Care Weather YC Application

Winter 2021Active

Care Weather went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2021 batch as a Industrials 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 2021
Industry: IndustrialsAviation and Space
Team size: 2
Status: Active
Launched: 2023

Founders

Patrick WaltonFounder
Alex LarawayFounder

What Care Weather does

Care Weather collects the highest-accuracy global weather data to help governments and shipping companies adapt to extreme weather. The data is collected by Care Weather’s unique flat-panel radar satellite, which is 1000X more cost effective because it’s vertically integrated, gets more solar power, and sails on top of the atmosphere for a closer view of the surface. Our team includes CEO Patrick Walton (NASA Earth science fellow) and CTO Alex Laraway (mach 4 rockets). In the last 4 months, we built and launched the smallest radar satellite ever. We have $35M worth of LOIs, including one from the Air Force and others from cargo shippers. Care Weather is backed by Boost VC, Kickstart Seed Fund, Y Combinator, and more.

Care Weather's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Care Weather, Winter 2021 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Care Weather

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Highest-accuracy global weather data from satellites

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

We build and launch flat-panel radar satellites that fly on top of the atmosphere to collect global weather data with higher accuracy and lower cost than existing satellites. Our satellites are uniquely cost-effective because they are vertically integrated, have a larger solar panel area, and orbit closer to Earth's surface using solar sailing. This data helps governments and shipping companies better prepare for extreme weather.

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

We currently live in Orem, UT, and plan to base the company here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Orem is where we both live and built our first satellite. Staying local lets us keep tight control over development and iterate fast on hardware and software together.

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 Care Weather YC application?

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