EVN Disrupt

What goes into evaluating a start-up idea? What metrics can you monitor to know whether or not your product has a high probability of succeeding in the market? These are the answers that Prelaunch.com is looking to answer. Narek Vardanyan, the co-founder and CEO of the company joins us to discuss how their platform provides entrepreneurs with insights on the market demand for their product, allowing them to make adjustments before launching in order to ensure the highest probability of success.

Raffi Kassarjian, CEO of Sensyan and advisor to the CEO of the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises, joins us to recap the major events that took place in Armenia’s tech sector over the last year. We spoke about the state of the global tech sector and how it relates to Armenia’s context, particularly the slowdown of venture capital financing and how start-ups are thinking about their run rates. Raffi also shared his thoughts on the influx of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian tech talent to the country this year, and the arrival of several global tech companies. Lastly, we spoke about the impact of the appreciation of the Armenian dram and its impact on the industry.

SpaceTech denMACH is a Danish space engineering company building solutions at the intersection of IoT (Internet of Things) and satellite communications. The CEO, Sheila Christiansen, and the CTO, Alexandru Csete, join us to discuss how their work is impacting the logistics, smart agriculture and education spaces. Sheila and Alexandru also shared with us their perspective on what approach smaller countries should take to develop their space industries.

Leonid Kirakosyan, a partner at McKinsey & Company, joins us to discuss the importance of digital transformation and making Armenia a more attractive destination for strategic investment. We also spoke about how Armenia’s tech industry can have a larger impact on the economy and what it will take to turn the country into a globally competitive innovation hub, including addressing the talent needs of the ecosystem.

Earlier this year, the Armenian Government announced a new subsidy program to help attract top talent to the country. The program will subsidize anywhere from 20%-70% of the salaries of graduates from top 400 universities or people who have 10 years of work experience at leading global companies. The program was developed jointly by the Investment Council of Armenia and the Ministry of Economy. Hovsep Patvakanian, head of the Investment Council, joins us to discuss the impact he hopes this program will have, and what other legislative proposals they are currently working on. Hovsep also shared with us his take on Armenia’s economic growth in 2022.

Artem Harutyunyan, the co-founder and CTO of Bardeen, joins us to discuss how his company helps automate browser-based workflows. Bardeen raised a $15.3 million Series A round this year to grow their engineering and AI teams. Artem also shared with us his thoughts on the importance of students from Armenia having opportunities to study at universities abroad, emphasizing the perspective shift that comes from being exposed to new environments, and how they are able to impact Armenia positively when they return to the country.

Dr. Lucy Abgaryan, the co-founder and CEO of GrittGene Therapeutics, a biotech company based in Los Angeles, California, joins us to discuss how her company is working to find treatments for Myotonic Dystrophy, a rare genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle loss and weakness. Lucy also shared with us her experience in trying to find opportunities to work with the local Armenian biotech industry.

Arsen Stepanyan, the co-founder and CEO of Orders.co, joins us to discuss what challenges and opportunities there are in building software as a service (SaaS) solutions for the restaurant industry. Orders.co is a Los Angeles-based order and menu management system for small- and medium-sized restaurants. We also discussed Arsen’s efforts to build a team for his company in Armenia, and what lessons he’s drawn from his experience.

This week on EVN Disrupt we are continuing our series of podcasts from the Science and Technology Convergence Conference. Once again, we have two guests on this week’s podcast. Our first guest is Ashot Papoyan, a biotech executive who is the Chief Operating Officer at Biosim and CEO of Elm Tree Research. Our second guest is Haig Eskandarian, a microbiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. With our two guests we spoke about experimental biology and commercializing science findings in the biotech industry.

This week on EVN Disrupt we are continuing our series of podcasts from the Science and Technology Convergence Conference. We have two guests on this week’s podcast. Our first guest is Viken Douzdjian, the managing partner at Argonoutic Ventures. He shared with us his perspective on the Armenian venture capital ecosystem and how he sees the future of venture funding for the Armenian startup ecosystem. Our second guest is Levon Budagyan, the founder of Waveye. Levon is one of the early members of the Armenian tech scene. We discussed with him how the tech industry in Armenia has evolved over the last decade, and the problems they’re working to solve with WaveEye.