By Julie BUTCHER

“It’s truly the American Dream,” said Glendale Councilmember Paula Devine at the announcement that the locally-based company ServiceTitan would be headquartered in 125,000 square feet on five floors in the building at 800 N. Brand Blvd. Devine joined dozens of supporters, the Glendale City Council and many representatives from the City, family members, employees and friends at a press conference late Monday morning in the courtyard of the tall building, just north of the 134 Freeway. These families, these young men, Devine noted, were the result of the seeds sown years ago by their experiences as youngsters helping their families.

“We’re so proud to have them here,” she said.

ServiceTitan is a software platform created specifically for the home services industry – HVAC, electrical, garage doors, plumbing – that provides services to increase revenue while streamlining operations.

Congressman Adam Schiff posted on social media:

“Vahe Kuzoyan and Ara Mahdessian came to the United States as small children – Kuzoyan from Armenia and Mahdessian as a refugee fleeing the Iran-Iraq war. They went to college, and later met and bonded as children of parents in the plumbing and contracting industry. Not long after, ServiceTitan was born. Headquartered in Glendale, ServiceTitan employs 600 people and has found a market providing software that makes life easier for small business owners like Vahe’s and Ara’s parents, including plumbers, electricians, HVAC-repair and garage-door installers.

“ServiceTitan is part of a growing number of tech companies that call Glendale, and the Los Angeles area, home. And it is now a billion-dollar start-up. This is what the American dream looks like, and it’s wonderful to see it in our community.”

Kuzoyan explained the importance of ServiceTitan’s move.

“We’ve moved more than 100 families here, from all over – it’s the best place to grow our business,” he said adding that it shows that a meaningful tech company can be built outside of Silicon Valley.

He recalled the boasting by the State of Virginia when it lured Nestlé to move its international headquarters out of Glendale with tax incentives estimated at $18 million. Now, ServiceTitan will be occupying much of the space that previously housed the food company and will even have its name prominently featured on the building’s exterior.

Mahdessian shared the story of ServiceTitan’s beginnings.

“[Our parents] came to this country as immigrants,” he told the crowd, “and brought us along on the journey and, like many immigrants who came to this great country, came here with no money, no job, no knowledge of the language, and had to do all kinds of odd jobs to make ends meet to try and give us a better future than they had.”

In hindsight, he went on, that planted the seeds for what ServiceTitan would become today, “one entire generation later, almost 30 years later.”

As the pair looked back to when they graduated from college, Mahdessian continued, they turned down “high-profile exciting jobs” at big tech companies so they could return to their roots in Glendale and figure out how to help their parents better manage their very small home service businesses.

“When you think about home services, when you think about the trades, it’s not generally seen as one of these glamorous industries in tech; in fact, it’s very unsexy, very unglamorous, but it happens to be super critical. It’s these trades and the people behind them that provide us with the basic necessities of life, whether that’s running water or relief from scorching heat, or the power to operate our lives. We don’t realize it until our toilets clog right before our dinner party or our air conditioning goes out in the middle of the hot summer or the lights go out … and we need to call people like our parents and the millions of others just like them who make sacrifices from their personal lives, and leave their families to come and rescue ours,” Mahdessian added.

ServiceTitan currently employs about 600 people from across Los Angeles and surrounding areas and plans to expand its workforce to 1,000 by the end of this year, as many as 2,000 next year.

“When Ara and I started this thing, it was really an effort just to help our parents’ small businesses and, along the way, we realized that the opportunity was much bigger than that,” said Kuzoyan.

A highlight of the morning was the unveiling of the artist’s rendering of the 800 N. Brand Blvd. building with the ServiceTitan name showing prominently on its top.

Mayor Zareh Sinanyan acknowledged the attendance of many representatives from the City of Glendale, as well as the entire council, highlighting the historic significance of the day’s event.

“Two years ago, when Nestlé announced its intention to leave Glendale, many viewed it as a cataclysmic economic event that would have a long-term impact on its economy,” Sinanyan said then quoted from what he described as a “prophetic press release” issued by the City in February 2017. In it the move by Nestlé was described as “closing a chapter and opening doors to future opportunities to re-tenant the space with forward-looking businesses that have a bright future.”

“‘Nestlé’s move from Glendale is going to provide the opportunity to attract additional tech companies and tenants that will enhance our community,’” Sinanyan continued reading. “Today, this prediction has come to fruition!”

The mayor added that through the city’s implementation of a “robust tech strategy, business outreach, innovative programming and community engagement” it has helped to attract and support companies like ServiceTitan.

“We are extremely proud of the success and ongoing growth of ServiceTitan and grateful to its co-founders Ara Mahdessian and Vahe Kuzoyan – two native sons of this community – for choosing to invest and grow in Glendale.”

  Julie BUTCHER