Keeper YC Application

Winter 2019Active

Keeper went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2019 batch as a Fintech 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 2019
Industry: FintechConsumer Finance
Team size: 21
Status: Active
Launched: 2018

Founders

Paul Koullick
David Kang

What Keeper does

Keeper is AI tax filing for complex returns. We serve individuals and small businesses in the US. Today, over 50% of tax returns still get filed by accountants - that’s 75M returns a year. Unfortunately, great accountants are really hard to find, and the data shows most of them are retiring in the next 5-10 years. Keeper is the modern alternative. We use AI to automate most of the prep work, which frees up in-house human tax experts to focus on guidance and reviewing final results. The net outcome is that we’re able to deliver higher quality / more accurate returns at 50% of the cost of traditional accountants.

Keeper's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Keeper, Winter 2019 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Keeper

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

AI tax filing for complex returns

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

We built Keeper to automate tax returns for individuals and small businesses with complex filings. Our AI handles most of the prep work, freeing in-house tax experts to review and give final guidance. This cuts costs and improves accuracy compared to traditional accountants.

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

We live in San Francisco and plan to keep the company based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is where we live, and it's also the center for fintech startups and tech talent we need to build and grow Keeper.

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 Keeper YC application?

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