Acely YC Application

Winter 2018Active

Acely went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2018 batch as a Education company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.

YC batch: Winter 2018
Industry: Education
Team size: 30
Status: Active
Launched: 2017

Founders

Vivian Midha ShenFounder

What Acely does

Acely is the leading AI tutor for the digital SAT and ACT, helping students get into their dream college. Our mission is to democratize opportunity for high school families through AI-native tools that empower students to learn smarter and gain confidence. Backed by Forerunner Ventures, we've grown to $10M ARR with a lean, 10-person team, proof that small, mission-driven teams can deliver outsized impact. Our product has traction, our users are engaged, and we're now at an inflection point: ready to scale with speed, craft, and AI-native excellence. Acely was launched out of beta in January 2024 as a spinout product from Juni (YC W18).

Acely's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Acely, Winter 2018 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Acely

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Every student's AI coach for college readiness

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.

We built Acely to be an AI tutor for the digital SAT and ACT. It's a personalized coach that helps high school students prepare for these tests efficiently, gaining skills and confidence along the way. The product focuses on making access to effective test prep more affordable and data-driven than traditional tutoring or prep classes.

Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?

We're based in San Francisco, CA and plan to stay here after YC as well.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is where we built the product and built our early team. It's the center for AI and edtech talent, so staying here keeps us close to key resources and future hires.

21 more answers in the full application

Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.

See full application

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the real Acely YC application?

No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from Acely's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like Acely would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.