: The Product Behind Your Presentation

Stef spent weeks—not hours—repositioning GraphDome, ultimately realizing that the company presentation isn't just slides. It's the output of a rigorous positioning process that defines why you exist, who should care, and what differentiates you from both competitors and apathy.

💡 PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS

• Front-load credibility within the first 2 minutes: Move your experience and track record to the opening slides so decision-makers trust you before evaluating your technology
• Apply the Red Bull test to your value proposition: If you're describing features instead of transformation (wings, not thirst-quenching), your positioning needs work
• Budget one full week to rebuild your deck after positioning clarity: Stef's transformation required complete reconstruction, pushing all technical schematics to the appendix
• Seek safe-environment feedback before high-stakes presentations: The Evergreen process revealed blind spots Stef couldn't see after months of internal iterations

🌟 ABOUT YOUR GUIDE

Stef Balkowiec brings over 30 years of experience bridging motorsport and automotive technology innovation. As former Managing Director of Cosworth Electronics, he was instrumental in advancing software-defined vehicle architectures in high-performance environments. Now as Co-Founder of GraphDome, Stef is building real-time digital twin platforms that help manufacturing leaders drive productivity through smart data analytics. His unique perspective combines deep technical expertise with hard-won lessons about translating complex innovation into compelling business narratives.

Ready to discover how positioning transforms presentation?

This is the most transparent, process-focused episode we've ever recorded. You'll hear the actual feedback sessions, the strategic pivots, and even the naming struggles that come with getting your foundation right.

#UnderTheHood #AutomotiveStorytelling #Positioning #TechFounders #CompanyStory #StartupStrategy

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" – Where technology meets narrative, and mobility's future is told through visionary voices.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

⚡ THE PITCH DECK PROBLEM

In this focused case study from "Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling," host Stéphane Lagresle reveals what happened when Stef Balkowiec, Co-Founder of GraphDome and former Managing Director at Cosworth Electronics, put his company presentation through the Evergreen process. This shows how strategic feedback transforms technology-focused decks into positioning-driven narratives that actually land with decision-makers.

🎯 KEY INSIGHTS

The Trust Trap: Why Credibility Can't Be an Afterthought

Most founders bury their strongest asset—experience—at the end of their decks. Stef and his co-founder have 60 years of combined expertise that should have opened his presentation, not closed it. Learn why trust must be established in the first 90 seconds, not earned after 20 slides.

From Features to Feelings: The Transformation Question

Stef discovered that his original deck answered "what does GraphDome do?" when decision-makers needed to know "how will I be better off?" The breakthrough came from one question: "How are they going to feel?" This single insight triggered a complete rebuild.

Your Deck Is the Output, Not the Input

Stef spent a full week reconstructing his presentation after gaining positioning clarity. The result? Technology moved to the appendix, the story led with human impact, and every slide answered: Why do we exist? Why should you care? What makes us different?

💡 PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS

• Audit your first three slides today: If they don't establish credibility, articulate customer pain, or promise transformation, you're leading with the wrong story
• Apply the Evergreen three-step process: (1) Live presentation to target persona, (2) In-depth analysis on feedback board, (3) Strategic repositioning session.
• Test the "feel" versus "feature" ratio: For every technical capability you mention, articulate one emotional or business outcome your audience will experience
• Seek outside feedback before investor meetings: Founders can't see their own blind spots after internal iterations—strategic critique reveals gaps you've stopped noticing

🌟 ABOUT YOUR GUIDE

Stef Balkowiec brings over 30 years of experience at the intersection of motorsport technology and automotive innovation. As former Managing Director of Cosworth Electronics, he helped pioneer software-defined vehicle approaches in high-performance racing environments. Now as Co-Founder of GraphDome, he's scaling real-time digital twin technology for manufacturing productivity. His journey from technology-first pitch decks to positioning-driven narratives exemplifies the transformation every technical founder must make to succeed.

Is your foundation solid?

This episode strips away the theory and shows you exactly what positioning-first storytelling looks like in practice. Hear the actual clips from Stef's Evergreen journey, understand the framework behind the transformation, and walk away with actions you can take Monday morning.

Want to go deeper? Listen to the full 45-minute conversation for the complete behind-the-scenes journey, including Stef's naming process and strategic positioning decisions.

#UnderTheHood #AutomotiveStorytelling #Evergreen #Positioning #PitchDeck #FounderJourney

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" – Where technology meets narrative, and mobility's future is told through visionary voices.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

🎙️ THE REALITY CHECK: When Hype Becomes Hardware

For three years at CES, we've heard the same promises: SDVs are coming, AI will transform mobility, the industry is converging. But at CES 2026, something changed. The buzzwords became bill of materials. The roadmaps became production deployments. The future tense became present reality.

In this special Season 2 premiere, host Stéphane Lagresle brings you insights from seven conversations with executives at QNX, Qualcomm, Sonatus, Cerence AI, Amazon, Valeo, and VicOne, revealing three seismic shifts reshaping automotive innovation.

🚗 FROM BUZZWORD TO BILL OF MATERIALS

Discover why SDV is no longer hype: $22-98 cost savings per vehicle, $6-12M development efficiencies, and 6-month deployment cycles. QNX shows the hard numbers. Sonatus demonstrates production systems. Valeo confirms we're "only at the beginning."

🤖 THE INTELLIGENCE REVOLUTION

The industry has been talking for years about "software-defined" anymore. Now, it's "AI-defined" vehicles. Learn why edge-first orchestration is replacing cloud-first architecture, how operational costs and sustainability are driving AI to the edge, and why agentic AI creates experiences that evolve with customers across car, office, and home.

🔄 THE GREAT CONVERGENCE

Technical boundaries are dissolving. Industry walls are falling. Your car is becoming a node in computing and energy grids. From Valeo's computing power lending concept to Amazon's ecosystem approach, see how vehicles are transforming into network infrastructure.

🎤 FEATURING INSIGHTS FROM:

• John Pelliccio (QNX) - Software-defined audio with measurable ROI
• Alexandre Corjon (Sonatus) - Intelligence-driven SDV deployment
• Rajat Sagar (Qualcomm) - AI-defined vehicles and Snapdragon Digital Chassis
• Raja Bose (Cerence AI) - Edge-first orchestration and seamless life experiences
• Stefano Marzani (Amazon/AWS) - Cloud-native development democratization
• François Marion (Valeo) - Cars as computing resources
• William Dalton (VicOne) - AI security in an expanding attack surface

💡 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

✓ Why edge computing is becoming "first-class citizen" instead of fallback option

✓ How cloud inference costs are driving architectural changes

✓ What "agentic AI" actually means for user experiences

✓ Why vehicles will lend computing power to the cloud when idle

✓ How OEMs can deploy AI without "gold-plated hardware"

✓ Where the real security threats lie in intelligence-defined vehicles

This isn't another CES recap. This is a reality check on where automotive innovation actually stands.

And where it's heading next.

Keywords:

CES 2026, software-defined vehicles, SDV, automotive AI, edge computing, agentic AI, Qualcomm Snapdragon, autonomous driving, automotive cybersecurity, vehicle-to-grid, cloud computing, automotive innovation, mobility technology, QNX, Sonatus, Cerence, Amazon automotive, Valeo, VicOne, edge-first orchestration, AI-defined vehicles, automotive storytelling, tech podcast, automotive podcast

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

For the season finale of "Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling," we're going behind the scenes.

Frantz Lohier, the first guest of Season 1, reverses roles to interview Stéphane Lagresle about how 30 episodes with automotive executives actually get made. This isn't about interviewing techniques or podcast equipment. It's about the systematic approach to understanding what makes great conversations work in a technical industry.

What You'll Learn:

The Four-Hour Formula
How to prepare for high-stakes conversations with executives you've never met, using AI tools, pre-interview calls, and strategic research to create authentic dialogue regardless of topic complexity.

The Validation Discovery
Why the podcast's original hypothesis was wrong: Stéphane assumed automotive executives were skeptical about storytelling. Every single guest proved otherwise, confirming that narrative is now critical for cutting through technical noise and winning business.

The Machinery Behind Authenticity
From Google Notebook LM for research synthesis to the intentional structure that balances technical credibility with human connection, here's the process that makes preparation look effortless.

The Honest Part
Stéphane also shares something uncomfortable: he almost didn't start this podcast. An inner voice (he calls it "Alfred") kept him from posting on LinkedIn for years. This episode is about what happened when he decided to ignore that voice, and what months of systematic content creation actually produces.

Why This Episode Matters:

If you're preparing for CES presentations, investor pitches, or OEM meetings in 2025, this episode offers a blueprint for the kind of preparation that creates memorable conversations. If you're a tier-one supplier wondering why OEMs can't remember your presentation, ask yourself if you have a story that will resonate with your audience.

Your technology might be brilliant. Your storytelling is what makes it memorable.

🎧 Season 1 complete. Season 2 coming soon.

#UnderTheHood #AutomotiveStorytelling #B2BMarketing #PodcastProduction

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

The debate is over. 2026 is SDV execution year.

At We.Conect's SDV Europe 2025 in Berlin, seven industry experts revealed a fundamental shift: the companies that win won't have the most features—they'll tell the most honest stories about strategic focus, security vigilance, and what software-defined vehicles really mean for drivers.

THE THREE SHIFTS DEFINING 2026:

🎯 From "More" to Strategic Focus
After years of feature accumulation, complexity has become unsustainable. Ola Svensson (Knowit): "Complexity must be reduced. Functionality is being taken away." Success in 2026 means mastering "subtractive storytelling": choosing 10 features that work flawlessly over 50 that create chaos. This is the differentiation customers will finally experience.

🤝 From Handoffs to Co-Integration
The relationship between OEMs and Tier1s keeps evolving. Michael Niklas (Aumovio) identified the real challenge: "fragmented tools, data inconsistencies, unclear ownership." Felix Pretscheck (Bosch) presented three collaboration scenarios, with "Co-Integrate" as the breakthrough: OEMs and suppliers integrating continuously through shared pipelines, compressing feedback from months to days.

🔒 From Building to Securing
Every connection you market is also a vulnerability. Gregor Knappik (VicOne): "So everything gets even more interconnected. And these are basically the biggest threats upcoming that we see and needs to be solved now." With vehicles connecting to smart homes and third-party services, security isn't a feature to hide—it's a trust-builder requiring radical transparency. GPS spoofing threats, public hacking competitions, and the convergence of safety (ISO 26262) with security (ISO 21434) demand a new narrative: continuous vigilance as strength, not admission of weakness.

PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS:

• Reframe subtraction as vision: "We chose these 10 features because they matter" beats "We offer 50 because we can"
• Translate engineer-speak to human language: Replace "flexible feature deployment architecture" with "Your car gets better every month, like your phone"
• Launch co-integration partnerships now: Move beyond quarterly supplier deliveries to shared development infrastructure
• Build security transparency within 6 months: Proactive bug bounty programs before incidents force reactive crisis management

FEATURED EXPERTS:
Stefan Marxreiter (Avenga) • Ola Svensson (Knowit) • Mikhail Vink (JetBrains) • Michael Niklas (Aumovio) • Khaled Alomari (MHP) • Hans-Martin Ritt (MathWorks) • Gregor Knappik (VicOne)

The companies that master honest narratives—ambitious yet credible, innovative yet trustworthy—won't just win in 2026. They'll define automotive storytelling for the next decade.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

🔗 THE COLLABORATION REVOLUTION DECODED

Twenty-eight companies. Three years. One unified data standard that BMW, Mercedes, and Volkswagen all agreed to. Thomas Rösch, CEO of Cofinity-X and Board Member of Catena-X, joins "Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" to unpack this unprecedented automotive collaboration.

🎯 KEY INSIGHTS

Centralized vs. Decentralized: The Trust Paradigm Shift

Thomas exposes automotive's "one-up, one-down" data sharing trap that creates supply chain opacity, then unveils Catena-X's data sovereignty solution—where companies retain ownership while enabling standardized peer-to-peer data exchange that builds industry-wide trust.

The Standardization Strategy of Seamless Integration

Discover how 28 companies achieved the impossible—three years of collaboration bringing a global data ecosystem to life that creates a trusted environment for cross-company collaboration and innovation. It enables: Sovereign data exchange between all automotive enterprises.Catena-X creates a foundation for a connected, resilient, and sustainable automotive industry, which Cofinity-X brings to life.

The Global Scaling of Data Ecosystems

Learn why data spaces are exploding beyond automotive into aerospace, chemicals, and construction, with Korea's government-funded rollout and 25+ Chinese company pilots proving that collaborative data infrastructure is becoming an essential industrial operating system.

💡 PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS

• Audit Data Readiness Now: Regulatory requirements like battery passports and PCF reporting are non-negotiable—Catena-X allows standardized processes for the exchange of sustainability data with all your partners
  
• Choose Your Software Strategy: Select from 50+ certified marketplace applications and services or leverage open-source code—freedom from vendor lock-in while maintaining standards compliance saves costs and preserves agility.
  
• Join Readiness Programs: Leverage Catena-X's supplier-focused booster programs—the network effect only works with broad participation, and early adopters gain first-mover advantage in supply chain transparency.
  
• Explore Cross-Industry Opportunities: If you serve multiple sectors, one infrastructure works across automotive, aerospace, and industrial—ChemX, FactoryX, and AerospaceX are emerging with identical principles.
  

🌟 ABOUT YOUR GUIDE

Thomas Rösch brings 40+ years of automotive and IoT expertise, including nine years founding ZF's Openmatics telematics platform. After learning firsthand why centralized, single-company platforms fail to achieve industry adoption, he now leads dual roles: CEO of Cofinity-X (first Catena-X operator) and Catena-X Association Board Member, where his conviction that "belief and making it happen" is reshaping global automotive data collaboration.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

How Many Slides Is Too Many? The Real Question Every Presenter Should Be Asking

Are you asking the wrong question about your presentations? In this Quick Fix episode of Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling, host Stéphane Lagresle reveals why "How many slides should I have?" is the wrong question, and what you should be asking instead.

THE PROBLEM:

You open PowerPoint. You start adding slide after slide. Before you know it, you've got 40 slides for a 20-minute presentation.

But here's the thing: you don't have a presentation. You have a pile of information with no story holding it together. Your audience is lost because information without story is just noise.

This is the slide dependency problem. Your slides have become your script instead of supporting your story.

THE FRAMEWORK:

Using a powerful movie analogy, Stéphane introduces The One Test and The One Rule, two simple frameworks that will transform how you build presentations:

THE ONE TEST: Can you tell your story without the slides? If a massive technical failure happened and you couldn't show any slides, could you still deliver a compelling narrative? If not, you have a slide dependency problem.

THE ONE RULE: Every slide must do two things: (1) Move your story forward, AND (2) Get your audience closer to the goal you've defined (using the Empathy Map from Quick Fix #1). If a slide doesn't do both, it doesn't belong in your deck.

YOU'LL LEARN:

→ Why the number of slides doesn't matter—the story does
→ How to break free from slide dependency and build narrative-driven presentations
→ The two-part test every slide must pass to earn its place in your deck
→ Why information without emotion doesn't create retention (and how to fix it)
→ Real client transformation: from 30+ slides to 15 slides—and winning the contract
→ When to use slides and when to "kill the slide" for maximum impact
→ How to apply the Empathy Map framework to presentation design

TACTICAL TAKEAWAY:

Stop asking "How many slides do I need?" Start asking "What story am I telling?"

THE PRINCIPLE: Information without emotion doesn't create retention. Learn how to create emotional moments around critical information so your audience actually remembers what matters.

Perfect for:

• Automotive sales and business development professionals
• B2B technology sales teams and account managers
• Product marketing and sales enablement leaders
• Startup founders and executives pitching investors
• Engineers and technical professionals presenting to non-technical audiences
• Anyone who presents complex solutions to customers

Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling is the premier podcast for automotive innovation leaders, revealing the human stories behind technological breakthroughs. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, Founder of The Storytelling Tribe and creator of the Automotive-Grade Storytelling™ methodology.

Connect: TheStorytellingTribe.com | LinkedIn: @SLagresle

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

🚗 FROM 5 YEARS TO 6 WEEKS: THE SDV REVOLUTION

When Mercedes-Benz's software team achieved in weeks what traditionally took years, they proved that having an entirely new approach to automotive's software can bring incredible results.

In this new episode of "Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" brought to you by The Storytelling Tribe, we sit down with Markus Rettstatt, Head of Software Defined Car Unit at Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation and Eclipse SDV Ambassador, to decode how a 130-year-old automotive giant is becoming a software company.

🎯 KEY INSIGHTS

The Cultural Earthquake: When Software Becomes the Product

Markus reveals the hardest part of Mercedes-Benz's transformation: convincing hardware-minded leaders that software isn't "instructions for hardware" anymore – it's the primary value layer. Discover why this shift demands new mental models about ownership, control, and what actually creates competitive advantage.

The Open Source Paradox: Why Mercedes Shares Code with Competitors

How can sharing diagnostic software with BMW, startups, and Chinese developers strengthen Mercedes' position? Markus explains the counterintuitive strategy behind OpenSOVD – and why reducing development cycles from years to weeks requires collaboration.

The Living Vehicle: Why Your 2025 Car Will Be Better in 2030

Software-defined vehicles don't depreciate like traditional cars – they improve. Learn how continuous updates are transforming the used car market, creating unprecedented value retention, and fundamentally changing what "buying a car" means for the next decade.

💡 PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS

Lead with Why, Not What: Transformation fails when engineers start with technical details. Start with customer impact, then developer benefits, then business value – in that order. That's how you build momentum.

Prove It with Demos, Not Memos: Markus's team didn't write proposals about vertical integration – they built a working demo covering 80% of test cases in six weeks. Change comes from showing, not telling.

Use Neutral Foundations for Collaboration: Hosting projects through Eclipse Foundation eliminates legal barriers and enables global contribution – even with geopolitically sensitive markets.

Design for Hardware Independence: Build abstraction layers that separate software from chips. This enables market flexibility (different chips for different regions) and future-proofs vehicles for computing evolution.

🌟 MEET YOUR GUIDE

Markus Rettstatt has been writing automotive software since 1998 – back when "software" meant offline routing systems and the rotary knob for destination entry. Over 25+ years, he's co-developed FlexRay bus systems, architected Mercedes-Benz's cloud-native OTA infrastructure (reducing update cycles from one year to under three months), and now leads SDV and ADAS innovation at Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation, partnering with Chief Software Officer Magnus Östberg to drive transformation at enterprise scale.

His unique perspective? He's lived through the entire evolution from "software as hardware instructions" to "software as primary value layer" – and he's leading one of the industry's most ambitious transformations.

Listen now to discover the stories driving automotive's software revolution.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.