Katrina Shakarian

“If you want to make a billion dollars, solve a billion-person problem,” said George Bandarian II, quoting one of his mentors, XPRIZE founder Peter Diamandis, on social impact and entrepreneurship.

Bandarian is a Los Angeles-based angel investor and the founder of ValueScaler, a 90-day startup virtual pre-accelerator coming to Armenia this spring. A Leanstack certified trainer, he is passionate about helping early-stage startups get their first customers, gain traction and prove product-market fit in order to raise money and scale impact. ValueScaler is currently recruiting for its Los Angeles-based cohort and will begin accepting applications from startups in Armenia in January 2020.

ValueScaler joins a growing number of organizations seeking to catalyze growth in Armenia’s technology ecosystem. “If someone is looking to talk to U.S. customers, work with a U.S. based entrepreneur who is battle-tested and exit-experienced and use a proven framework — then ValueScaler will be a good fit,” said Bandarian.

In the early 2000’s, Bandarian found himself at the helm of his family business — a microfilm services company on the verge of extinction. He successfully led its digital transformation from technological obsolescence to helping businesses automate their workflows and go paperless. After more than 15 years with the company — amassing experience in enterprise, SaaS and all sides of B2B selling — he exited the company in February 2018.

“The exit was a huge win. I handed them the keys on a Friday, and after a brief transitional period, started this journey of figuring out what I want to do, who I want to serve, and really, how to make the world a better place,” recounted Bandarian. He cites the program “Get the Edge” by Tony Robbins — a gift from a friend on his 18th birthday — as a major force in his personal development.

Bandarian’s next chapter includes mentoring, coaching and investing in tech startups. He is eager to share his industry knowledge with early-stage entrepreneurs, beginning with startups in Los Angeles and Armenia. In June 2018, he launched ValueScaler to help founders gain traction, raise money and scale. In fact, he personally invests in the cohorts’ most promising graduates. The 90-day accelerator is built around the LeanStack program by Ash Maurya — a collection of tools, such as the Lean Business Model Canvas, and coaching resources that aim to help entrepreneurs scale their business models.

Through the program, Bandarian is out to debunk myths and change mindsets, especially in an engineering and technology-heavy environment like Armenia where product is king and solutions often precede, or take the place of, customer discovery and research and development.

“People, especially the technical types, think that you have to have something built or a customer won’t buy,” said Bandarian. “In reality, you can sell off an idea, you can sell off a clickable prototype, a powerpoint demo. You don’t need to have your MVP. Many of the popular unicorn startups in the U.S. started with a Wizard of Oz or Concierge MVP. Even Tesla started with the Wizard of Oz MVP.”

Bandarian is launching his Armenian cohort with a maximum of 10 startups. Participants will meet with him and his team online via Zoom every other week as a group and one-on-one on alternating weeks. The program includes full access to and guidance through the LeanStack curriculum, agile sprints and individual and group coaching. By the end of the experience, startups can expect to be validated and poised to raise seed capital with a portfolio of purchase orders, contracts, LOIs (letter of intent), customer interviews and revenue to propel them forward.

“A lot of what I teach is how to identify, prioritize and work on three things,” said Bandarian. “First, your riskiest assumptions — assumptions that haven’t been validated yet. Second, your biggest risks — those could be related to customers, product, tech, the market, a co-founder. And third is the startup’s biggest constraints. Figure out what’s the weakest link in the chain and then take care of that first, because you’re only as good as your weakest link.”

Startups interested in joining ValueScaler’s inaugural 12-week cohort in Armenia should visit this page to learn more and apply. Ahead of the program launch, Bandarian is offering the ValueScaler Foundations course for free, which helps teach entrepreneurs fundamental mindsets and how to get an idea into a lean business model canvas.