Zencoder YC Application

Winter 2010Acquired

Zencoder went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2010 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: Winter 2010
Industry: B2BInfrastructure
Team size: 11
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2012

Founders

Jon DahlFounder/CEO
Steve HeffernanFounder/Head of Product Design & Marketing
Brandon ArbiniFounder/Vice President of Product Development and Engineering

What Zencoder does

Zencoder is a cloud-based video and audio encoding product suite from Brightcove (NASDAQ: BCOV), a leading global provider of cloud content services. The Zencoder service provides customers with high quality, reliable encoding of live and on-demand video and access to unlimited video encoding power without having to pay for, manage and scale expensive hardware and software.

Zencoder's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Zencoder, Winter 2010 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Zencoder

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Video Encoding API

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

We built Zencoder, a cloud-based video and audio encoding API. It lets companies encode live and on-demand video without managing hardware or scaling software. Our service handles the complexity of encoding formats and infrastructure at scale.

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 will remain based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is home to our team and close to many media tech companies who need video encoding solutions. Being here gives us quick access to customers and talent.

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 Zencoder YC application?

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