Simplify YC Application

Winter 2021Active

Simplify went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2021 batch as a Consumer 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 2021
Industry: ConsumerJob and Career Services
Team size: 5
Status: Active
Launched: 2021

Founders

Michael YanFounder
Ethan HoroschakFounder
Rushil SrivastavaFounder

What Simplify does

Simplify is building the AI-enabled infrastructure to power the next generation of hiring - reimagining how people discover and secure their next career opportunity. We believe that everyone deserves an all-star talent agent helping them plan, manage, and accomplish their career goals, no matter their background, location, or education. Through our flagship product, Copilot, we've helped over 1M+ job seekers discover and apply to over 100 million jobs - and we've done this with a tight-knit team of just 7 people. We're rapidly expanding on both the candidate and recruiter fronts, focused on our vision of building a common app and personal AI agent for your career. Backed by top-tier investors including Craft and YCombinator, we're a mission-driven team working to democratize the job search and disrupt the way hiring works today.

Simplify's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Simplify, Winter 2021 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Simplify

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Helping a billion people build their dream career

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

We are building Copilot, an AI-enabled talent agent that helps job seekers discover and apply to career opportunities tailored to their backgrounds and goals. It combines machine learning and a marketplace approach to reimagine how hiring works and who it serves.

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

We live in San Francisco, CA, and will remain based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco puts us in the center of the tech ecosystem where we can hire talent, meet partners, and keep close to early adopters who shape the future of work.

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 Simplify YC application?

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