Rusty Rueff: Hey, everyone, welcome back to the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast. After Ashot Iskandarian’s daughter, Kayla, was born, he just no longer had the time to work on his vehicles in his own garage. So for the first time, he started visiting repair shops where he witnessed how much time shop owners spent on invoicing, scheduling and ordering parts. He realized then and there that his love for motorsports and software could actually converge together with a strong conviction to serve people in the auto repair industry. So in 2016, Ashot launched Shop Monkey, a cloud based system that simplifies the complexities of running an auto repair business onto a single technology platform. During the beginning stages of establishing Shop Monkey, Ashot and his wife Annie were driven to launch Maintenance for Moms, a nonprofit that helps single mothers with car maintenance and repairs. In 2021, Shop Monkey raised a $75 million Series C round of funding, allowing the business to further innovate and serve the automotive industry across the United States and Canada. Ashot joins the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast today to share more of the story behind Shop Monkey. And it’s actually Henry who’s driving solo today. So we’ll just turn it over to him now. See what I did there. Enjoy.
Henry Kaestner: Welcome back to the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast. Today’s a special episode. Especially in a lot of different ways. Today I’m flying solo. I’m flying solo without William and Rusty. And yet, this is one that I’m really excited about doing one on one, because I know this guest really well and it’s a special story and I’ve gotten a chance, an incredible blessing. I’ve seen much of it happen reasonably close. And it’s just a great story. So really glad that you here with us as a listener. This is going to be a story of a Faith Driven Entrepreneur that went out, had an idea, trying to figure out if you can make it work, took some significant risks to go ahead and leave his stable job, get it started. Great exercise in just leaning into the perceived risk and trusting in God, trying to figure out how God might be involved in it. And as you probably heard from Rusty’s intro, there are some massive scale to what he’s done and just really in each story. One of my favorite that I like to tell, I shouldn’t say that I have a favorite story of a Faith Driven Entrepreneur and there’s so many that we’ve been involved with it at Sovereign’s, so many more that we’ve been involved with and seen firsthand within the Ministry of Faith driven entrepreneurs stories from the Ukraine and from Africa and South Asia, I mean, all around the world with us now having listeners in more than 165 countries, which I think is amazing, and then thousands and thousands of faith driven entrepreneurs going through Faith Driven Entrepreneur groups now all around the world. So Ashot Iskandarian is in the house and Ashot used to work right at the bottom of the hill. I mean, I can like roll my car out, put it in neutral and just roll down to your office. I can’t do that anymore because you move a little further away. But super cool to have you on the program. Thank you for joining.
Ashot Iskandarian: Hey, Henry, so great to be here and so crazy to think that you were part of the origin story of Shop Monkey, which I’m excited to share about today, but thanks for having me on here today.
Henry Kaestner: Well, yeah, I was a small part, but maybe we’ll get to I want to tell the story. There’s a whole bunch of different things and they’re going to be themes and topics we’re going ts pick out to include how to be really thoughtful about loving back on your customers, how to be thoughtful about innovating not only in the role of the for profits, but innovating in the world of adjacent ministry. So many different things about the way that you’ve worked with employees in the Ukraine and other countries that have been really, really challenged by the war that’s going on right now. I remember the first time that I met you and the impression that you made on me, you and I go to the same church. And this is going to factor in the story a little bit, too, because it comes into this question of holy ambition. But I remember meeting you, Kimberly and I, and the boys along with you go to this church called Venture Church, and once a year, if not more, but definitely once a year they do this thing called beautiful day. And there was a project about doing a home makeover in your neighborhood that you led. And I remember going with the boys and I remember thinking we were adding zero value because the boys are probably ten, 12 and 14 at the time we’re painting. And I was so impressed by your organization and patient organization of 30 or 40 different people at the same time all volunteer. Maybe there are more and you’re never frazzled your love. And on this guy that was living in your neighborhood, his his wife, I think he passed away. His home was in massive disrepair. And the way you were able to bless this man and then blessed my family to include us in the ability to love on this man was just really, really cool. And so at some point in time, maybe it was then maybe it’s a little bit afterwards you said, Hey, I’d love to get breakfast with you. And I’m like, this no brainer his this is absolutely a guy I’d like to get to know better and see if I might be able to help in some. Small way. And then we went to Orchard Valley Coffee. That’s how I remember meeting you. I remember you telling me that you were thinking about being an entrepreneur at some point in time. But rather than my telling the story, as I kind of recall it. I think our audience would much rather hear from you. How did Shop Monkey start bring it on.
Ashot Iskandarian: Yeah I’ll bring it all in. And I’d love to start where you actually left off, which is. Well, let me go back to the Home Makeover Project. So that was a very special project for me because I had already began working on Shop Monkey and was in very much activation mode to try to go after this opportunity that I was beginning to see. And after a walk in the neighborhood, one day my wife came home and she said, Hey, Ashot. I think God is calling you to lead this home makeover project with our neighbor. To which, you know, I chuckled and said, Sure, right. And dismissed. And sure enough, you know, a couple of days later I did have the conviction. And basically it was a step of faith for me to put down Shop Monkey and the work on Shop Monkey, which was very counter intuitive to do at the time, just because I was so motivated and so driven to go after it and did that project, which is where I met you, and that’s important in the Shop Monkey origin story because in our next meeting for coffee a few months later where we spent some time together, I remember so vividly you poking and prodding and questioning my motives. Why is it that I wanted to start this company and devote my time and energy and the little bit of money that I had at the time into this company? And I remember you asking. I remember you saying, certainly it’s not just to make money. That can’t be number one. I know you better. And though that’s a great motive, you know basically it shouldn’t be number one. Why are you doing this? And to be honest, I just didn’t have a good question at the time. But that did spur on a season of three months from September, October, November, all the way through December of 2016, where I had to yet again pause working on the business, which is really, really difficult for me to do because I’m just such an activator and take time to pray with my wife and think. And in that season from our conversation and this is where I just really appreciate some of the divine connections and relationships that I’ve had with you came into play and I believe I did hear from the Lord at that time and my calling became clear and it was the most important time to date that I’ve spent reflecting on Shop Monkey that still guides me to this very day.
Henry Kaestner: That’s awesome. And, you know, I’d like to think that I asked that of, of all the faith driven entrepreneurs that I meet with and yet I probably don’t I should. I know, though, that I was really encouraged to do that, I think, by the Holy Spirit, but also because you and I were hearing the same sermon series from the same senior pastor Chip Ingram who had written a book called Holy Ambition. You know, he’s talking about what is our holy ambition and what is ambition? Okay. Can we have personal ambition? What does that look like? And he had just a really neat sermon series that you can find online. Chip is a well, well circulated pastor and teacher, and you’ll see them all over the Internet, just he’s got some amazing, amazing, amazing stuff. So, definetly, check him out. He’s been a part of the Faith Driven Entrepreneur ministry. But gosh, you come out of his sermon series, I come out of it on a Sunday and then Monday or Tuesday you’ve got breakfast with Ashot. And I’m like, I got to ask you, what’s your holy ambition? You and I listen to the same sermon and you’re like, That’s a great question. Let me get back to you on that. So you did that, but you did a couple key things there, and I want you to pick up on it from there. You prayed about it, you’re intentional about it, you listen to the question and respond, and then you process it with Annie, your wife, too, right?
Ashot Iskandarian: That’s correct. So we processed it together. And what happened in the story and, you know, the continuation of the origin story of Shop Monkey, which I love to describe what it does. In just a moment here, a few things start to become clear is through the prayer and through the time that I spent with Annie, you know, my journey as an immigrant into America and the kind of the purpose we came with here, my journey with different fintech companies in the valley as a product manager and my love of motorsports and my love of Jesus just came to a focal point, came to a merge to where I was with confidence, finally able to articulate to my wife and to others. The reason why I started Shop Monkey is because God called me to it, period. Now there’s a lot more secondary, you know, I love cars, I love software, but ultimately that just bubbled up to the top and it became so apparent. And again, it just became the foundation that which we started to build upon and from that maintenance from moms also was birth, because we spend a lot of intentional time of, you know, we want to do this. How do we use what we believe are going to be the company’s strengths in working with different repair shops and providing software for them and knowing automotive? You know, put that to good use in our local community. How do we help those around us with repairs? And so we were just super intentional with that question of wanting to serve our local community, just a very narrow aperture. And from that we came up with our maintenance for moms, which is our sister shop Monkey Foundation organization that provides vehicle repair for low income single moms, while shop monkey provide shop management software for independent repair shops for Bob’s Automotive down the street from your house that repairs your Honda pilot and does a water pump on it, they’ve been plagued and underserved with software, and so all those came together to light and allowed me to set Journey in 2017 fully with full confidence and backing from the Lord, essentially.
Henry Kaestner: So you and I haven’t talked about this since then, I don’t think and that is directionally how I think you answered it. But let me tell you what my takeaways were. So we had breakfast because of the sermon series. And, you know, I just asked, you know, just, you know, what your why on this you came back and I recall you saying, look, you have to understand that shop owners are these great, hardworking people and the world of technology is passing by. They’re just left with QuickBooks and just generic accounting software. They can’t get any type of real job stuff. And you know, you may want to think about some sort of a a mission that reaches, you know, just people in Africa. And yet the folks that I feel called to are somebody that I want to serve. And this whole industry needs to be redeemed. And these are people who need to have software that makes them do their jobs better. And I know who these people are. If is I dealt with them and I want to serve them. And the best way to serve them is with the gifts God has given me of making great software. So I’m going to make them incredible software, and that’s my holy ambition. And then if that’s not enough, I spend spending time with my wife, Annie. And she said, You got to know that. On the other side of that equation is the single mom who’s coming in. And it’s the most intimidating experience of her life. You know, like somebody tells her her head gasket blew and she doesn’t know what that means. She’s only got one car and she’s got to take the kids to school. She’s got to use it to get her job. And she walks in. She doesn’t know if that’s $500 or $2,000, whether she’s been taken advantage of or not. So what if we flip the script and when we see that happen, when somebody comes in to some of these clients that use our software, we go ahead and we bless them. We give them a massive discount on that repair. Maybe we even give them a free car. And I’m like, Oh my goodness, this is the greatest thing ever. That’s the story as I remember it, which I think is maybe a little bit more nuanced than the one that you just gave.
Ashot Iskandarian: Is much better said than I said it. So, yes, 100%. 100%. Just to add some color, you know, I was always working on my vehicles as I was doing my repairs for the most part. I mean, I hadn’t been to shops, I hadn’t been to shops regularly. And having stepped into Bob’s Automotive right down the street or whatever the shop names are in your local neighborhood, when I stepped into him in my neighborhood, these guys were just they were so busy with pushing paper. And again, I was, you know, coming from software, I was a product manager at the time, and I saw them quadruple enter my data into different systems. And then once I started to dig in, found that that they spent up to 50% of their time reconciling data, just moving, you know, export of Excel into from one system to the other just to make sure that their systems are in tandem. Was looking at a totally different system to pull labor and parts information. And I started to not only feel and hurt and empathize with the shop owner, but with their business. A lot of times these are mom and pop shops with their spouse and how much more efficiently they could be running the business. So yeah, it definitely was triggering for me in wanting and desiring to serve them and whilst also seeing a really amazing opportunity that I didn’t think anyone was seeing at the time.
Henry Kaestner: Yeah, and nobody was. And so it’s amazing to think. And so this is 2016, it’s not like 1995 or something like that. I mean, that much time had gone by with such a massive industry without having anything really, really customized for them. And it came out of this sense of, gosh, there’s got to be a better way for these shop owners to be able to run their business. And so you did that. And so and again, just to fast forward before we then reverse, it’s had incredible market validation. I mean, you have done a $75 million series C with one of the most illustrious venture capital funds in all of Silicon Valley. Lots and lots of growth. And yet you didn’t have that right off the bat. I remember a year later you came back and you tell me if I remember correctly, I think that you came back and said, look, I think that we’ve got some success story. And for us, I want to raise some money. We’ve got 11 customers or so. And I remember just pushing in on that a little bit and found out that like you had like eight of them were using like four of them were paying. And I remember saying, no, actually, you have four customers. You had 11 people using it. You’re getting some feedback back on some models, but you’re like, I’ve got enough. I really want to go ahead and I want to get this development team. And you clearly saw something that was happening. You’re getting this market validation because are you allowed to talk about generally how many installs you’ve had? You’ve got thousands of customers now.
Ashot Iskandarian: Yeah, we’re in over 4000 shops across North America and in the US and Canada, predominantly US all across the country.
Henry Kaestner: So some massive scale. What was it like early on? And if memory serves, one of the first things you wanted to do was to be able to go offshore with some of your development and maybe we’ll talk about that a little bit or just continue talking about the growth of the company. I do want to talk about the offshore development because it factors in the Ukraine, but maybe we shouldn’t get there too quickly. You tell me.
Ashot Iskandarian: In the early days, just talk a little bit at that and I’ll talk about Ukraine in tandem, because Ukraine was very much per the early days, it was really, really tough. It was really tough and it was unsexy. And even I tend to romanticize looking back and man, it was so fun and it was a grind and it was living day to day. On my first raise, I raised enough to quit my job. Finally, in July, which was about nine months after I had set course, I had three months runway for me and my family. And, you know, we had to take the plunge and it was raising 25 to 50 K checks at a time, signing up one customer at a time. While I’m doing live chat support, we put it on the website by a colleague. Makes fun of me all the time for this, for putting world class support from the CEO directly at any time of day. Right. While I’m doing designs and working with engineering, who was a individual at the time in Ukraine by the name of Yuri. Yuri has since left the company, but early on when he joined, he was in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and we were a remote first company, if you will, and it was just me and him for about 18 months. I call those the dark ages of Shop Monkey, just because it was so uncertain and so gloomy. But we just kept at it. And, you know, again, it was just a very not a spiritually dark time, but a dark time when you look at a company and its likelihood to succeed why we were so far from escape velocity. I know failures full well I failed with the previous company and it was walking by faith, so I just put it that way and hoping and praying that the Lord would do something somehow, someway, with allowing somebody to see the opportunity and invest. And slowly but surely, one customer at a time. 10 to 20. 20 to 50. 50 to 100. We had a 100 customer party at my house that my wife threw for me and some friends, and we just kept growing and kept walking and continued to develop the team in Ukraine. So we ended up growing all the way to about 40 or so folks and continue to invest in that country. And we’ve since, you know, diversified and hired in the U.S., too. But Ukraine is part of the origin story of Shop Monkey, for sure. And Yuri also.
Henry Kaestner: So tell us how that’s worked out. So Ukraine, obviously, since February, at least February has been in turmoil. You have some number of your employees there, some of whom I’ve met when they came to Los Gatos. What’s this last year been like for you?
Ashot Iskandarian: I would say better than expected, only because, frankly speaking, I and Yuri and many others just didn’t think that Ukraine was going to put down much of a fight as far as the duration and the severity of the pushback that they’ve had. So I thought it was going to go a lot worse, to be honest. And so in preparation for that, we moved half the team Ukraine. We offered a relocation package for them to move out of Ukraine. Half of the folks took it, half remained. And we still have a substantial team over there. They are an amazingly resilient people group. They are still working and have continued to work throughout the war. Now, granted, they had moved out of Kiev and some of the areas that were getting attacked to leave and in other areas of western parts of the country. But it was shocking and amazing to watch them persevere, get really scrappy with their networking and their communication with the Army, with Intel, with different patches of software that they developed for different reasons. And we had one individual go to the front line who is still alive, but it’s gone a lot smoother than I thought in terms of the disruption and the damage that they were going to cause. And I’ve just appreciated, you know, the US’s support in their resilience to the invasion.
Henry Kaestner: Got you. It must be incredible stories that you’re getting. I’ve had a lot of people that I’ve worked with over the years. None of them have been sent to the front line. More important, it’s going to be amazing. Let us go back
Ashot Iskandarian: Volunteer, he chose to go and others have are choosing to fight, which is crazy.
Henry Kaestner: Yeah. I want to circle back to maintenance for moms and explain that a little bit, because we talked about the problem, the fact that indeed it is really challenging for single moms who need to get their cars repaired. It can be really intimidating for them. Talk to us about how that ministry started and some of the work that you do there.
Ashot Iskandarian: So, again, I love the story that you told of vehicle repair being one of the most terrifying experiences that a single mom who does not know about vehicle repair experiences and that we’ve heard about them experiencing in terms of getting either taken advantage of or, you know, not knowing how to find a good shop. But going back the idea birthed out of us just being really intentional about asking ourselves, you know, how can we serve with our time and our resources? Even though, you know, we had 20, 30 customers, we’re already working with shops, we’re already working with 30 shops, 20 shops or however many. And we’re saying, look, we have a relationship with shops and we know vehicle repair, we have labor guide, look ups, we have parts look up, we know what to look out for. We know how not to get game. We have best practices for getting vehicle repair that we even consult shops and advise them on today. So how can we use that to serve to help people who are in need? People who need this specific resource were unable to discern these types of situations. And, you know, Annie’s mom was a single mom for a long time before she met her husband. And just I think being in the church and seeing different types of walks come through there, I don’t honestly remember if it was me or Annie, but we’re just like, we want to help these moms out. And one of us turned in and said, You know what? Why don’t we just call it maintenance for moms? And as soon as we said maintenance for moms, it was just so crystallizing and affirming of like, yes, yes, this is what it’s about. We want to help. These people will put our own money in. You know, we’ll have shop monkey shops as a network. We’ll call for advice, we’ll have internal folks help coordinate. And so we did just that from day one. You know, we’re really intentional about that. We didn’t want this to be an add on that. We did later to look good, like we’re a company that does quote unquote good and serve. We really wanted it to be part of our origin DNA and we did that. So, you know, we’ve taken on substantial donations in the past few years. There’s a team of three women now that run it and they have a whole process to interview, to vet out, to background check, to have their vehicles inspected and deploy these resources and volunteer time to help low income single moms in the Bay Area. That was another really important thing. We didn’t want this to be some big, hairy, audacious, a nationwide thing. It’s like, hey, let’s just help those around us. And it’s just it’s been a source of joy. It’s been a source of just still feeling connected, like, you know, the success and the affluence just don’t keep me like this. Helps me just stay in it and realize there’s people who still need help around me and I need to help them and we need to help them again with time and resources. So it’s been a really special part of my wife and me. and shop monkey.
Henry Kaestner: You touched on success and affluence there for a second. Any entrepreneur that sent a $75 million series C has had lots of opportunities, have taken some money off the table. And what does that look like? So five, six years ago, you weren’t. Make it very much money. And now all of a sudden, you find yourself with success and with affluence. Talk about that.
Ashot Iskandarian: Yeah. You know, I remember another lunch that you and I had probably two years ago now, and you said something really profound to me that stood out, that has made a really big mark on me. And, you know, whether you’re generalizing or being very precise and it still hit home. And you said that you did not know a CEO founder who made it out big, big time with a success exit that had it together, that didn’t either lose their marriage or, you know, got ensnared with pride, selfishness, whatever. Right. And I said, I know one. And I said, you. And I asked you. I said, how did you keep your family together, you know, leading the company and exiting and doing well? And you said something that stood out that has been very instrumental to me, which is much easier said than done, which is the stewardship, not ownership, not a right. We have to have to have to have to think about the money, the home, the cars, whatever, as things that I am stewarding that I’m not owning. Now, that’s way easier said than done, but it’s so true and it’s such a guiding light that when Annie and I talk about giving or spending, you know, we do filter through the lens of what would God have us do, what would God want us to know? And enjoying it too. Like, I like cars, I know I like classic cars. And, you know, I don’t feel guilty about buying a classic car, but it’s just a different lens that we take that is requires constant, constant tuning and reorienting because the pulls get stronger and the tugs of the heart get stronger and hunger for hundreds of millions of is just a never ending. Right? There’s a proverb that sticks out that said Death and destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man. And that’s just been really profound to me, for me to think about that, yeah, it’s never enough. And I have to think about it through that lens. For me to be successful and exit and whatever, I just continue in my journey being right with God and right with my wife and right with my family, faith, family work. You and I have also talked about that all those things come into play to help me combat that, along with another important aspect which you talked about, which is giving like intentional giving of time and money just have been my medicine for the tugs of my heart with the wealth and the affluence that is trying to pull me away.
Henry Kaestner: You’re alluding to a story that I relayed to you of an early investor in bandWith, and I never forget. It’s 21, 22 years ago now, who looked at me and said, Be very careful, be very, very careful. I do not know one single person who’s gone liquid where the wheels haven’t fallen off. And I remember the way he looked at me and David when he said that. I mean, it was sobering. It’s really sobering. The amazing challenge that is that 15 years after he said that he had had enough liquidity and wheels fell off in his life, too. And he is a Christ’s follower, he is a hero of mine. And it’s obviously very, very, very sobering. Now, through being in the Ministry of Faith Driven Entrepreneur and meeting some great heroes of the faith, like Alan Barnhart, knowing Kurt Kathy a little bit before he died and the Green family, I mean, there’s a whole list of great heroes, of the faith that have been able to navigate through those waters. And yet they’re turbulent, choppy waters. They’re not still waters. I mean, it’s hard and I love that you are sharing that. And I think that it’s really important that proverb about the fact that our eyes are never satisfied and we always want more is so incredibly true. And our only chance really as Christ followers is just to say, well, actually it’s not ours anyway. And even that it’s still hard, right? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Ashot tell me about you’ve always been very serious about your faith and endeavoring to know God. What do you know more about God now than you did when you and I first met in 2016?
Ashot Iskandarian: There is a few things that I’ve learned about God in the last five years that I’ve been doing this. He’s extremely faithful, you know, he’s just the way I describe it to people that don’t understand my relationship with the Lord, I’m sorry I don’t have a better metaphor, is feeling like I went to the roulette table and put my money on a single number and hit it and then did that 100 times over and hit it every single time. And what I’m trying to illustrate with that is the amount of miracles of meeting you. So the amount of miracles that have been a part of Shop Monkey and God’s provision that were outside of my control, that are outside of what I could have fathomed and planned for and have been far greater. Look, I thought shop monkey may be like a 20 million exit. One day. Right. And it’s like far exceeded that. Just as again anecdotal example. I’ve learned that God is extremely faithful and he’s giving me different phrases like Ashot I’m your venture capitalist. Like, he’s been my father, I know that. But for him to articulate, like you don’t need to worry about the resources for your company. And when I’m in a really dire situation in which we were this freeing, enlightening and amazing to watch him provide, I don’t know if you remember you driving over that same day and helping us out anyways. You know, he’s faithful, number one. The second thing that I’ve been learning, and this is probably the most prevalent right now today with the tides rising, if you will. Right. With the currents being stronger, the pulls being stronger is that his yoke is light, you know, whether it be executive leadership, different dynamics and issues that we’re going through or replatforming, we’re rebuilding the whole system up from the ground, up to retool and re platform that have each one of those has immense risks in and of themselves for closing deals to make our numbers and meet expectations for the year or the quarter. The pulls are strong and it’s very hard to be faithful at times. Right. And so what I’ve been learning recently in my walk and the more I lean in term is that the more I lean in, the lighter his yoke is. And it’s been really helpful and encouraging to face monumental challenges when he tells you his yoke is light.
Henry Kaestner: So you’ve been married over the last six years and an entrepreneur journey is hard, man. I mean, it’s huge risk you’ve end up co-creating with her. She’s involved in leadership maintenance for moms, the entreprenurial journey is not easy. What counsel would you give to a younger version of yourself or a new entrepreneur starting out about being a good husband through this next five or six years? A little life?
Ashot Iskandarian: And in that, let me just share what I did do, you know, from a lot of wise counsel back then, which is what I would recommend to others looking to start the journey that have a spouse. When I started on the Journey of Shop Monkey, I was very, very intentional because a lot of wise counsel and a lot of people I trusted and admired and respected advised me to do this so I would do the same. I stopped. I stopped and I said, You know, Annie I want, I desire your alignment and your blessing for me to do this. I want to be on the same page that I’m going to give up the luxury of my job, take on all this risk, and navigate these waters together. I want to do it together. So what do you think? Are you okay with this? Do you support it? She said, Let me think about it. So she took a couple of months, 2 to 3 months maybe. I don’t remember exactly.
Henry Kaestner: Wow that’s a long time.
Ashot Iskandarian: She took a whlle because she wanted to be super prayerful because, you know, I was very honest with her on what this would mean and the different ways that this could go sour because I had seen it before. Yeah. So I was sober too, that one day she pulled me aside and she said, I’ve been praying and I’m all in. Like, I’m in, let’s go. And that was my green light. That’s when I really like went after it and knew I’m not turning back, right? So it was like percolating and developing and I was kind of starting to look into it. And one other tidbit I wanted to add to that, that I would recommend entrepreneurs for sure do, which has paid off tenfold for me. I had one of my mentors say, Hey, look, you’re an entrepreneur. I was like, Yes, of course, I’m ready. Let’s go. He is like, How many ideas have you shared with your wife in the last six months? I’m like kind of like seven. And he’s like, okay, so let me guess, if you share another idea with her, she’s kind of like, Oh, there he goes again. I’m like, Yeah, how did you know that? He’s like, Look, here’s what I recommend you do. Don’t share your idea if you have one, sit on it for a year, 12 months. Just don’t speak about it, journal about it, look into it, but don’t share it. If you can sit on it for 12 months and it’s still burning a hole in your mind and you really know you want to go after this, take her out to dinner and tell her what you want to do. So I waited ten months. I couldn’t wait 12 months. I waited ten months. Shop monkey was burning a hole in my mind. She hadn’t heard a single idea. She hadn’t heard about Shop monkey. And we were in Big Sur and I took her out to dinner and I said, Hey, look, like I’ve been sitting on this for ten months, she, before I even said what it was. It just had a different gravity to it already. She’s like, Well, you’re serious about what you’re about to say, aren’t you? And I was like, Absolutely. Look, ten months. Here’s what I want to do, here’s what I’m thinking. And that kicked off her season of prayer before we both went all in on the business. So I would recommend not sharing your ideas for a long period of time with your spouse, especially if you’ve watered them down with previous ideas to sit on an idea for a long season, more than six months, and to have your spouse’s blessing. We have not had a single serious conflict about Shop Monkey to date, about my time investment. And now look, I know how to set different boundaries and things like that, but it has been conflict free and it’s been humongous for my peace of mind and our marriage to do that. So that’s what I would leave the .
Henry Kaestner: Wow that’s countercultural waiting that long for an entrepreneur. Is this completely different? But you do get a sense that God’s timing can be different than our own timing, especially in this area that we live in and Silicon Valley, where it’s just it’s like you do it yesterday. So that’s something to think and pray about. Okay, we’re going to do Lightning Round now and we’re going to do an abbreviated form because we’re running a little bit late on time. But I’ve got two quick questions for you that you only have 30 seconds to respond to each one. And then the last question, which is what God is teaching you about in your study of his word. It could be this morning, it could be over the last week, but that’s the last one. So you’re going to know that it’s coming. Okay. First quick lightning round question. I know you are car nuts give me your dream car that. Yeah, I was going to say under $100,000. But just give me your dream car.
Ashot Iskandarian: Dream car. Ferrari f40. I mean I have always
Henry Kaestner: It could be heading out for under $100,000.
Ashot Iskandarian: It’s like $2 millions No way, man.
Is it $2 millons?
There used to be a few hundred thousand dollars. Now I was just on bring a trailer dot com and when just sold today for $2 million crazy.
Henry Kaestner: Oh oh never mind. Okay. Maybe that’s why I drive a Honda pilot.
Ashot Iskandarian: Yeah.
Henry Kaestner: Right. Actually, I don’t drive a Honda pilot, but.
Ashot Iskandarian: I’ll give you $100,000 less than too if you want 2003.
Henry Kaestner: Give me that. What is it, 2003 and five.
Ashot Iskandarian: Yeah, those are, those are classic.
Henry Kaestner: I think that’s the same answer you had like six years ago because I’ve asked you this question before. Okay, next one. You guys have four kids, right?
Ashot Iskandarian: Four children.
Henry Kaestner: Okay. So what’s something you guys get to do together as a family that might be an encouragement to other entrepreneurs with young families that you wish you knew at the outset?
Ashot Iskandarian: That man, when they sit on my lap and drive and my three year old son just pretends like he’s in a race car and just switch from left to right.
Henry Kaestner: So if I see if so if I see an M5 like peeling out on Santa Cruz Avenue in Los Gatos.
Ashot Iskandarian: Maybe.
Henry Kaestner: I see a three, I see a three year old guy. All right. Okay. So I can know that’s Ashot. Okay. It’s good to know. Okay, last one. What are you hearing from God in his word? Could be today, could be last week, but believing that God’s word is active and sharp as a two edged sword, what are you hearing from God?
Ashot Iskandarian: You know, I shared a little bit about this, and it’s very prevalent for me right now. And that is that his yoke is like it’s just like it doesn’t matter. The challenges are greater, the mountains are steeper, the tides are bigger, the currents or pulls are stronger, his yoke is light. And when I’m leaning in to him and just leaning to his understanding, it’s just everything’s becomes lighter.
Henry Kaestner: Yeah. Good word Ashot. Thank you for sharing your story. I’m grateful for you, brother.
Ashot Iskandarian: Grateful for you, too. Thanks so much for having me. Great to be here. Thanks Henry.
How is your business going beyond profit and advancing social good? The role of business is clearly changing, but this might not be so surprising to Faith Driven Entrepreneurs. For centuries, Christ-following leaders have realized that business can be used to love others. Commerce is an avenue to reveal God’s love and truth.