Mystery.org YC Application

Summer 2017Acquired

Mystery.org went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2017 batch as a Education 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 2017
Industry: Education
Team size: 53
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2017

Founders

Doug PeltzFounder

What Mystery.org does

We started Mystery.org to create better explanations for every question children have about the world. We began with the 150 most common science questions that children ask teachers. We call this collection Mystery Science. Last year, more than 4 million children used Mystery Science in 50% of U.S. elementary schools. In an industry that is plagued by long sales cycles and high barriers to entry, we’ve sold thousands of schools without a single sales person. We’re backed by a great group of investors including Y Combinator, Learn Capital, and Reach Capital. We’re now moving on to all the other questions children have that they’ll never learn in school. In the last 18 months we received over 500,000 questions from children eager for better explanations of the world. Now we’re creating video explanations for every question. You can think of this like a visual Wikipedia for kids. Our goal is to create a generation of better thinkers. We think this is the most important problem to solve in the world today.

Mystery.org's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Mystery.org, Summer 2017 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Mystery.org

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Better explanations to keep kids curious

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

We build Mystery Science - a collection of video and lesson explanations answering the 150 most common science questions kids ask teachers. We then expand to answer thousands more questions kids have about the world with engaging, visual explanations.

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

We live in San Francisco and the company is based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco gives us access to a strong talent pool and aligns with where our early users and investors are based.

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 Mystery.org YC application?

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