Reconstructed from public data
40 YC Application Examples: Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less
Below are 40 answers to the YC form question "Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.", one per company, reconstructed from public data. YC does not publish most applications, and none of these is the text a company submitted: each shows how an accepted company describes itself in that slot, with a link to its full reconstructed application.
- 1
Airbnb (Winter 2009)Book accommodations around the world.
Full reconstructed application - 2
Algolia (Winter 2014)Developer-friendly and enterprise-grade search API
Full reconstructed application - 3
Amplitude (Winter 2012)Digital Analytics Platform
Full reconstructed application - 4
Bear Flag Robotics (Winter 2018)Autonomous driving technology for farm tractors
Full reconstructed application - 5
Bellabeat (Winter 2014)Tech-powered women's wellness
Full reconstructed application - 6
Benchling (Summer 2012)Modern software to power biotech R&D
Full reconstructed application - 7
Caper (Winter 2016)Plug-and-play cashier-less retail
Full reconstructed application - 8
Checkr (Summer 2014)People infrastructure for the future of work
Full reconstructed application - 9
Clipboard (Winter 2017)Every shift, Covered.
Full reconstructed application - 10
Codecademy (Summer 2011)Online learning platform for coding skills
Full reconstructed application - 11
Cognito (Summer 2014)Identity verification starting with a phone number
Full reconstructed application - 12
Coinbase (Summer 2012)Buy, sell, and manage cryptocurrencies.
Full reconstructed application - 13
CoreOS (Summer 2013)Open source tools of modern distributed systems
Full reconstructed application - 14
Cruise (Winter 2014)Self-driving cars.
Full reconstructed application - 15
DoorDash (Summer 2013)Restaurant delivery.
Full reconstructed application - 16
Dropbox (Summer 2007)Backup and share files in the cloud.
Full reconstructed application - 17
EquipmentShare (Winter 2015)Cloud solutions for construction
Full reconstructed application - 18
Fivestars (Winter 2011)Customer loyalty and payments platform
Full reconstructed application - 19
Fivetran (Winter 2013)The leader in automated data movement
Full reconstructed application - 20
Flexport (Winter 2014)Platform for global logistics.
Full reconstructed application - 21
FutureAdvisor (Summer 2010)Online financial management for everyone
Full reconstructed application - 22
Ginkgo Bioworks (Summer 2014)Make biology easier to engineer
Full reconstructed application - 23
GitLab (Winter 2015)A complete DevOps platform as one application
Full reconstructed application - 24
Go1 (Summer 2015)A platform to train staff or customers
Full reconstructed application - 25
HelloSign (Winter 2011)eSignature software for SMBs
Full reconstructed application - 26
Honeylove (Summer 2018)Functional undergarments for women
Full reconstructed application - 27
Instacart (Summer 2012)Marketplace for grocery delivery and pickup
Full reconstructed application - 28
Lever (Summer 2012)Talent Acquisition Suite combining ATS + CRM
Full reconstructed application - 29
Machine Zone (Winter 2008)Pioneers of mobile social gaming
Full reconstructed application - 30
Meesho (Summer 2016)Democratizing internet commerce in India
Full reconstructed application - 31
Mixpanel (Summer 2009)Event analytics for builders that need answers
Full reconstructed application - 32
Momentus (Summer 2018)The space infrastructure services company
Full reconstructed application - 33
Moxion Power Co. (Winter 2021)Mobile Energy Storage Technology
Full reconstructed application - 34
Newfront (Winter 2018)Modern insurance brokerage
Full reconstructed application - 35
Notable Labs (Winter 2015)Personalized drug discovery for blood cancer
Full reconstructed application - 36
Nowports (Winter 2019)The core engine of supply chain in LATAM
Full reconstructed application - 37
Odeko (Summer 2019)Operations software for running cafes
Full reconstructed application - 38
OMGPop (Summer 2006)An independent flash game studio.
Full reconstructed application - 39
OpenInvest (Summer 2015)Values based personalization at scale
Full reconstructed application - 40
Pardes Biosciences (Summer 2020)Oral drugs to treat and prevent viral infections
Full reconstructed application
Read the whole application, for every company
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About this list
This list is part of Round Funded, an investor database and outreach platform for founders. It covers 60,000+ active VCs, angels, family offices and accelerators with verified contacts, lets you send pitches from your own Gmail, and includes a free Data Room for your raise. How this data is built.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these real YC applications?
No. Every answer on this page is a reconstruction: the real form question, answered from the company's public data (one-liner, description, location, batch). YC does not publish most applications, so these show the standard accepted companies meet, not their original wording.
How should I use these examples?
Read ten answers from companies closest to yours and note the pattern: a concrete product, a named customer, a number where one exists, no adjectives. Then write your answer to that shape. Copying an answer is pointless; the reviewers know the companies.
Where do the answers come from?
From Round Funded's YC startup directory, which holds every YC company with a reconstructed application. The Company section shown here is the free part of each company page; the other sections open in YC Insights after sign-up.
What is Round Funded?
Round Funded is an investor database and outreach platform for startup founders. It lists 60,000+ active investors with verified contacts, filtered to recent investment activity, and lets founders send personalized pitches from their own Gmail, track replies, and share a free Data Room. Round+ starts at $99 per month with a 3-day trial.