Melder YC Application

Fall 2024Active

Melder went through Y Combinator in the Fall 2024 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: Fall 2024
Industry: B2BProductivity
Team size: 2
Status: Active
Launched: 2024

Founders

Ashwin DharneFounder
Philip BrewerFounder

What Melder does

Melder is an Excel add-in that brings AI functions and document support into your spreadsheets. Upload files directly into cells, use smart formulas like =GEN, and build automations - all without leaving Excel. Core features: - File-to-Sheet: Drop PDFs directly into cells, then reference them in formulas. - AI-Powered Functions: Write formulas like =GEN or =EXTRACT to summarize, classify, and analyze content. - Chat Assistant: Use our AI assistant to help build your sheets or answer questions from your data, live in the workbook. Business users use Melder to: - Accelerate diligence by extracting insights from data rooms - Review contracts by identifying key terms and clauses instantly - Run market research by pulling information from competitor websites - Synthesize transcripts by generating summaries from interviews and calls Melder brings the power of structured spreadsheet logic to the messy, unstructured data world - no coding needed.

Melder's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Melder, Fall 2024 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Melder

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

AI formulas and document support for Excel

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

We are building an Excel add-in that adds AI-powered functions directly inside spreadsheets. Users upload files like PDFs into cells, then use formulas such as =GEN and =EXTRACT to analyze and summarize document contents. It also includes a chat assistant embedded in Excel to help with building sheets and querying data without leaving the workbook.

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

We live in New York, NY and plan to base the company here after YC as well.

Explain your decision regarding location.

We chose New York because it is where we both live and work, and where we have access to our initial B2B users. We want to stay close to our customers who are business professionals using Excel daily.

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 Melder YC application?

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