Podium YC Application

Winter 2016Active

Podium went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2016 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: Winter 2016
Industry: B2BRetail
Team size: 1000
Status: Active
Launched: 2015

Founders

Eric ReaFounder/CEO
Dennis SteeleFounder

What Podium does

Podium is the all-in-one AI-powered lead management and communication platform used by more than 100,000 businesses to acquire and convert new customers. At the forefront of Podium’s innovation is its AI employee, who ensures businesses respond to leads instantly, anytime of the day or night - significantly increasing lead conversion rates and revenue. Podium helps businesses obtain more reviews, rank higher on Google, and consolidate lead channels. Businesses can call and text customers from the web and/or mobile app, send payment links, drive repeat business through bulk messages, and more - all managed and delivered from one easy-to-use dashboard. Additionally, with Podium’s AI Employee and automations, businesses can efficiently handle customer inquiries seamlessly across all communication channels, providing timely and accurate responses that drive sales. Podium’s innovative work has gained recognition on top industry lists, such as Forbes’ Next Billion Dollar Startups, Forbes’ Cloud 100, the Inc. 5000, and Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies. Podium was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Lehi, Utah. It is currently backed by Accel, Summit Partners, GV (formerly Google Ventures), and Y Combinator.

Podium's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Podium, Winter 2016 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Podium

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Get more leads. Make more money.

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

We built an AI-powered lead management and communication platform that helps businesses get and convert more customers. Our product centralizes messaging channels like calls and texts, automates lead responses with an AI employee available 24/7, and helps businesses collect reviews and drive repeat sales - all managed from one dashboard.

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

We live in Lehi, Utah, and the company is based there.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Lehi is where we started and built our early customer base. It's cost-effective and gives us access to a growing tech talent pool, so we plan to keep the company headquartered here after YC.

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 Podium YC application?

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