Impactive (formerly Outvote) YC Application

Summer 2018Acquired

Impactive (formerly Outvote) went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2018 batch as a Government 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 2018
Industry: Government
Team size: 15
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2018

Founders

Naseem MakiyaFounder

What Impactive (formerly Outvote) does

Impactive, backed by YCombinator and Higher Ground Labs, was founded in 2017 as a get-out-the-vote tool for Democrats. The Impactive product has since expanded to become a full-service platform allowing any campaign or cause to engage in distributed organizing. In the 2018 midterms, volunteers contacted over 1 million voters using Impactive. In 2020, we scaled significantly to meet the demand of this unprecedented election cycle. We’ve worked with over 500 clients nationwide, and volunteers have sent over 100 million text messages on behalf of Planned Parenthood, the DCCC, SEIU, Community Change, When We All Vote, Greenpeace, and campaigns up and down the ballot. Our work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, TechCrunch, Fast Company, and many more. In 2021, Impactive will expand its platform further into nonprofit, advocacy, and additional markets. This will be an exciting time to play a critical role in helping shape the direction for what’s coming next. We will continue to prioritize our progressive values while building a feature-rich platform that will broaden our reach across the impact space.

Impactive (formerly Outvote)'s YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Impactive (formerly Outvote), Summer 2018 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Impactive (formerly Outvote)

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Political tech for progressive campaign organizing

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

We build software that helps progressive campaigns and causes organize volunteers for distributed canvassing and outreach. The product started as a tool to get-out-the-vote for Democrats but has grown into a full-service platform used nationally to coordinate volunteer actions like texting and phone banking.

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

We live in Boston, MA and the company is based there with a distributed remote team.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Boston has a strong civic tech community and access to political organizations, which fits our focus on elections and advocacy. Remote work allows us to recruit talent from outside the area as well.

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 Impactive (formerly Outvote) YC application?

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

What YC batch was Impactive (formerly Outvote) in?

Impactive (formerly Outvote) was part of the Y Combinator Summer 2018 batch.

Who founded Impactive (formerly Outvote)?

Impactive (formerly Outvote) was founded by Naseem Makiya.

What does Impactive (formerly Outvote) do?

Political/civic tech helping progressive campaigns organize & mobilize

How do I read the full reconstructed application?

Create a free Round Funded account. The full 26-answer version of Impactive (formerly Outvote)'s application, and every other YC batch, is in YC Insights.