That's a wrap for Pantheon 2026!! Thank you for an amazing conference! We'll keep adding more recaps and videos, in case you missed anything in Orlando!
And then mark your calendars for Pantheon 2027 — Sept. 13-16, 2027, in Nashville, Tenn.!
Keynote: Welcome to Pantheon with Co-Founder and CEO, Ara Mahdessian
Catch every highlight from Ara Mahdessian’s Pantheon 2026 keynote. Read the full recap and watch the video here
Keynote: Main Stage Session with Co-Founder & President, Vahe Kuzoyan
See what ServiceTitan co-founder and president Vahe Kuzoyan announced for Max, Atlas, and Homh at Pantheon 2026. Read the full keynote recap and watch the video here
Breakout Session: Charging Ahead with AI and Max
‘With Max, we’ve gone all-in’
Jennifer D'Ambra kept looking at the same number.
HomeX Services Group had Dispatch Pro running across its Northeast brands, and the optimization rate stayed flat. "We'd had it on, we just weren't seeing the optimization rates, we just couldn't get it above that 30%," D'Ambra, the company's chief technology officer, said.
Three businesses from three corners of the trades had gone all in on the same package.
'All of a sudden'
Max gave HomeX a reason to reset.
Jennifer D'Ambra, CTO of HomeX Services Group, said her team used the move to Max to standardize how the company's environment is built, putting time into skills, job types and business units — then went back to Dispatch Pro.
"All of a sudden, we went back into Dispatch Pro, and we see this huge leap, driven mostly by our redefining of our skills and job types and business units," D'Ambra said.
She had a clear view of the cause.
"I don't care how cool and sophisticated the AI tool is, if you don't standardize it and set it up and build it the right way, all it’s doing is churning through bad data and giving you bad results," she said.
She brought this view to the Pantheon stage, where ServiceTitan Chief Revenue Officer Ross Biestman had seated her beside two other early Max customers: Jake Wold, chief operating officer of Guild Garage Group, and Steven Gurley of the Goodrich family office.
“When you think about what AI is going to do in this business, it’s about who’s going to use AI quicker … and better,” D’Ambra said. “Contractors who figure this out faster and better are going to succeed dramatically.”
'I don't want to be at 2,000 employees'
Wold has a growth problem of a different kind.
Guild Garage Group runs 29 businesses, with more than 1,000 employees and about $350 million in revenue, and Wold sees AI as a way to keep the people Guild has.
"With AI, you can actually keep people, focus on them and allow them to operate the AI systems that you implement in the business," Wold said.
Then he put a number on the alternative. "I want revenue to grow rapidly, but I want headcount to grow slower,” he said. “I don't want to be at 2,000 employees at $700 million of revenue.”
Two Guild businesses already run the way he describes: AI answers the call, books it and dispatches the technician. Moving to Max also let Guild eliminate 29 other monthly invoices, including API add-ons living outside ServiceTitan.
Gurley runs the thinnest margins of the three. Retail backup power pays less than HVAC, plumbing or garage doors, so he hunts for every bit of efficiency.
Branch leaders call him with apps they built over the weekend, and he has settled on a position. "If there’s not a very clear benefit, why are we doing it? I’m going to leave AI to the experts, Gurley said.
Technicians are his test case. They struggle to open one app, he said, which makes the next question easy. "Do we really want them to open up 6 other apps on their phone?" Gurley said.
‘Most of you are under-utilizing ServiceTitan’
Asked what a contractor in the audience should do next, Wold said to take the demo, build a detailed business case and take the leap. D'Ambra said to be intentional: go all in, and get the team on board before starting.
Wold was also direct. “Most of you are under-utilizing ServiceTitan,” he said. “Max forces you to lean into it, and optimize everything. Get your (stuff) together.
“With Max, we’ve gone all-in.”
Photo Gallery
One last look at Pantheon 2026
Keynote: The Proven Playbook for Maximizing Big-Ticket Sales in the Field
At Pantheon, a million-dollar July went to the salesman who followed the process
Tom Howard needed a salesman, fast.
Howard, who works for ServiceTitan and also owns Lee’s Air and other companies in the Southwest, had just let go of the No. 2 salesman at his Fresno operation. Summer was starting, and the heat was heading toward 100 degrees. His top salesman, Phil Pilaski, got to pick the replacement. He picked Orlando.
Howard questioned the choice.
Pilaski’s answer, as Howard told it: “Orlando does exactly what I say every single time.”
Pilaski also wanted to send the team a message. “I can train anyone at any time, and get them going on sales,” Howard recalled him saying.
Orlando sold $1 million in July.
“I was blown away,” Howard said.
He told the story at Wednesday’s Pantheon breakout, “The Proven Playbook for Maximizing Big-Ticket Sales in the Field,” moderated by Tamar Rosati, ServiceTitan’s vice president of product.
Chris Masterson, director of field sales at Redwood Services in Memphis, turned the lesson into a coaching method. His team uses call-recording software and AI to check whether salespeople hit the main steps of the process, without a script and in their own words.
“Let’s drive the behavior and then behavior will drive the results,” Masterson said.
The panel kept coming back to why the process matters more now. Customers arrive with answers from a chatbot, and with a price in mind. Chad Peterman, CEO of Peterman Brothers in Indianapolis, said more callers ask for a price on the first call, and he ties it directly to ChatGPT.
His fix is speed. When a technician finds a broken system, the customer is connected to one of six virtual salespeople over Zoom, who close sales in the 60 percent range, Peterman said. The old routine, a two-hour wait for an in-home comfort advisor, gave the customer time to shop.
“They’re calling their uncle. They’re looking online,” Peterman said.
Howard found the same thing with water heaters. His plumbers were fighting a lower price online, so he had them put the heater on the truck and offer to install it on the spot. Close rates climbed. A customer without hot water, he said, wants a shower in two hours, not tomorrow.
He borrowed another idea from Ismael Valdez of NexGen Air in California, who sends a rip-out crew to remove the old system as the salesman leaves. Valdez told him it cut his cancellation rate in half, Howard said.
Masterson added a caution. Faster tools do not replace the customer’s experience of the person at the door.
“We still have to make sure that the experience the homeowner gets is second to none,” he said.
Orlando never needed a clever line, only the same steps every time. Pilaski wanted the team to see what that was worth. By July, they had.
– Deborah Goldman
Kevin Richardson loves the energy of his first Pantheon
What makes a first Pantheon memorable? For Kevin Richardson of Rainforest Plumbing & Air, it’s the energy in the room and the innovation shaping what comes next. He shares his first impressions with ServiceTitan’s Brendan Meyer.
The Roofing M&A Playbook: Insights from Industry Leaders
Three roofing buyers share what founders ask before they sell. Read the full session recap
Prometheus Awards
Haley Comfort Systems and Goettl Air Conditioning and Plumbing Receive Prometheus Awards
Recipients of ServiceTitan's Prometheus Awards in the Flamekeeper and Torchbearer categories, announced Wednesday at Pantheon:
Flamekeeper: Haley Comfort Systems
Location: Rochester, Minn.
Why Haley was selected: In 2021, Haley Comfort Systems built an Oktoberfest for Suicide Prevention from the ground up, creating a place where the community could talk openly about suicide and mental health. The event now draws nearly 2,000 people, along with hundreds of local sponsors, donors, and volunteers.
The event raised more than $164,000 in 2025 and has raised $500,000 since launch, supporting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, NAMI, and Aidan's Light. What began as a company initiative now belongs to the whole community.
Torchbearer: Goettl Air Conditioning and Plumbing
Locations: Arizona, Nevada, Texas
Why Goettl was selected : Goettl brought its back-to-school giving to every market it serves for the first time this year, investing $23,500 to support about 25,000 students and donating 7,200 pocket folders. Each market partnered with local organizations, from Fill the Bus drives in Nevada to a Kids Zone in Phoenix and a backpack giveaway in Austin, Texas. Beyond that campaign, Goettl's Kindness in the Air program has each of its six branches give $1,000 a month to associate-nominated nonprofits, totaling $72,000 a year.
About the Prometheus Award: Created by Titans for Change, ServiceTitan's internal philanthropy community, the Prometheus Award spotlights customers who are exceptionally committed to positive change, making a remarkable impact on their customers, communities, and industries.
Keynote: Fireside Chat with Peyton Manning & Eli Manning
Playbook for the trades: Lessons in leadership
Chris Crew, appropriately, came prepared.
The president of The Blue Collar Success Group wore his No. 18 Indianapolis Colts jersey and brought a Sharpie to a Pantheon keynote session featuring former NFL stars Peyton and Eli Manning.
Crew, an electrician of 30 years who leads a coaching and training business for contractors in HVAC, plumbing and electrical, believed the preparation that made the Mannings so successful in sports translates equally as well to the trades.
"Preparation is key for everything," Crew said. "When you're prepared, the pressure doesn't seem real, right? You can feel it, but you can get through it because you prepared for this moment and this situation.
"I owned and operated a business. You're going to have a lot of pressure moments in business. But the reality is most everything in this business is never a surprise."
The Mannings gained respect as leaders of NFL franchises, Peyton with the Colts and Denver Broncos and Eli with the New York Giants. Those skills hit home with Brian Nienstedt, chief development officer at NexCore, a buy-and-build commercial HVAC roll-up.
"The leadership in terms of gaining respect of teammates through hard work and preparation, coupled with just a tenacious work ethic, really stood out," Nienstedt said. "Hearing Peyton speak about the calm, cool nature of his leaders and coaches really stood out. And just having fun."
Dante Cantu, managing partner of Rhino Roofers, admires the way the Mannings present themselves.
"What they display always, and what they displayed here, is humility," Cantu said. "They're extremely successful, some of the greats in NFL history, but they always carry themselves with humility, always taking care of other people, treating everybody else well. They believe in everybody supporting each other.
"For us, one of the things we take away is their leadership. They're always prepared and set that example for everyone else and expect that from everyone else. I love that they talk about the people that inspired them — their coaches, their parents — and how they've tried to instill that in their children. One of the most important aspects of leadership is influence, and you have to earn that right to be influential."
Scott Melice, a ServiceTitan product analyst at Zephyr, compares the trades to a sports team. Skill levels vary across the roster, but every player has to be dependable.
"It's the people who show up that don't always hit the mark every time," Melice said, "but you know you can count on them to show up every time. That's really a core belief."
Crew's preparation for the day, he says, was symbolic of how these service industries need to be managing AI adoption, essential in ServiceTitan's platform as the agentic system of the trades. Crew pointed to a Pantheon session that featured Jay Caiafa, CEO of Authority Brands.
"He said all AI is going to do in your business, if it's not well run," Crew said, "is it's going to fast-forward all of the problems in your business and they're going to compound. A lot of contractors try to gravitate to what looks fun and exciting, and then they miss the preparation components of answering the phones correctly, having people show up in the uniforms, making sure that technicians are on time, making sure they're trained.
"All of those are really the fundamental things in business that people need to do. When you hear the Mannings, who get paid millions of dollars to throw a football around, still go and follow on the basics, that really resonated with me."
- Eddie Wooten
Keynote: Partner Ecosystem
Find out why certified integrations matter and which partners are joining the ecosystem. Read the full keynote recap
Piper gives Superior Plumbing’s CSRs more time for the human touch
In a college town, turnover never stops. Superior Plumbing found a team member who isn't going anywhere. CRM Business & Systems Manager Melissa Mohr says Piper, the company's AI Virtual Agent, took about 30 minutes to get running. Piper handles customers who just need to book an appointment. That leaves CSRs free to give hands-on help to callers who need it. Hear why Mohr says no one has taken more stress off her plate.
Nell takes the peak-season pressure off Davis AC's team
During HVAC’s busiest season, a team member’s sick day adds pressure on everyone else. Heather McCain of Davis AC in Houston says Nell, the company’s AI Virtual Agent, helps ease that strain with a 98% booking rate and the ability to answer multiple calls at once. Her next goal is to let Nell cover the queue while the team steps away for a holiday lunch or team-building event.
Breakout Session: Private Equity Doesn't End at the Payout: It Sets Up Your Second Act
Our Pantheon 2026 breakout session recap has moved. Read the full story here: Private Equity Doesn’t End at the Payout: It Sets Up Your Second Act.
Head's Plumbing leads with inclusion to keep pace with AI
Head’s Plumbing Sales & Service has been in business for 45 years, and CEO Khadija Head says growth means being willing to change. In this walk-and-talk with ServiceTitan’s Mike Persinger, she shares why she leads with inclusion when introducing new technology and why she believes no company can afford to sit out the AI shift. And after getting a closer look at Max at Pantheon, Head says she can definitely see how this new technology can help her move the needle on her business.
Overheard at Pantheon
Some conversations are too good to keep to ourselves. We’re keeping our ears open. Flip through for the lines we couldn’t wait to pass along.
Keynote: Run Your Business. Not Your Software.
One Open Slot, One AI Agent, and the Case for Max
Max is not another tool to manage. It's a package of 30-plus AI agents sharing one self-improving "company brain" across demand generation, field work and the back office.
"Over the last year, we've built it to autonomously do the work for you, not just track it," said Abhishek Mathur, chief technology and product officer for ServiceTitan.
Mathur, addressing contractors during the Pantheon keynote, "Run Your Business. Not Your Software," stressed that everything shown is "real and in production today."
Atlas, the ServiceTitan conversational agent and assistant, lets employees ask questions, get guidance and take action using the capabilities in their package.
Mathur said some customers using Pro and Max products grew revenue twice as fast year-over-year as non-Max peers. He credited four factors: insights, automation, a connected brain and personalization.
Other takeaways from the session:
Money on the table: Vincent Payen, ServiceTitan senior vice president, said the average revenue realization in the room is about 60%, while top performers reach the high 80s.
Payen's demo showed agents holding a slot for a more valuable job, then refilling a same-day cancellation gap in minutes.
Your best tech, every call: Tamar Rosati, ServiceTitan vice president for product, showed Atlas delivering job briefs, pre-screened financing, hands-free voice logging and AI-built good-better-best estimates tailored to the homeowner’s preferences.
Leaks plugged: An invoice review agent caught a smart thermostat that was installed but never billed, then drafted the fix for one-click approval.
New tools: Launches include the Atlas app for the office on mobile, a no-code Automation Hub and an MCP server connecting Claude or ChatGPT to ServiceTitan data. The Atlas app and Automation Hub are part of the base package.
Availability: Max will be open after Pantheon to all ServiceTitan customers in plumbing, heating, electrical and garage doors with four or more technicians.
What if AI gave your team more time with customers?
Kimberly Darby of Service Experts shares her takeaway from the “Run Your Business, Not Your Software” breakout session at Pantheon. She says teams need to learn how AI can support technicians, customers and office staff. In this walk-and-talk with ServiceTitan senior content writer Eddie Wooten, she explains how she sees Max working as a virtual assistant.
Photo Gallery
Around Pantheon on day two
Breakout Session: How AI Grows Service Agreements and Recurring Revenue
How Gallo Mechanical turns service agreements into 45-50% margin work
John Harrison stood in a Charleston mechanical room with a Gallo Mechanical supervisor on one side and a hospitality group's new director of facilities on the other. Harrison, Gallo's COO, asked the director what worried him most.
The director's real worry, Harrison said, was showing his bosses the maintenance work paid off so he could secure next year's budget. As the director put it, "how am I going to prove out and get the money that I need next year."
The supervisor, who worked the account in the field, had never heard an answer like it. Gallo, Harrison said, had not asked the question before.
Gallo's service agreements have grown 38% this year, part of 80% growth for the company. Harrison spent his Pantheon session talking about what he does with an agreement once it is signed.
He does not count on the agreement for margin. On a $100,000 agreement, he said, he expects $100,000 to $150,000 in additional work from the same customer every year. The agreement itself might run near 15% margin. The work behind it runs 45% to 50%.
"It's about pull through, right?" Harrison said.
Investors see recurring revenue the same way, he said, and value a service agreement dollar at about three times a project dollar.
Keeping the customer takes proof. Gallo builds its annual review from the customer's own survey scores, technician photos and job recaps, and Harrison measures whether technicians show up for every visit an agreement promises. His target is 90% or better. Commercial retention of 90% or better is good, he said, and 95% is excellent.
ServiceTitan's product team showed how the data behind those reviews gets captured. Technicians log findings by voice, photo or text, and the application scans notes, photos and job summaries for problems no one wrote up. When the same issue appears three times, the application flags the pattern, which gives a sales team a reason to revisit a declined recommendation.
The agreement review agent does similar work in the office. The first time the team ran it on a live Gallo agreement, it flagged a problem with the first two quarterly invoices. The information already existed, spread across several places. Now it arrives on one screen with a recommended next step.
Harrison wants to go further. He described a quarterly report for each customer showing equipment age, expected life remaining and time and material spend by asset, something a facilities director could build a budget request around.
Every customer is solving either a revenue problem or a cost problem, Harrison said. The director in Charleston had a cost problem and a budget to win. By the end of the year, he said, everybody is asking the question the director asked. A service partner with the asset history, Harrison said, is in the best position to answer it.
Keynote: The Next Era of Commercial Contracting
Max brings AI agents to commercial contractors
Picture a technician on a hot Arizona rooftop, phone in hand. He notices liquid pooling near an HVAC unit, indicating a disconnected condensate line nobody had caught yet.
He opens Atlas, ServiceTitan's AI assistant, describes what he's seeing and snaps a photo. By the time he's back in his truck, it's already a documented finding waiting in the office.
That scenario set the tone for Pantheon 2026's Commercial Service and Construction keynote. Atlas captured the moment — but it was Max, ServiceTitan's automation package for commercial contractors, that turned it into action.
"It takes on the heavy lifting, connecting your entire business, and multiplying the capacity of your team," said Alex Kablanian, GM of Commercial & Construction at ServiceTitan.
Max builds on more than 100 new foundational features delivered over the past year. A few of the automations highlighted at Pantheon:
Equipment Agent: Automatically populates manufacture dates and links compatible parts (filters, belts, refrigerant type) based on a unit's model and serial number.
Findings Agent: Reviews completed work orders in the office and recommends Findings technicians may have missed. "A Finding is a little like finding money in the couch cushions," said Shwetabh Mittal, VP of Product.
Daily Log Agent: Builds a foreman's daily log from voice notes and photos, and calls in the RFI Agent or Change Order Agent when it spots a conflict in the field. "Let the documentation build itself as they work, and hand them their time back," said Kaahini Shetty, who leads product for construction.
Invoice Agent: At Gulfshore Air and Heating, invoice prep time dropped from 30 minutes to under 5 minutes, and they now get paid in under five days — days to payment are down 70% — with the help of Invoice Agent.
"Max turns habits that you have to remember, into automations that happen without you thinking about it," Kablanian said.
- Brendan Meyer
Photo Gallery
The first day of Pantheon, in pictures
Breakout Session: How Process Grew One Roofing Business Into a Regional Powerhouse
Victor Smolyanov made $700,000 on $19 million of roofing work. Then he saw another owner's P&L.
In 2019, Victor Smolyanov's roofing company installed more than 2,400 roofs. He left home at 5 a.m. and got back at 10 most nights, and much of his team kept the same hours.
The company earned $10 million the year before. Smolyanov wanted $20 million. He finished at $19 million, and to suppliers and manufacturers it looked like a win. Then he checked the bottom line.
"Our bottom line was 3.5%. We made [about] $700,000 on installing $19 million worth of business," Smolyanov, founder & CEO of Build Brands, said during his Pantheon session, Built to Scale, How Process Grew One Roofing Business into a Regional Powerhouse.
His leadership team spent the next meeting planning how to avoid the same outcome. They talked about hiring more sales reps, call center reps and production staff, then realized they could only afford those hires by doing more work. Smolyanov floated a 10% price increase. His sales manager disagreed. The meeting ended in tears.
A few weeks later he attended a conference in Florida and watched another contractor’s presentation. This window-company owner put his P&L on the screen: a $6 million top line and a bottom line of $1.5 million.
"That dude did a third of the work that we did and made double the money," Smolyanov said.
Establishing the best price scared him from the start. "I'm a nobody," he remembered thinking, so he undercut companies that had been around for decades. He also said he didn't know how to sell value.
"I was like, ‘I'm an idiot. I'm not running my business correctly,’" Smolyanov said.
He flew home and raised prices "quite a bit," he said, and the company worked on how to provide a better customer experience, how to hire better crews, and how to take better care of its team. Revenue fell to $16 million in 2020. But the bottom line increased to $3.2 million.
Smolyanov said sales training had to change, too. He tried to coach reps himself for about three months and concluded he couldn't do it well. The company hired a sales manager from a window company known for selling on value and built its own training system from there. Some reps who were used to selling on price left. Others stayed, and one now trains incoming salespeople.
The leadership team now meets every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. to review the prior week's scorecard, a habit from the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) system the company adopted around 2018. Smolyanov said the first session with an EOS implementer started with seven people in the room and ended with five.
By his account, the company grew from $16 million in 2020 to $160 million in 2025. He later sold it to a private equity firm, then left with 25 members of his original team to start businesses in flooring and plumbing, with roofing to follow.
The standard he returned to was less about revenue and more about his phone.
"You know it's working when you're not getting those calls and you're getting to work on the things that you actually enjoy and the things that bring you happiness as well," Smolyanov said.
Breakout Session: The Year Headcount Stops Being the Growth Plan
See how Atlas and Command Center help you grow without adding headcount. Read the full session recap
Photo Gallery
Day One at Pantheon, Caught on Film
Doors are open and the floor is buzzing. Watch now.
Community Building: On and Off The Floor
Customers took to Masterminds, our community group for ServiceTitan customers, to share their behind-the-scenes experience from the floor!
Customers can network with industry professionals, ask questions, share tips and tricks, and learn from community and brand resources.
