ServiceTitan's founders grew up watching their fathers type invoices at the kitchen table. Ara Mahdessian and Vahe Kuzoyan were sons of Armenian immigrants who worked in the trades. They met on an Armenian Student Association ski trip and found they shared the same story. After engineering school, both saw their families' businesses still running on paper and shoeboxes of receipts. So they built software for plumbers, electricians, and HVAC contractors. ServiceTitan filed to go public in November 2024.

Built for Their Fathers

The first customers were the founders' own parents. ServiceTitan pulled scheduling, dispatch, pricing, invoicing, and payments into one system, with an app technicians carried into each home. A plumber could show a homeowner options on a tablet and take payment on the spot. The company later added marketing and customer financing tools. It charged subscriptions and also earned money on payments that flowed through its platform.

Seventy-One Dollars and Up

ServiceTitan priced its IPO at $71 a share on December 11, 2024, above its raised range, and listed on Nasdaq as TTAN. The stock opened at $101 the next day and closed up about 42 percent. The sale of 8.8 million shares raised about $625 million, one of the largest software IPOs of 2024. Mahdessian stayed on as CEO. ServiceTitan still trades on Nasdaq as TTAN.

Cover: Tinker with His Tools, Camille Pissarro. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a tinker with his tools (the tradesman).