Rigetti Computing YC Application

Summer 2014Public

Rigetti Computing went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2014 batch as a Industrials 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 2014
Industry: IndustrialsManufacturing and Robotics
Team size: 51
Status: Public
Launched: 2014

Founders

Chad RigettiFounder/CEO

What Rigetti Computing does

Rigetti Computing is building the world’s most powerful computers to help solve humanity’s most pressing and important problems. These systems will perform computations that today’s fastest supercomputers are incapable of - unlocking entirely new classes of problems and offering a direct path to solutions. We are scientists, engineers, builders, and visionaries. We believe quantum computing is going to significantly affect health care, how we treat disease, how we generate energy, and how we feed humanity. Rigetti is the only company deploying full-stack solutions for hybrid classical/quantum computing. Our 19-qubit quantum computer is available online through our Forest platform, and the first commercially useful applications are already under exploration. We were founded in 2013 by Chad Rigetti, and are located Berkeley and Fremont, California.

Rigetti Computing's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Rigetti Computing, Summer 2014 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Rigetti Computing

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Quantum coherent supercomputing.

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

We build full-stack quantum computers and software that let researchers and developers run quantum algorithms on real quantum hardware. Our 19-qubit machine connects through our Forest platform, letting users solve problems not feasible on classical supercomputers yet.

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

We're based in Berkeley and Fremont, California, and would remain here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Silicon Valley and the Bay Area are where the quantum hardware talent cluster is and where our early users and partners are located. Staying here lets us build the right interdisciplinary team and infrastructure.

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 Rigetti Computing YC application?

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