Lessons from a Titan: What ServiceTitan’s IPO Taught Us About Building Folio

It’s funny. I never thought I’d be actively waiting to see the ringing of the bell from a company where I didn’t know any of the founders (or tbh, even anyone working there). And I’ve waited before for that classic photo – Israeli founders IPOing, friends’ companies making their big debut, and portfolio companies from the VC I used to work at waiting for the confetti to fall. But there I was, last week on December 12th, watching Ara Mahdessian and Vahe Kuzoyan (and their parents) ring the bell for ServiceTitan ’s IPO.

Why was I so invested in this company that no one here in Israel even spoke about other than Tomer Diari from Aleph , Amit Karp from Bessemer Venture Partners , and folks from Battery Ventures ?

Because for Folio, ServiceTitan’s IPO was proof of what’s possible for us.

Its founders’ journey shows how focusing on an overlooked market, solving real problems, and building for the long haul can lead to massive success. And as Amir Taiar and I spend our days and nights building a vertical solution for industrial manufacturing GTM teams, I just couldn’t help but see the lessons for us:

Lesson #1: Blood, Sweat & Code

ServiceTitan was a personal play for Ara and Vahe. They grew up watching their parents hustle in trades businesses and actually experienced the inefficiencies of the old-school industry. That firsthand knowledge is what drove their relentless focus.

Amir and I feel that with manufacturing. It’s in our DNA.

I spent college summers working in an auto shop and manually writing out sales descriptions for car AC condensers and compressors (and, humble brag, used to fix the carburetor of my constantly-breaking moped on my own after far too many expensive visits to the repair shop). My aunt built a successful jewelry manufacturing company and still deals with the pain of inefficient sales processes, one of my brothers works as a distributor and just can’t get updated info from the OEMs he sells for, another brother does white-label production and has to deal with managing distributors, and yet another brother, (the youngest of the four), just joined the sales team of a massive clothing manufacturer.

And it’s the same with Amir. His family has been in manufacturing for over 30 years – he was literally building machines as a kid, his brother in-law manufactures and sells massive pipes, and on weekends (the ones where he has a few spare seconds) he’s spec-ing out builds in his woodworking shop.

And it’s shaping how we build Folio, because to properly digitize outdated workflows we have to actually know and listen to the people who use them and design tools that make their lives easier. And oh boy do we listen – not just through Zoom, but actually listen.

Since launching Folio, I’ve spent time walking through factory floors in New York and Miami, grabbing lunch with packaging machinery sales reps at FabTech in Orlando, and having drinks with metal fabrication folks at IMTS in Chicago. These trade shows and shop-floor visits are more than "networking events" to me; I genuinely like these people. They’re hardworking, resourceful, practical, (and so so so very kind, a nice departure, cough, cough, from some other industries I’ve had to get used to) and their stories inspire me every day. Now obviously, we can’t be everywhere at once, and so we’ve also had hundreds of conversations with our prospects and current pilot users online (with virtual walkthroughs near their machines), digging deep into everything. It’s the only way to do it…or at least only way to do it right.

Lesson #2: Not Behind, Just Waiting for Better

ServiceTitan proved something powerful (that most of us in this space already knew): underserved doesn't mean old-school. The trades industry wasn't stuck with paper tickets and Excel sheets because they feared technology; they were hungry for innovation but just weren’t happy with so called ‘solutions’ built by people who'd never stepped foot in a repair shop or understood the real pressures of running a service business.

We see the same in manufacturing sales. The sector powers $8.8 trillion in global value, yet relies on outdated sales and GTM tools that can't handle industrial complexity. Distributors and direct sales teams attempt manage 73% of sales through systems that fail to bridge technical specifications with business value. Industrial sales teams aren’t resistant to change, they've just never had tools worthy of them.

I want to remind you: these companies are building rockets, electric vehicles, and next-gen robotics. I literally watched the “Boston Dynamics” robo-dog dance at one of the trade shows, and had a mind blowing meet and greet with a 6-foot tall humanoid robot. These manufacturers are not technophobes, but like those home service companies that fell in love with ServiceTitan and propelled them to an IPO, they just refuse to settle for software that doesn't match their ambition.

So when we hear "but there are so many sales tools out there," we just smile, because anyone who says that has clearly never tried to sell a half a million dollar piece of custom manufacturing equipment through a network of distributors and VARs, each needing to justify ROI across three facilities, four use cases, and two different production lines while coordinating with the OEM's engineering team on custom specifications. (Phew, what a mouthful!)

Lesson #3: Go Deep, Get Sticky, Win Big

ServiceTitan was so focused on one industry that it became a critical part of its customers' workflows, connecting contractors, technicians, and customers in a way that drove high retention and a very impressive LTV (something that we know can really happen in these kind of industries if done right because more often than not, 'lifetime' actually means a full person's lifetime in manufacturing). And because of this consistent usage, the SaaS platform ended up becoming something beyond a piece of software or utility and evolved into a community where all relevant stakeholders found end-to-end value.

By focusing laser-sharp on workflows that impacted revenue (like cutting payment cycles from weeks to days, where in our case, we aim to cut from months to weeks), they achieved something remarkable in their early days (according to Bessemer’s 2015 investment memo): growing from $1M to $3M ARR with zero marketing spend.

At Folio, that lesson is ours for the taking. The key is understanding the ecosystem's complexity. When a platform can seamlessly connect an OEM's engineering specs to a distributor's sales process to an end customer's ROI calculation, that's when it becomes irreplaceable. Because what so many of these other tools are missing is the fact that OEMs, distributors, and their end customers operate in a web of interdependencies. Folio reflects those dynamics. When the entire ecosystem wins – when every stakeholder has the information they need to succeed – the platform becomes more than just useful. It becomes essential. And just like ServiceTitan proved with contractors, when you become irreplaceable to sophisticated industrial buyers and sellers, it’s upward and onward baby.

Watching ServiceTitan's IPO was validating as much as it was inspiring. It reminded me again (and again) that focusing on an overlooked market, solving real problems, and building for the long term can create massive success. And their timing couldn't have been better. They rode the wave of legacy industry modernization all the way to Wall Street.

We’re seeing something similar happening today. Industry 4.0 (I’ll argue, 5.0) is pushing manufacturers to adopt advanced technologies that actually make a difference. Western manufacturers and their allies face intense pressure to justify premium pricing against global (cheaper and more dangerous) alternatives. And AI has moved from buzzword to business imperative. So here we are, getting the timing right too, and building the tools to help industrial GTM teams turn these challenges into opportunities.

Thank you Ara and Vahe for these lessons.

Like you, our goal isn't just to build a company, it's to uplift an entire industry and the incredible people in it. And while I hope we'll ring the bell one day (with my parents and siblings in tow), for now, it's all about staying heads down, solving pains, and building something that lasts.

Dive deeper here:

• "ServiceTitan S-1 Breakdown" by Meritech Capital (link)
• "ServiceTitan New IPO: Worth Buying?" by Seeking Alpha (link)
• "ServiceTitan: A Values-Driven Company's Path to IPO" by Bessemer Venture Partners (link)
• "ServiceTitan Investment Memo" by Bessemer Venture Partners (link)
• "The Operating System that Powers the Trades: Our Investment in ServiceTitan" by Battery Ventures (link)