π¦π²π¦ Is listening to podcasts worth it?
Curated resources for Armenian founders and tech enthusiasts.
Information overload is a real problem. We have too many resources to consume in a limited amount of time. Do people still read books? Honestly, I enjoy reading a physical book more than an e-book these days. And to help consume other types of material around similar subjects, Iβve integrated podcasts into my day-to-day life. Podcasts give you the ability to listen to experts give their point of views on topics during your workout or when you go out for a walk. Here we break down the best ones covering startups, tech, and venture capital below. π
Podcasts π
What is a Podcast?
A podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files that a user can download to a personal device for easy listening. Streaming applications and podcasting services (Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud) provide a convenient and integrated way to manage a personal consumption queue across many podcast sources.
Tech and Startup Podcasts
Acquired by David Rosenthal of Wave Ventures and Ben Gilbert of Pioneer Square Labs
How I built this by Guy Raz
Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman
Origins by Notation Capital
This week in Tech by Leo Laporte
Venture Capital Podcasts
The Twenty Minute VC with Harry Stebbings
Greymatter by Greylock Partners
Morgan Stanley Access & Opportunity with Carla Harris
The Consumer VC with Mike Gelb
Honorable mentions
MARS - Opportunity for successful people who have started a project from scratch without any experience or resources by Davit Baghdasaryan π¦π²
All in Podcasts with David Sacks, Jason Calacanis, David Friedberg, and Chamath Palihapitiya
Knowable, Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup focused on audio learning. Fun, 10-min daily audio lessons from top thinkers, experts, and authors + weekly live discussions.
Armenian Tech News π£
π ServiveTitan, a software provider for Tradespeople, raises $500 million Series F round to reach an $8.3 billion valuation. Congrats to Vahe Kuzoyan and Ara Mahdessian! Read more on ServiceTitan in our Startup Spotlight.
π Copy.Ai, a startup building AI-powered copywriting tools for business customers, announced a $2.9 million round seed round. Congrats to Paul Yacoubian and Chris Lu! Investors include Craft Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Atelier Ventures.
π Startup School is an innovative program that allows 12-16-year-olds to master the skills to become a successful entrepreneur, gain professional knowledge, as well as to choose a profession. Register here.
π Startup Boost Week is coming up from April 5th to 11th.
π‘ InVent innovative venture building program aims to build startup teams from independent entrepreneurially minded individuals. Criteria for the 15-week venture development program. Apply by April 7th.
π SoftConstruct has introduced PandaMR - is an event hosting cross-platform software, which allows creating, hosting, and participating in the most exciting virtual events
What weβre following π
Okta is buying Auth0 for $6.5 billion in an all-stock deal. Read BVPβs investment Memo from 2014.
Sequoia sends out a note to all founders for navigating the current climate and the coming recovery from Covid19
Jeff Lawson took Twilio from an idea that no one had a name for, to an IPO, and now a $63 Billion market cap company. Inside Story from Idea-to-IPO.
Coinbase breaks down the forces at work behind the rise of Ethereum, from DeFi to digital art.
Gary Chivichyan, Armenia's rising basketball star can teach us about building a brand.
Jobs πΌ
Krisp, an award-winning product loved throughout the world, is hiring across the board for sales, marketing, product, data, finance, engineering, and more. A remote-first, global team across the US, Europe, Armenia, and Asia. Search for your role, today!
International Armenian Job Board.Β
PostΒ your JobsΒ here
Startup spotlight π¨βπ»π©βπ»
ServiceTitan was co-founded in 2013 by two Armenian Americans, Vahe Kuzoyan and Ara Mahdessian after they met on a ski trip organized by the Armenian student associations. Both of their fathers worked as building contractors but struggled with the logistics of running growing service companies. To help their fathers, they created ServiceTitan, the worldβs leading all-in-one software for commercial and residential HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and other field service businesses.
Their software platform and mobile apps help entrepreneurs in the service trades operate their businesses; from taking service calls to dispatching technicians, accepting payments, and managing payroll, as well as producing their profits and loss statements. They also allow customers to apply for financing for big jobs. The company just passed $250 million in annual recurring revenue, with 7,500 customers (3x the customers they had in 2018). Learn more about their story here!
We are looking for startups to cover in our next newsletter! Fill in thisΒ form!
Hi! π Thanks for reading Hye Ventures Newsletter. Weβd love your feedback - feel free to tweet usΒ @hyeventuresΒ or email us atΒ noubar@hye.vc.
If you found this newsletter helpful, share it with friends. Follow our Armenian Inventor Series onΒ Instagram.