Fivestars YC Application

Winter 2011Acquired

Fivestars went through Y Combinator in the Winter 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: Winter 2011
Industry: B2BRetail
Team size: 201
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2012

Founders

Victor HoFounder/CEO
Matt DokaFounder/CTO

What Fivestars does

Fivestars is a leading payment and customer loyalty platform for small local businesses. Our mission is to help businesses and communities thrive by turning every transaction into a relationship. Since launching in 2011, Fivestars has become a rewarding platform with 60 million users discovering and driving sales to 14,000+ small businesses. We help drive over $3 billion in local sales per year. More than 1 million people sign up monthly to support the local businesses that make our neighborhoods great. The company is backed by Lightspeed, DCM, Menlo Ventures, HarbourVest, and others. Together, let’s #LoveLocal. Visit for more information.

Fivestars's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Fivestars, Winter 2011 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Fivestars

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Customer loyalty and payments platform

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

We are building a platform that helps small local businesses run customer loyalty programs and process payments in one system. Our product turns every transaction into a way to build a customer relationship, making it easier for businesses to keep customers coming back and for customers to discover new places in their neighborhood.

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 will be based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is where the small business market and tech talent intersect. Being close to our customers and the startup ecosystem is vital to iterate fast and grow.

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 Fivestars YC application?

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