Science Exchange YC Application

Summer 2011Acquired

Science Exchange went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2011 batch as a Healthcare 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 2011
Industry: HealthcareHealthcare Services
Team size: 50
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2012

Founders

Elizabeth IornsFounder/President & CEO; Chairman of the Board
Dan KnoxFounder & COO

What Science Exchange does

Science Exchange powers R&D outsourcing for the world’s top life sciences companies. Our marketplace gives scientists access to the innovation and research they need and our platform fully automates R&D outsourcing from source to pay so scientists can focus on what they love - science.

Science Exchange's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Science Exchange, Summer 2011 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Science Exchange

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Powering scientific outsourcing

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

We built a platform that automates the entire R&D outsourcing process for life sciences companies. Scientists use it to find and contract external labs or service providers, manage projects, and handle payments - all in one place. It removes administrative friction so scientists focus on experiments instead of procurement.

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

We are based in Palo Alto, CA and have remote team members. After YC, we would remain headquartered in Palo Alto with a distributed team.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Palo Alto puts us in the heart of tech and biotech innovation and close to many of our early life sciences customers. Remote work lets us tap talent globally, but a strong HQ keeps us connected.

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 Science Exchange YC application?

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