Aplicación YC de Zoa Research
Zoa Research pasó por Y Combinator en el batch Summer 2024 como una empresa de B2B. Abajo: qué hace la empresa, quién la fundó y su aplicación a YC, reconstruida pregunta por pregunta en el formulario real de YC.
- Batch YC
- Summer 2024
- Industria
- B2B
- Tamaño del equipo
- 5
- Estado
- Active
- Lanzado
- 2024
Fundadores
Greg VolynskyFounder
Sam DamashekFounder
Lo que hace Zoa Research
Historically, quantitative models are domain specific. Brilliant people spend their best years testing features, tuning hyperparameters, and iterating architectures within a narrow domain. But scale is the panacea: large models will find patterns people, and specialized models, could not. Forecasting generalizes. Zoa trains cross-domain event forecasting engines. *Automating Iteration* LLMs - embedded in multi-agent optimization loops and evaluated against fixed policies - can automate the build-test-improve modeling cycle. Think AlphaEvolve for forecasting problems. *Sample-Efficient General Models* Today’s forecasting models are narrowly crafted with deep human priors. But larger models will outperform state-of-the-art specialized models. Unlike existing event models, our models leverage data from across contexts and rely less on human intuition. And compared to LLMs, our models are built with more inductive priors and rely more heavily on inference-time compute - improving sample efficiency. *Why It Matters* In the real economy, our models could be useful for forecasting supply chain volatility, energy supply and demand, even earthquake risk. Science is, Ian Hacking writes, the taming of chance. It is the process of iteratively updating priors (something like: identify uncertainty, conceive experiment to reduce uncertainty, execute, update). If science is uncertainty-reduction, forecasting is a critical measure of progress. Better forecasting improves our ability to select interesting experiments (roughly those with greatest expected uncertainty reduction) and update priors. Our models will be used by labs and academics in data-heavy domains. Sam's ex-girlfriend introduced him to Greg back at Carnegie Mellon in 2017, and while that relationship didn't last, their friendship has. After college, Greg went to Harvard Law School, while Sam worked for three years at Jane Street on their Options desk, building & leading a satellite dev team.
Aplicación YC de Zoa Research, reconstruida
Solicitud de Y Combinator
Zoa Research, batch Summer 2024. Las preguntas reales del formulario, respondidas con datos públicos.
- Founders2
- Company7
- Progress7
- Idea4
- Equity3
- Curious2
- Batch Preference1
Company
Zoa Research
Powerful quantitative forecasting models
We build generalizable event forecasting models that train across diverse domains rather than specializing narrowly. Our models automate the build-test-improve cycle by embedding LLMs in multi-agent optimization loops. This extends forecasting beyond traditional domain-specific models, making predictions about supply chains, energy, and risk using data integration and sample-efficient inference.
We live in New York, NY, and the company is based here now and would remain so after YC, at least initially.
Most of our experience and network is in New York. We don't see a pressing reason to relocate; YC is remote-friendly and we can engage with the network while continuing to build where we are.
21 respuestas más en la aplicación completa
están en la versión completa. Crea una cuenta gratuita para abrirla en YC Insights, junto a cada otro batch de YC.
Preguntas Frecuentes
¿Es esta la aplicación YC real de Zoa Research?
No. Y Combinator mantiene privadas las aplicaciones enviadas. Esta es una reconstrucción: las preguntas reales del formulario de YC, respondidas a partir de los datos públicos de Zoa Research (notas de lanzamiento, antecedentes de fundadores, descripción del producto). Muestra cómo una empresa como Zoa Research se presentaría a YC, no el texto que enviaron.
¿En qué batch de YC estuvo Zoa Research?
Zoa Research formó parte del batch Summer 2024 de Y Combinator.
¿Quién fundó Zoa Research?
Zoa Research fue fundado por Greg Volynsky, Sam Damashek.
¿A qué se dedica Zoa Research?
Powerful quantitative forecasting models
¿Cómo leo la aplicación completa reconstruida?
Crea una cuenta gratuita de Round Funded. La versión completa de 26 respuestas de la aplicación de Zoa Research, y de cada otro batch de YC, está en YC Insights.
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