Rapportive YC Application

Summer 2010Acquired

Rapportive went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2010 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 2010
Industry: B2BProductivity
Team size: 2
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2012

Founders

Rahul VohraFounder/CEO
Martin KleppmannFounder
Sam StokesFounder

What Rapportive does

Rapportive shows you everything about your contacts right inside your inbox. You can immediately see what people look like, where they're based, and what they do. You can establish rapport by mentioning shared interests. You can grow your network by connecting on LinkedIn. Imagine relationship management built into your email. For free.

Rapportive's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Rapportive, Summer 2010 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Rapportive

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Add profiles to email.

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

We built Rapportive to show detailed profiles about your email contacts right inside your inbox. When you get an email, you immediately see their photo, location, job, and social links. This helps people understand who they're talking to and establish rapport faster, all without leaving email.

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

We currently live in San Francisco, CA, and we plan to base the company here after YC as well.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is where we live, and it's the right place for a B2B productivity startup focused on email. It puts us close to our users and potential partners.

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 Rapportive YC application?

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