CodeNow YC Application

Winter 2014Active

CodeNow went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2014 batch as a Unspecified 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 2014
Industry: Unspecified
Team size: 2
Status: Active
Launched: 2013

Founders

Ryan SeashoreFounder/CEO

What CodeNow does

CodeNow is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit transforming high school students into coders, designers, and product managers. By helping students unlock their intrinsic motivations, they are learning to solve meaningful problems in their communities with software.

CodeNow's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

CodeNow, Winter 2014 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

CodeNow

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Teaching high school students to code and design

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

We run a nonprofit program that teaches high school students coding, design, and product management skills. Our product is a series of workshops and ongoing projects that help students use software to solve real problems in their communities, unlocking motivation beyond traditional classroom settings.

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

We live and work in Chicago, IL and plan to keep the company based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Chicago has a diverse student population and strong potential community partners, making it the right place to build and test our program rather than relocate to a tech hub.

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 CodeNow YC application?

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