Born on a real win.
A staff accountant, stuck for months with no responses to hundreds of applications, built a tool to find and win the jobs he actually wanted — landed two interviews within 24 hours, aced round two with a prep feature that predicted the questions word-for-word, and turned the whole thing into Knock.
The whole arc, in five beats.
- 1The before
Months of knocking on doors that never opened
Matthew Nabatkhorian — a staff accountant about 2.5 years into the profession, recently graduated, working toward his CPA hours — did everything the playbook says. Job boards everywhere, even entry-level roles that paid less. Cold outreach emails. Cold calls. For four to five months: no responses, no interviews, no traction.
- 2The spark
24 hours that changed everything
He took some AI courses and built something just for himself — a tool to find jobs he was genuinely a fit for, tailor his resume to each one, and send it out. He sent his resume to a handful of people through it. Within 24 hours he had two interviews at real estate companies — one of them a Fortune 500 firm.
- 3The turning point
How Hot Seat was born
After the first interview he realized he'd walked in completely unprepared. So before round two, he built an interview-prep feature to run himself through the gauntlet — what became Hot Seat. He even doubted it while building it, figuring they'd never actually ask those questions. Then he sat down for the second-round interview — and the questions were identical to the ones Hot Seat had put in front of him.
- 4Beyond the first job
A career co-pilot, not a job-board
Landing the interviews was only the beginning. Knock kept guiding the next steps — sit for the CPA exam, earn an Excel certification — and walked him through turning real AI-automation work into a presentable portfolio. He sent it to past employers, and one reached back out to have him implement AI automation for them.
- 5The name
Opportunity is only one knock away
While building it, Matthew came across the saying and laughed — then it stuck. Any opportunity, especially in a career, really is only one knock away. All you have to do is take the step and open the door. That became the company.
I'm a staff accountant. I'd been in the profession about two and a half years, and I'd only recently gotten my degree. I was trying to get a raise, a promotion — or move into a more corporate setting so I could earn hours toward my CPA.
I applied everywhere. For four or five months I was on the job boards, even applying to entry-level jobs where I'd be earning less money. I was sending cold outreach emails. I was cold-calling companies. And I was getting absolutely nowhere. No responses. Nothing.
So I took some AI courses and built something — just for myself — to help me find jobs I could actually get, tailor my resume to them, and send it out. I sent my resume to a couple of people. And within twenty-four hours, I had two interviews at real estate companies, one of them a Fortune 500 company. I was in shock. I honestly couldn't believe it even worked.
After my first interview, I realized I was completely unprepared — and that's how Hot Seat was born. I built it to prep for my round-two interview. While I was doing it, I actually thought, this is kind of dumb, they're not going to ask me any of this. Then I went into the second interview, and the questions they asked me were identical — exactly what Hot Seat had given me. It was insane. That's how Knock was born, and it was born on a real success.
I've kept using Knock ever since to guide my next steps — take the CPA exam, get an Excel certification, little things and bigger things. One thing it had me do was build a portfolio of work I'd done in AI automation for accounting. It guided me through gathering everything, organized it all, and helped me turn it into a real, presentable deliverable. I sent that portfolio to some past employers, and one of them actually reached out to see what I could implement for them — all because Knock helped me create a real work portfolio.
When I was scared to show people my work, scared to ask for a raise, scared to walk into my interview — I turned to Knock. Knock made me confident to take the step and go get exactly what I wanted out of my career. It enabled me to do it.
When I was creating Knock, I saw a saying: opportunity is only one knock away. I laughed. But it really made me think — anything you want, any opportunity, especially in your career, really is only one knock away. All you have to do is take that step and open the door.
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Opportunity is one knock away.
The same scoring, tailoring, Pre-Flight Check, and Hot Seat he used are what Knock is. Take the step and open the door.
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