Zenefits YC Application

Winter 2013Acquired

Zenefits went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2013 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 2013
Industry: B2BHuman Resources
Team size: 500
Status: Acquired
Launched: 2012

Founders

Parker ConradFounder/CEO
Laks SriniFounder/CTO

What Zenefits does

Zenefits was founded to take the administrative heartache out of getting healthcare. In the five years since, Zenefits' consumer-grade technology has tackled one of the economy's gnarliest people problems: delivering easy access to health insurance. Today, this is the foundation of our People Platform which brings everything HR -- benefits, payroll, onboarding and talent management -- into one single app. And we're just getting started. Our team is creating a modern People Platform that empowers employees by equipping them with the tools they need to be independent, mobile, and fully in control. The Zenefits People Platform is where HR comes to life. Learn more at

Zenefits's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Zenefits, Winter 2013 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Zenefits

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

HR for small businesses: onboarding, payroll and benefits.

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

We are building an HR platform that simplifies onboarding, payroll, and benefits administration for small businesses. Our product automates and integrates healthcare insurance enrollment with other HR functions in one app.

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

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

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is where the talent and customers for HR tech are concentrated. It puts us close to partners and early users who understand these complex administrative challenges.

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 Zenefits YC application?

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