Retool YC Application

Winter 2017Active

Retool went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2017 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 2017
Industry: B2BProductivity
Team size: 300
Status: Active
Launched: 2017

Founders

David HsuFounder/CEO

What Retool does

Retool is the fast way to build internal tools.

Retool's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Retool, Winter 2017 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Retool

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Build internal tools fast.

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

We are building a platform that lets developers quickly assemble internal tools by dragging and dropping pre-built components and connecting them to company databases and APIs. This lets engineers build the dashboards, admin panels, and workflows businesses need without spending months coding them from scratch.

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

We currently live in San Francisco, CA, and plan to keep the company based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco has a strong developer and startup ecosystem, which helps us hire engineers and connect with early customers who need internal tooling faster. This location is strategic for building a developer-focused product like Retool.

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 Retool YC application?

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