How Storyboard Designed Software for a Workforce That Never Sits at a Desk

JP Gooderham, founder of Storyboard, is tackling one of the hardest problems in industrial operations: how to bring AI into safety-critical environments where reliability, compliance and trust matter more than novelty.

Storyboard offers a compelling lens into how modern AI systems actually get adopted on the front lines, from selling into safety and operations leaders, to deploying in noisy truck cabs, to pricing models that balance seat access with workflow-level automation. There are strong lessons here for buyers and operators around risk tolerance, forward-deployed builds and what it really takes to move from pilot to production in high-stakes environments.

As always, let us know what you think and please reach out if you have feedback.

- Dave

Fleet managers know the problem: despite huge investments in telematics, the largest workforce in the U.S. (truck drivers) remain underserved by software.

That’s where JP Gooderham [LinkedIn] and Storyboard come in. Storyboard pivoted from enterprise podcasting into a voice assistant purpose-built for drivers, designed for safety, compliance, and noisy environments.

In this conversation, JP dives into:

• Why fleets need a “Jarvis for drivers” that works reliably in noisy, moving cabs.
• How AI + telematics convergence (Samsara, Motive, ELD standards) created the window for Storyboard.
• What “forward-deployed” customer development looks like when safety and compliance are non-negotiable.
• Pricing models adapted for high turnover and variable driver workloads.
• How buyers (Safety and Ops leaders) can expect fast pilots (<2 weeks to launch) and measurable ROI in safety, efficiency, and profitability.

Introductions & Origins

Dave Ambrose (00:17.449)

JP, thank you so much for doing this. I’m really pumped that you’re here. I think I know a decent amount about your background and I think about the problem that you’re solving, but why don’t you give the audience an overview of what Storyboard is, meaning the product that you’re building, and then also the problem that you’re solving with the product.

JP Gooderham (00:36.890)

Yeah, totally. So Storyboard started in 2019. We originally built it as a podcasting platform for enterprises, but over time we saw that the people who were using us most intensively were trucking fleets. And that’s what pulled us into the space. There are about 3.6 million drivers in the U.S., it’s the largest workforce segment, and they’re in cabs for 8 to 14 hours a day. They weren’t being served by any purpose-built software. So we built a voice assistant that runs on their work tablets and phones. It detects when the vehicle is in motion, flips into a hands-free mode, and lets them interact safely while driving.

Dave Ambrose (01:18.774)

So this was a pivot away from enterprise podcasting?

JP Gooderham (01:21.112)

Exactly. We noticed that fleets were actually running their safety updates and dispatch messages through us. That was the insight: if drivers are spending all day in noisy environments, you can’t expect them to read or tap through a corporate intranet. It has to be voice-first. And with advances in AI for speech recognition, on-device optimization, and workflow prompting, the tech finally made it possible.

Buyers, ROI, and Use Cases

Dave Ambrose (05:02.015)

And what does the buyer side look like? Who inside a fleet is actually paying you?

JP Gooderham (05:09.601)

We sell to Safety leaders and Operations leaders. Often they’re both at the table. The pitch is ROI across three axes: safety (improving CSA scores, automating compliance alerts), efficiency (reducing unnecessary driver calls to dispatch), and profitability in what are typically 5–10% margin businesses. One of our customers told us that 80% of calls drivers make to dispatch shouldn’t even exist. Storyboard automates those.

Dave Ambrose (05:42.950)

And these are mid-market fleets or more enterprise?

JP Gooderham (05:46.555)

It’s horizontal. We serve mid-market to enterprise carriers, so anywhere from hundreds of drivers up to 3,000+. It’s really across trucking and logistics.

Dave Ambrose (06:12.118)

How fast can you get a pilot live?

JP Gooderham (06:15.644)

We’ve gone live in less than two weeks from the first conversation. Typically a full rollout takes one to three months, depending on KPI discovery and integrations. That’s still fast compared to the industry.

Pricing and the “Why Now” Moment

Dave Ambrose (10:01.880)

And ROI shows up where?

JP Gooderham (10:04.244)

ROI comes in safety, efficiency, and profitability. Safety because compliance violations are costly; efficiency because you reduce friction in driver-dispatch communication; profitability because every saved minute matters in a low-margin business.

Dave Ambrose (10:26.618)

How do you structure pricing?

JP Gooderham (10:31.244)

Our intro price is seat-based. That’s important because fleets deal with turnover and seat reassignment. We also do custom pricing for fleets with heavier workflows. A driver with one stop per day looks very different from one with 14 stops.

Dave Ambrose (10:55.664)

Why is this possible now, in 2025?

JP Gooderham (11:00.884)

Two reasons: one, near-universal adoption of in-cab tablets and telematics. Vendors like Samsara and Motive have standardized the hardware. Two, recent AI advances - better speech recognition, on-device models, and flexible prompting - mean you can actually run a reliable voice UX in an 80 dB cab environment. Those two shifts created the window.

Safety-Critical Development & Methodology

Dave Ambrose (15:10.230)

And how do you build in such a safety-critical space?

JP Gooderham (15:13.552)

We do what we call “forward-deployed build.” That means we work alongside customers in the field. Many things that used to require months of engineering we can now do in weeks with prompt engineering. But we always keep strict guardrails, so think of it like an air-traffic-control mentality. Safety and compliance come first.

Dave Ambrose (15:36.310)

That’s a great analogy.

JP Gooderham (15:38.553)

Thanks. It’s a mindset we’ve borrowed from aviation and applied to trucking. You can move fast, but you must never break safety.

Positioning & Closing Thoughts

Dave Ambrose (20:15.230)

Anything else you’d want buyers to know?

JP Gooderham (20:18.553)

That we’re not trying to rip and replace systems fleets already rely on. They’ve invested heavily in telemetry and compliance systems. Storyboard closes the last mile with drivers, i.e. the human interface.

Dave Ambrose (20:36.310)

Got it. JP, thanks for walking us through all this. Really insightful.

JP Gooderham (20:39.553)

Thank you for having me.