Skyscrape YC Application

Summer 2017Active

Skyscrape went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2017 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 2017
Industry: IndustrialsManufacturing and Robotics
Team size: 3
Status: Active
Launched: 2017

Founders

Brent RidleyFounder

What Skyscrape does

Skyscrape makes temperature responsive fabrics for a new type of clothing. These fabrics literally change shape in response to a change in temperature: the fabrics become thicker and insulate more as the temperature drops, and they become thinner and insulate less as the temperature rises again. This "intelligent insulation" has no wires or sensors, and the fabric's shape-changing behavior comes from a natural materials response. Skyscrape’s fabrics offer expanded thermal comfort across a wider temperature range than conventional clothing. Creating textiles that could change shape with changing temperatures required years of laboratory work by an interdisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, designers, and weavers, designing and refining machines and processes to make yarns and fabrics that could adapt to the environment. Skyscrape's first market entry was with Ralph Lauren in the 2022 Team USA Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Skyscrape's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Skyscrape, Summer 2017 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Skyscrape

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Temperature-responsive insulation fabric

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

We make fabrics that change thickness and insulation based on temperature. As it gets colder, the fabric thickens to keep you warm; as it warms, it thins to keep you comfortable. This happens naturally in the material itself, without sensors or wires.

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

We live in Portland, OR, and plan to keep the company based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Portland has the manufacturing and textile expertise we rely on. It's where our founders live and where we can best develop and produce our fabrics.

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 Skyscrape YC application?

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