Sift YC Application

Summer 2011Active

Sift went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2011 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 2011
Industry: B2BSecurity
Status: Active
Launched: 2012

Founders

Jason TanFounder/CEO

What Sift does

Sift is the leader in Digital Trust & Safety, empowering digital disruptors to Fortune 500 companies to unlock new revenue without risk. Sift dynamically prevents fraud and abuse through industry-leading technology and expertise, an unrivaled global data network of 70 billion events per month, and a commitment to long-term customer partnerships. Global brands such as DoorDash, Twitter, and Wayfair rely on Sift to gain a competitive advantage in their markets.

Sift's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

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

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Sift

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

The Leader in Digital Trust & Safety

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

We built a fraud and abuse prevention platform used by companies to analyze billions of digital events and block bad actors. Our product processes 70 billion events each month to dynamically detect risky behavior across multiple industries, from startups to Fortune 500s like DoorDash and Twitter.

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

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

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is where our customers and tech talent are concentrated, making it the natural place to grow and deepen relationships with digital disruptors and enterprise teams.

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 Sift YC application?

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