PopSQL YC Application

Summer 2019Acquired

PopSQL went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2019 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: Summer 2019
Industry: B2BEngineering, Product and Design
Team size: 15
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2019

Founders

Rahil SondhiFounder/CEO

What PopSQL does

Every company wants to use data to make informed decisions, and SQL is the lingua franca for data. However, data collaboration is broken. People are rewriting each other's queries, switching apps to visualize their data, and copying/pasting SQL into Slack. PopSQL solves this by creating a beautiful, fun way to write SQL, visualize data, and share results. The product is loved by data teams from over 2000 companies including DoorDash, Shipt, Redfin, and Optimizely. What we've built so far is just the beginning. Join us and build a great product, a great culture, and a great company 🚀

PopSQL's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

PopSQL, Summer 2019 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

PopSQL

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

SQL editor for teams

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

We build PopSQL, a collaborative SQL editor that helps teams write queries, visualize data, and share results without jumping between tools or rewriting each other's work. It's used by data teams to simplify running and communicating insights from SQL databases.

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

We live and work remotely, primarily based in San Francisco, CA. After YC, the company would remain based in San Francisco and continue supporting remote work.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is home to a high concentration of data and engineering talent, customers, and partners. Our team is distributed but wants to keep close ties to the city's tech ecosystem for hiring and networking.

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 PopSQL YC application?

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