ServiceTitan: A values-driven company’s path to IPO

_{Special thanks to Talia Goldberg and Sameer Dholakia for their invaluable contributions to ServiceTitan's growth. Talia sourced the company in 2015 and has supported the team since. Sameer joined as an outside board member during his tenure as SendGrid’s CEO and became even more involved after joining Bessemer as a Partner.}

My first phone call with Ara Mahdessian didn’t go as planned. I started with my usual opener: “We’d love to learn about your business for most of the call, and then, of course, we can save some time at the end for you to ask us some questions.” But Ara quickly seized control of the conversation and reversed the discussion. He grilled me about how other companies I’d worked with ran their go-to-market strategies, hired teams, and planned product releases. Then, after an hour and a half, he thanked us for the time and signed off to talk to a customer.

I remember turning to Talia, smiling, and asking: “What just happened?” My head was spinning. In that initial conversation, we got very little information about the company, but we did indirectly get a clear view of Ara’s unique style and incredibly effective management approach.

We met up regularly over the next year. What struck me most was the personal connection that Ara and his co-founder, Vahe Kuzoyan, had to the work: both are Armenian Americans who emigrated to the U.S. as children, and both of their fathers had worked in the home-service trades. They watched their fathers get up at the crack of dawn, work all day, and then spend all night going through invoices, setting schedules, and other mundane business tasks.

That lived experience ignited Ara and Vahe’s passion and continues to fuel ServiceTitan’s mission. Our team often describes ServiceTitan as a radically customer-first company. Their empathy and respect for home service professionals permeates through every nook and cranny of the company. That propelled ServiceTitan forward: they always listened to what new capabilities their customers wanted and valued — which helped engender loyalty at all stages of growth.

The founder-market fit is an undeniable edge when building a vertical SaaS giant. It’s one thing to bring intellectual horsepower and technical prowess to a problem, but pairing that with deep industry knowledge and customer focus is magic.

Striking a partnership

Bessemer had early conviction that vertical SaaS companies like ServiceTitan represented the next wave of transformative growth in the cloud economy. By 2013, we’d already backed leaders in construction (Procore), restaurants (Toast), and e-commerce (Shopify), confident that niche markets could scale through innovation and expansion into adjacent fields.

Ara and Vahe shared this vision. They saw ServiceTitan as not just a home-services platform but a generational company—one that could become the most notable software IPO in L.A. history and a point of pride for the Armenian community.

When Ara decided to raise a Series A, we shook hands on the deal, but instead of signing immediately, he invited me to L.A. for more personal bonding and some company due diligence. There, he and Vahe took me to Vahe’s father’s plumbing business, followed by a night of Armenian BBQ and deep conversation. Their passion and authenticity left a lasting impression.

Deepening our relationship

In the early days, we focused on supporting Ara and Vahe however we could, mainly by helping guide key operational decisions and driving profitable growth while preserving ServiceTitan's unique strengths. Ara and I spoke almost daily about benchmarks, customer retention, and scaling. A key turning point was bringing in Sameer Dholakia, whose leadership at SendGrid—growing it into a multi-billion-dollar public company and merging with Twilio—brought invaluable expertise. Sameer built a strong rapport with Ara and Vahe, joining ServiceTitan’s Board in 2021. (We valued his contributions so much that Bessemer later welcomed him as a full-time partner!)

In every stage of their journey, what stood out most was ServiceTitan’s openness. Ara and Vahe didn’t see VCs as financiers—they relied on us as trusted partners. After one board meeting, they took everyone back to Vahe’s house for a traditional Armenian feast, which included roasting a whole goat in the backyard and loads of Halloween preparations. Kids were running around everywhere, and we talked late into the night. These kinds of personal connections make it so much easier to talk candidly about business problems together when they inevitably come up.

Ara’s ambition and competitive spirit shine in everything he does. During a CEO ski, Ara faced a painful toe injury that would have sidelined most people. Instead, he performed DIY surgery with a pin, match, and paper clip (thank you, YouTube!), delivered a keynote the next day, and led the crew down the slopes just hours later. His entrepreneurial energy is matched by a deep commitment to both personal and company values.

Around this time, I shared a mantra from my Cal rugby days: “Grateful for everything, entitled to nothing.” ServiceTitan embraced it wholeheartedly, weaving the motto into its culture and even into Ara’s son’s soccer team. 

Expanding the market

At every stage of growth, ServiceTitan faced the same critical question as other vertical SaaS companies: How do we expand the addressable market? Selling software to plumbers isn’t that big a business. But Ara and Vahe steadily added HVAC, and later pool service, landscape, septic, and more.

As I reflect with my partners Talia and Sameer on ServiceTitan’s trajectory, we celebrate this team’s masterful job in expanding TAM by 1) growing take rate by delivering more value and products to their customers and 2) growing into adjacent verticals. With each new customer segment, ServiceTitan launched new Acts that scaled its business to Centaur status and beyond.

When Covid hit, ServiceTitan faced a new challenge. The world was shutting down, and its customers—who often needed to be let into people’s homes or offices to do their work—looked like they would be hit hard. As always, Ara and Vahe’s priority was to show up and support customers. Amid the early Covid uncertainty, they noticed that while some trade businesses suffered, others were busier than ever. They reached out to the busy ones and learned they had implemented various COVID-19 safety measures that allowed them to continue working and make customers comfortable. ServiceTitan put together webinars and guides to teach other providers how to adapt.

ServiceTitan now has one of the world’s biggest online communities of contractors and home-service providers. And it's clear their customers remember the support they gave them when things looked tough.

It has been a privilege to support ServiceTitan’s mission and to partner with Ara, Vahe, and the entire ServiceTitan team. Today is a momentous day, but it’s still just the beginning. We look forward to the journey ahead.