Founder resources

YC Founder Library

Learn from real applications, pitch decks, and videos shared by founders who got in.

Successful YC Applications

S07

Drew Houston's solo-founder application. Hosted on YC's own site.

ycombinator.com → S05

Alexis Ohanian's application from the very first YC batch.

getintoyc.com → S09

Complete application shared by co-founder Suhail Doshi.

Applied with $1M ARR and 100K+ organizations already using it.

about.gitlab.com → W12

Shared to encourage non-traditional candidates to apply to YC.

themuse.com → W14

Cruise Automation

Self-driving car company, later acquired by GM for over $1B.

Nigerian payments company, later acquired by Stripe for $200M+.

shizune.co → S16

The Flex Company

Solo founder application. Second attempt after Fellowship W16.

Standard Treasury

Banking API company. Full answers on founder's blog.

zactownsend.com → S13

Mobile A/B testing platform. Complete application.

nancyhua.com → W13

Full Q&A with details about their application video.

shizune.co → S15

Full answers to every question on the application.

Original Pitch Decks

W09

The seed deck that raised $600K from Sequoia Capital.

SlideShare → S12

First presented at YC Demo Day. Published by Brian Armstrong.

Tony Xu's Demo Day presentation with slide-by-slide breakdown.

Application & Demo Day Videos

W15

Successful application video from YC's official Startup Library.

ycombinator.com → W15

Another YC-hosted example of a successful application video.

ycombinator.com → 40+

YC Founder Pitches

Recordings of 40+ founders pitching at the Work at a Startup Expo.

Curated Collections

32+

32 applications organized by question and company, S07 through W21.

shizune.co → 60+

Rohit Mittal's YC Guide

60+ links to applications, interview advice, and founder experiences.

Full text of publicly shared applications, organized by company.

getintoyc.com →

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