83.9 F
San Fernando
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

App Helps Nail Down Home Repair

Just over two years ago, Ara Mahdessian and Vahe Kuzoyan tried to help their fathers’ businesses by writing software to improve efficiency. The exercise resulted in the creation of ServiceTitan, a firm that makes a computer program with the same name. ServiceTitan helps plumbers, contractors and home-repair companies manage operations in real time. The software organizes the scheduling, dispatching, invoicing and payment processing for jobs, and includes payroll and supply inventory management functions as well as customer satisfaction surveys. For Mahdessian, 30, whose father is a residential contractor, the process of writing code to manage the business while not interfering with its hour-by-hour operation proved a daunting task. “We were sailing the ship as we were building it, and you constantly have to scramble to make sure the ship doesn’t sink,” he said. Now, ServiceTitan is licensed to large franchises such as Mr. Rooter, Mr. Electric and Aire Serv, where technicians use it to schedule about 1.8 million home visits a year. The technicians simply pull up the app on their tablet or smartphone to see where they need to go and what they need to do for their next job. Afterwards, they take customer payments via credit card. All the information can be tracked, processed and exported to accounting program QuickBooks. ServiceTitan software processes transactions worth more than $1 billion a year, according to a company press release. That number and the high-profile customers caught the attention of Bessemer Venture Partners, a venture capital firm in Menlo Park. With Bessemer leading the first round of investment, ServiceTitan pulled in $18 million earlier this year to fund growth. While it’s unusual for Silicon Valley VCs to dabble in the home-repair sector, Bessemer Vice President Kristina Shen said the firm liked the backgrounds of ServiceTitan’s co-founders. “What we’re particularly excited about was they both were born in the industry,” said Shen. “That’s one of the core components of our thesis – that the founders be from the industry and have their own network within the industry.” ServiceTitan declined to disclose how much profit it has made since its launch in 2012. It has 50 employees in its Glendale office. Mahdessian and Kuzoyan, 32, plan to use the venture capital on marketing to new customers, making strategic hires and improving the software. The two retain a majority stake in the company. But it all goes back to helping out the family. After earning degrees in computer science, Mahdessian and Kuzoyan returned home to help their fathers manage their companies, but available technology didn’t seem to help. “When they needed software, we couldn’t find anything that was very good,” said Mahdessian. “So we decided to build it ourselves.” – Mateo Melero

Featured Articles

Related Articles