Arist YC Application

Summer 2020Active

Arist went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2020 batch as a B2B 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: Summer 2020
Industry: B2B
Team size: 23
Status: Active
Launched: 2020

Founders

Michael IoffeFounder
Ryan LavertyFounder

What Arist does

Arist is the only message-based learning platform. We help over 10% Fortune 500 companies and governments rapidly teach and train employees, entirely via messaging tools like SMS, Slack, WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams.

Arist's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Arist, Summer 2020 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Arist

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Deliver effective learning at scale

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

We built Arist, a message-based learning platform that delivers training and education entirely through messaging tools like SMS, Slack, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams. This means employees engage naturally without switching apps, making learning more accessible and scalable across large enterprises and governments.

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

We live in New York City and operate remotely; the company will remain based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

New York is where we're rooted, and it connects us to key clients and talent. Remote work lets us attract people beyond NYC without compromising coordination.

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 Arist YC application?

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