From Investor to Builder: Launching Ventures and AI in Accounting

In this episode of the [A] Growth Ventures#podcast, Hamlet Azarian sits down with Jason Jones, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Tellen, a vertical AI company reinventing how accounting firms conduct audits. With a background in venture capital, hedge funds, fintech, and DeFi, Jason brings decades of experience in identifying disruptive trends and translating them into scalable businesses. This conversation explores Jason’s journey - from investing in early Web 1.0 companies and launching Lending Robot, to pioneering securitization protocols on the blockchain, and now building AI-powered tools for the audit and accounting space. His central insight: disruption always follows a recognizable pattern, and opportunity lies in spotting it early. Key Takeaways 01:03 – Why pattern recognition is the most valuable founder skill 06:00 – How Jason identified fintech and credit as massive “white space” opportunities 18:30 – The pain point that inspired Lending Robot and his obsession with fairer credit access 21:45 – How a side meetup turned into LendIt, a global fintech conference 35:00 – Why audits are the perfect use case for AI — and the surprising 40% deficiency rate 41:00 – Telen’s go-to-market strategy: sell the vision before building the product 44:00 – How Telen solved enterprise AI’s biggest blocker: sensitive client data 50:15 – What makes Telen different: building a vertical agentic AI platform for accounting Connect with Jason Jones LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonjoneslinkedin/ FREE Resources Here: 🌟 https://azariangrowthagency.com/blog/ 📘 https://azariangrowthagency.com/guides/ ⚙️ https://azariangrowthagency.com/advanced-growth-marketing-tools/ 🎥 https://azariangrowthagency.com/webinars/ 🎙️ https://azariangrowthagency.com/a-growth-ventures-podcast/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Connect With Us! Host: Hamlet Azarian 🌐 https://hamletazarian.com/ 🔗 / hamletazarian 🐦 https://x.com/hamletazarian Azarian Growth Agency LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/azarian-growth-agency Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/azariangrowthagency Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/azariangrowthagency Twitter: https://twitter.com/AzarianAgency