Chute YC Application

Winter 2012Acquired

Chute went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2012 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: Winter 2012
Industry: B2BMarketing
Team size: 11
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2011

Founders

Ranvir GujralFounder/CEO
Gaurav SharmaFounder/Lead Engineer

What Chute does

hute powers enterprise UGC for brands, agencies and publishers - from discovering consumer photos and videos, both with visual and text search, to the ideation, production, and amplification of compelling visual material. Chute works with some of the world’s biggest brands and publishers including Benefit Cosmetics, NBCUniversal, adidas, Brown-Forman, Condé Nast, NBA, United Nations, New York Times, and Ford. For more information, visit You can reach us anytime at. We look forward to hearing from you!

Chute's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Chute, Winter 2012 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Chute

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Discover and manage brand-related photos and videos

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

We built a platform that helps brands and publishers discover photos and videos people post about them, using both visual and text search. Our product then helps with the creative process - ideation, production, and promotion of this visual content, streamlining how brands leverage user-generated media.

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

We live and work in San Francisco, CA, and the company is based here as well.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco has a thriving startup community and access to brands and agencies that are our customers. Being here lets us stay close to our market and collaborators.

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 Chute YC application?

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