Backpack YC Application

Summer 2014Active

Backpack went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2014 batch as a Consumer 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 2014
Industry: ConsumerHome and Personal
Team size: 2
Status: Active
Launched: 2014

Founders

Fahim AzizFounder/CEOM

What Backpack does

Shopping? Buy overseas. Traveling? Earn some extra cash. Let backpack help you save that high shipping cost or earn a little extra. Backpack is a peer-to-peer platform that connects travelers and shoppers to give people access to products across markets in all continents. Each backpacker, regardless of their role as a carrier or a shopper, follows a simple four-step process to either earn or save money from their backpacking experience. Travelers share their travel information and specify what kind of items they want to carry. Then they wait to get a "backpack request" and ask their price. Finally, they confirm the deal, buy the items, deliver them and earn money. Shoppers on the other hand, search items from their favorite websites and fill out the item description. Then they give their location and find a traveler coming to their city. Finally they "request backpack" and confirm the deal. Within days they can get the product and save money. backpack is founded with a vision to provide every citizen of the world with a choice; the choice of buying organic, authentic, and cost effective products with minimum friction. Whether the product is state-of-the-art consumer electronics, exotic pashmina from the south-east, or even medication that are rare in some parts of the world and not so rare in others - we promise ourselves to get those products to your doorsteps. We would like to reject the counterfeits, we would like to reject the almost-originals, most importantly, we would like to not pay the heavy expense incurred, most of which we deem to be superfluous. Help us make a better, more original globalized world.

Backpack's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Backpack, Summer 2014 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Backpack

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Marketplace to get stuff from overseas

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

We built a peer-to-peer marketplace connecting travelers and shoppers across different countries. Travelers share their plans and what items they can carry; shoppers find travelers going to their city to buy products that are unavailable or expensive locally. Users coordinate prices and delivery, avoiding high shipping costs and opening access to international goods.

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

We live split between New York City and San Francisco and plan to keep our company based in one or both of these locations after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

We chose New York and San Francisco because they have strong tech communities and connect well to our international users. These cities give us access to both early users and potential partners.

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 Backpack YC application?

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