Hiptype YC Application

Summer 2012Inactive

Hiptype went through Y Combinator in the Summer 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: Summer 2012
Industry: B2BAnalytics
Team size: 2
Status: Inactive
Launched: 2012

Founders

James LevyFounder/CEO
Sohail PrasadFounder/CTO

What Hiptype does

Hiptype brings analytics and targeted advertising capabilities to the most popular eBook platforms, where these powerful features have never before been possible. Hiptype's patent-pending plugin for books captures demographic and book performance data that can be used to power in-book targeted advertising and automated book marketing campaign optimizations. Hiptype's founding team has previously designed and engineered products at Google, Turntable.fm, and mobile advertising platform Chartboost.

Hiptype's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Hiptype, Summer 2012 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Hiptype

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Marketing and analytics platform for eBooks

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

We built a plugin for popular eBook platforms that captures demographic data and book performance metrics. This allows authors and publishers to run targeted in-book ads and optimize marketing campaigns automatically, something that hasn't been done before for eBooks.

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

We live in San Francisco, and the company would remain based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is where we live and where the eBook and tech industries intersect. Being here helps with recruiting, partnerships, and staying close to early customers.

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 Hiptype YC application?

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