BuildZoom YC Application

Winter 2013Active

BuildZoom went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2013 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: Winter 2013
Industry: ConsumerHome and Personal
Team size: 100
Status: Active
Launched: 2012

Founders

David PetersenFounder/CEO

What BuildZoom does

BuildZoom is a better way to remodel. We connect homeowners to the most reliable general contractors in their area and make remodeling simpler, cheaper and more predictable. Our technology harvests public data on every licensed contractor in the United States, including license information, building permits, bond and insurance information and other government records. We use this public data along with private data gleaned from past BuildZoom marketplace interactions to evaluate contractor quality, availability, and fit for each construction project. Our goal is to help project owners arrive at several competitive bids from highly qualified and experienced construction companies to ensure a fair price and a successful project. We build tools to help contractors look their best online, manage their lead pipeline, seamlessly interact with project owners, and compose professional bid proposals.

BuildZoom's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

BuildZoom, Winter 2013 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

BuildZoom

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Connect homeowners to reliable contractors

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

We built a platform that uses public data on licensed contractors across the US combined with data from past marketplace interactions to match homeowners with reliable general contractors. Our product simplifies the remodeling process by helping users find vetted contractors, get competitive bids, and manage their projects more predictably.

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

We live in San Francisco, CA, and the company would be based here after YC as well.

Explain your decision regarding location.

We are based in San Francisco because it's where we live and where there is a concentration of tech talent and potential users familiar with online marketplaces for local services.

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 BuildZoom YC application?

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