Compose YC Application

Summer 2011Acquired

Compose went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2011 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: Summer 2011
Industry: B2BInfrastructure
Team size: 51
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2012

Founders

Jason McCayFounder
Ben WyrosdickFounder

What Compose does

Compose is a fully-managed platform used by developers to deploy, host, and scale databases to help you conquer the data layer.

Compose's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Compose, Summer 2011 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Compose

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

We make it easy to run databases.

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

We built a fully-managed platform that lets developers deploy, host, and scale databases like PostgreSQL, Redis, and MongoDB without managing the underlying infrastructure. Our product solves the complexity of running reliable database services so developers can focus on their apps.

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

We live in San Mateo, CA, and intend to base the company here after YC as well.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Mateo is where we live and it puts us close to our users and infrastructure partners. Staying here keeps us connected to the tech ecosystem we work in.

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 Compose YC application?

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