DealerBuilt

Mike Trasatti serves as President and has led the firm since its founding in 2002. DealerBuilt's leadership team also includes senior technical and customer-support executives, though the firm's private structure limits external visibility on the full C-suite composition. Mr. Trasatti's tenure is notable for consistent product focus on a single-platform DMS architecture.

DealerBuilt's DMS is built on a single unified database rather than stitching together separately acquired modules — a common practice among larger competitors such as CDK Global and Reynolds and Reynolds. This architecture eliminates data synchronization issues between departments, meaning the sales desk, service bay, and accounting office all work from the same real-time dataset. The product is designed for Windows-based server environments, often deployed on-premise at the dealership rather than as a purely cloud-native SaaS, though recent releases have expanded API capabilities for third-party integrations.

The firm serves both franchise and independent automotive dealerships, from single-point operators to multi-store dealer groups. DealerBuilt's footprint is concentrated among dealerships that prioritize system reliability and close vendor support over the brand recognition of the market-share leaders. By the firm's own communications, its clients range from single-rooftop operations to groups with seven or more stores.

DealerBuilt operates as a privately held, capital-efficient company. No publicly announced venture capital rounds, private equity transactions, or institutional minority investments appear in the firm's history. The ownership structure remains closely held, consistent with the bootstrapped model the firm has maintained since 2002.

While headquartered in Mason City, Iowa, DealerBuilt serves dealerships across more than 40 US states. Client density is highest in the Midwest and Southeast. The firm does not publicly break out international operations, and there is no evidence of an active non-US sales presence.