Upwave YC Application

Summer 2012Active

Upwave went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2012 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 2012
Industry: B2BOperations
Team size: 50
Status: Active
Launched: 2012

Founders

Chris KellyFounder/CEO

What Upwave does

Upwave is the #1 marketing analytics platform for the world's biggest brand marketers. Upwave's software shows marketers the impact and effectiveness of their brand investments. We use data science and machine learning to answer an age-old question: does brand advertising work? Upwave's enterprise platform is used by the blue-chip marketers like Unilever, Clorox, Verizon, American Express, T-Mobile, Corona, State Farm, Uber, and dozens more. Upwave was launched in Y Combinator and is a fast-growing, post-Series B growth-stage startup. We've raised from leading investors like Uncork Capital, Initialized Capital, Bloomberg Beta, PivotNorth, Industry Ventures, and Conductive Ventures...plus many leading marketing tech Founders & CEOs. The company is based in San Francisco.

Upwave's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Upwave, Summer 2012 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Upwave

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Marketing analytics for global brand marketers

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

We build a marketing analytics platform that answers whether brand advertising drives impact and effectiveness for large enterprises. Our software collects and analyzes data to provide insights on brand investments, helping marketers optimize spend and prove ROI.

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

We live and are based in San Francisco, CA, and the company remains headquartered here.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is where we have our network, clients, and engineering talent. It's essential for proximity to enterprise brand marketers and marketing tech investors.

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 Upwave YC application?

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