janjigian was born on april 30, 1972 in chicago, illinois. his ancestors, armenians from trabzon in modern-day turkey, survived the armenian genocide and emigrated to the united states thereafter. he was raised in saratoga, california and graduated from saratoga high school in 1991. he graduated with a degree in business administration from california polytechnic state university in san luis obispo in 1996. after graduating, he worked at microsoft for a number of years.