See
Why
Mattermark (formerly Referly)
Mattermark (formerly Referly)
You can get feedback like this for free in our app
You can get feedback like this for free in our app
See Why
YC Application Feedback
YC Application Feedback
See Why is an AI tool designed to help you understand why your YC application may have been rejected and what you can do to improve it. By analyzing YC content and top applications, See Why provides actionable feedback, helping you refine your application for better chances of success.
How See Why Can Help You
Identify Weaknesses: Understand the specific areas where your application falls short.
Actionable Insights: Receive clear, practical advice on how to improve your application.
Continuous Improvement: Discover opportunities for ongoing enhancement to stay competitive.
Successful
YC Application Feedback
YC Application Feedback
If you have a demo, what's the url? Demo can be anything that shows us how the product works. Usually that's a video or screen recording.
A very early prototype: http://www.daniellemorrill.com/the-startup-index/
What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.
The leading resource investors use to determine the health and value of private companies. This is the Bloomberg terminal for a growing pool of non-public companies receiving investment through platforms like FundersClub, AngelList and Kickstarter.
Long term we could offer a data product in the Bloomberg/Dow Jones/Morningstar territory plus a media/analyst business competing with Gartner/Forrester. Both models have expensive subscription- based models paid for by enterprise customers.
Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?
San Francisco, but we are planning to move back to Mountain View (regardless of whether we are accepted to YC) back into the house we had last summer
Founders
Please tell us about an interesting project, preferably outside of class or work, that two or more of you created together. Include urls if possible.
We co-hosted a bunch of parties over the summer at the old Referly house, but other than that, it's been all Referly/LaunchGram since we met.
Please tell us in one or two sentences about something impressive that each founder has built or achieved.
Danielle - Twilio developer community of 100K+ users, company valuation > $100M before I left
Kevin - building the core developer tools in Windows used by over 5M developers, running apps for over 400M users
Andy - started 2 micro-breweries before he turned 21
Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage.
Kirsty sent out an email letting us know about a house available to rent for YC companies, and asked us to email the owner. I saw a phone number in the original mail and decided most people in YC were oriented toward doing everything online and would default to doing what they were told and using email. I called the landlord and within 40 minutes we had an offer on the house, toured the same day, and signed the lease the next morning.
How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet? Have any of the founders not met in person?
Danielle and Kevin will be married 6 years in August, and have known each other since 2005. We met over an email list in 2004, Kevin blew me off, and we random reconnected in a Seattle restaurant a year later.
Danielle and Andy met a little over two years ago at a bar in Austin, Texas during South by Southwest and had a late night marathon conversation about fantasy novels and historical fiction. Of the hundreds of people Danielle met at the event, she remembered him. When Andy moved to the Bay Area to pursue his company full time Danielle became an advisor and helped get them into the 500 Startups accelerator program. When he literally had less than $20 to his name she made him 3000 calorie sandwiches because he refused to borrow money.
Kevin and Andy met through Danielle and spent a lot of time together during the summer of 2012 when the Referly house was down the street from the LaunchGram house. They share a love for cigars and long talks under the stars.
If we fund you, which of the founders will commit to working exclusively (no school, no other jobs) on this project for the next year?
All of us
Do any founders have other commitments between X and Y inclusive?
No
Progress
How far along are you?
Our beta is paid subscription email targeted at private equity investors. We've gotten commitments from 4 people to pay at least $20/month (that's $240 a year - Morningstar charges $195/year).
How long have each of you been working on this? How much of that has been full-time? Please explain.
We've been working on this for about 3 weeks, most of the research is in spreadsheets rather than code at this point. We've written 663 lines of code for scrapers and crawlers to pull various data and process it.
Idea
Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making?
When I was a kid (2001) I worked for my Dad and I used Morningstar everyday to crunch numbers and produce reports. I had a love/hate relationship with it, loving the data but wishing we could make something even better.
Until 2009 I was Editor in Chief for Seattle 2.0 (http://www.seattle20.com) before it was sold to Puget Sound Business Journal, and we made an index of local startups that was quite controversial and got a lot of press coverage and web traffic each month. For a long time I've dreamed of making an index of all startups worldwide, and eventually all privately owned companies.
I performed vendor searches for financial custodians for 401k plans (family biz), PR firms, vendors etc. at Twilio. It's a huge pain doing this research and turning to analyst reports is an expensive solution which doesn't include most smaller companies.
I have been meeting with people to understand what they'd user this for. So far, I have heard interest from VCs/angels for investment decisions, senior executives for buying decisions, and individuals for employment decisions. I think with the creation of Funders Club, Kickstarter and many more new exchanges for private company liquidity there is a need for better sources for due diligence.
What's new about what you're making? What substitutes do people resort to because it doesn't exist yet (or they don't know about it)?
The fastest growing companies are increasingly non-public and rely on totally different metrics than firms like Bloomberg or Morningstar offer. Today VCs do their own analysis to figure out who the hot firms are, we expect to commoditize some of that.
People rely on expensive ($15k/quarter minimum) analyst services like Gartner & Forrester in bigcompanies, but I think for the most part we are competing with handmade and researched spreadsheets.
Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most?
Crunchbase, Forrester, Gartner, Bloomberg, StartupStats.com, Dow Jones Business Wire, various business indices, Morningstar
What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get?
I'm an insider to small business, not a professional trained journalist or analyst. I have experience trying to create a meaningful footprint for Twilio, so I know where to look for the data to indicate growth and success. Often their are non-traditional ways to do this that require scraping, crawling, and mucking through seemingly disconnected information - but I can see patterns I think other people miss, and I am willing to dig deeper than anyone else because I find it endlessly fascinating.
How do or will you make money? How much could you make?
We can make money for data subscriptions, analyst reports, custom research and banner advertising on our media properties.
Morningstar had $100M net income in 2012 (on $650M revenue), Bloomberg LP had $7.6B in revenue in 2011, Gartner had $165M net income in 2012 (on $1.6B revenue). Based on these benchmarks I believe it is reasonable to build a $100M/year income business in this space.
How will you get users? If your idea is the type that faces a chicken-and-egg problem in the sense that it won't be attractive to users till it has a lot of users (e.g. a marketplace, a dating site, an ad network), how will you overcome that?
Direct sales, online media property using our own data to write interesting data-driven content, highly targeted paid advertising.
Equity
Please describe the breakdown of the equity ownership in percentages among the founders, employees and any other stockholders. If there are multiple founders, be sure to give the equity ownership of each founder.
Incorporated 2012
$1,010,000 convertible note
Legal
Are any of the founders covered by noncompetes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? If so, please explain.
No
Who writes code, or does other technical work on your product? Was any of it done by a non-founder? Please explain.
No (Not done by a non-founder)
Others
If you had any other ideas you considered applying with, please list them. One may be something we've been waiting for. Often when we fund people it's to do something they list here and not in the main application.
Twilio for global logistics
P2P postal delivery service
Please tell us something surprising or amusing that one of you has discovered.
Andy wants to go to the moon or Mars one day, and he's fine with a one-way ticket.
If you have a demo, what's the url? Demo can be anything that shows us how the product works. Usually that's a video or screen recording.
A very early prototype: http://www.daniellemorrill.com/the-startup-index/
What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.
The leading resource investors use to determine the health and value of private companies. This is the Bloomberg terminal for a growing pool of non-public companies receiving investment through platforms like FundersClub, AngelList and Kickstarter.
Long term we could offer a data product in the Bloomberg/Dow Jones/Morningstar territory plus a media/analyst business competing with Gartner/Forrester. Both models have expensive subscription- based models paid for by enterprise customers.
Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?
San Francisco, but we are planning to move back to Mountain View (regardless of whether we are accepted to YC) back into the house we had last summer
Founders
Please tell us about an interesting project, preferably outside of class or work, that two or more of you created together. Include urls if possible.
We co-hosted a bunch of parties over the summer at the old Referly house, but other than that, it's been all Referly/LaunchGram since we met.
Please tell us in one or two sentences about something impressive that each founder has built or achieved.
Danielle - Twilio developer community of 100K+ users, company valuation > $100M before I left
Kevin - building the core developer tools in Windows used by over 5M developers, running apps for over 400M users
Andy - started 2 micro-breweries before he turned 21
Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage.
Kirsty sent out an email letting us know about a house available to rent for YC companies, and asked us to email the owner. I saw a phone number in the original mail and decided most people in YC were oriented toward doing everything online and would default to doing what they were told and using email. I called the landlord and within 40 minutes we had an offer on the house, toured the same day, and signed the lease the next morning.
How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet? Have any of the founders not met in person?
Danielle and Kevin will be married 6 years in August, and have known each other since 2005. We met over an email list in 2004, Kevin blew me off, and we random reconnected in a Seattle restaurant a year later.
Danielle and Andy met a little over two years ago at a bar in Austin, Texas during South by Southwest and had a late night marathon conversation about fantasy novels and historical fiction. Of the hundreds of people Danielle met at the event, she remembered him. When Andy moved to the Bay Area to pursue his company full time Danielle became an advisor and helped get them into the 500 Startups accelerator program. When he literally had less than $20 to his name she made him 3000 calorie sandwiches because he refused to borrow money.
Kevin and Andy met through Danielle and spent a lot of time together during the summer of 2012 when the Referly house was down the street from the LaunchGram house. They share a love for cigars and long talks under the stars.
If we fund you, which of the founders will commit to working exclusively (no school, no other jobs) on this project for the next year?
All of us
Do any founders have other commitments between X and Y inclusive?
No
Progress
How far along are you?
Our beta is paid subscription email targeted at private equity investors. We've gotten commitments from 4 people to pay at least $20/month (that's $240 a year - Morningstar charges $195/year).
How long have each of you been working on this? How much of that has been full-time? Please explain.
We've been working on this for about 3 weeks, most of the research is in spreadsheets rather than code at this point. We've written 663 lines of code for scrapers and crawlers to pull various data and process it.
Idea
Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making?
When I was a kid (2001) I worked for my Dad and I used Morningstar everyday to crunch numbers and produce reports. I had a love/hate relationship with it, loving the data but wishing we could make something even better.
Until 2009 I was Editor in Chief for Seattle 2.0 (http://www.seattle20.com) before it was sold to Puget Sound Business Journal, and we made an index of local startups that was quite controversial and got a lot of press coverage and web traffic each month. For a long time I've dreamed of making an index of all startups worldwide, and eventually all privately owned companies.
I performed vendor searches for financial custodians for 401k plans (family biz), PR firms, vendors etc. at Twilio. It's a huge pain doing this research and turning to analyst reports is an expensive solution which doesn't include most smaller companies.
I have been meeting with people to understand what they'd user this for. So far, I have heard interest from VCs/angels for investment decisions, senior executives for buying decisions, and individuals for employment decisions. I think with the creation of Funders Club, Kickstarter and many more new exchanges for private company liquidity there is a need for better sources for due diligence.
What's new about what you're making? What substitutes do people resort to because it doesn't exist yet (or they don't know about it)?
The fastest growing companies are increasingly non-public and rely on totally different metrics than firms like Bloomberg or Morningstar offer. Today VCs do their own analysis to figure out who the hot firms are, we expect to commoditize some of that.
People rely on expensive ($15k/quarter minimum) analyst services like Gartner & Forrester in bigcompanies, but I think for the most part we are competing with handmade and researched spreadsheets.
Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most?
Crunchbase, Forrester, Gartner, Bloomberg, StartupStats.com, Dow Jones Business Wire, various business indices, Morningstar
What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get?
I'm an insider to small business, not a professional trained journalist or analyst. I have experience trying to create a meaningful footprint for Twilio, so I know where to look for the data to indicate growth and success. Often their are non-traditional ways to do this that require scraping, crawling, and mucking through seemingly disconnected information - but I can see patterns I think other people miss, and I am willing to dig deeper than anyone else because I find it endlessly fascinating.
How do or will you make money? How much could you make?
We can make money for data subscriptions, analyst reports, custom research and banner advertising on our media properties.
Morningstar had $100M net income in 2012 (on $650M revenue), Bloomberg LP had $7.6B in revenue in 2011, Gartner had $165M net income in 2012 (on $1.6B revenue). Based on these benchmarks I believe it is reasonable to build a $100M/year income business in this space.
How will you get users? If your idea is the type that faces a chicken-and-egg problem in the sense that it won't be attractive to users till it has a lot of users (e.g. a marketplace, a dating site, an ad network), how will you overcome that?
Direct sales, online media property using our own data to write interesting data-driven content, highly targeted paid advertising.
Equity
Please describe the breakdown of the equity ownership in percentages among the founders, employees and any other stockholders. If there are multiple founders, be sure to give the equity ownership of each founder.
Incorporated 2012
$1,010,000 convertible note
Legal
Are any of the founders covered by noncompetes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? If so, please explain.
No
Who writes code, or does other technical work on your product? Was any of it done by a non-founder? Please explain.
No (Not done by a non-founder)
Others
If you had any other ideas you considered applying with, please list them. One may be something we've been waiting for. Often when we fund people it's to do something they list here and not in the main application.
Twilio for global logistics
P2P postal delivery service
Please tell us something surprising or amusing that one of you has discovered.
Andy wants to go to the moon or Mars one day, and he's fine with a one-way ticket.
If you have a demo, what's the url? Demo can be anything that shows us how the product works. Usually that's a video or screen recording.
A very early prototype: http://www.daniellemorrill.com/the-startup-index/
What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.
The leading resource investors use to determine the health and value of private companies. This is the Bloomberg terminal for a growing pool of non-public companies receiving investment through platforms like FundersClub, AngelList and Kickstarter.
Long term we could offer a data product in the Bloomberg/Dow Jones/Morningstar territory plus a media/analyst business competing with Gartner/Forrester. Both models have expensive subscription- based models paid for by enterprise customers.
Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?
San Francisco, but we are planning to move back to Mountain View (regardless of whether we are accepted to YC) back into the house we had last summer
Founders
Please tell us about an interesting project, preferably outside of class or work, that two or more of you created together. Include urls if possible.
We co-hosted a bunch of parties over the summer at the old Referly house, but other than that, it's been all Referly/LaunchGram since we met.
Please tell us in one or two sentences about something impressive that each founder has built or achieved.
Danielle - Twilio developer community of 100K+ users, company valuation > $100M before I left
Kevin - building the core developer tools in Windows used by over 5M developers, running apps for over 400M users
Andy - started 2 micro-breweries before he turned 21
Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage.
Kirsty sent out an email letting us know about a house available to rent for YC companies, and asked us to email the owner. I saw a phone number in the original mail and decided most people in YC were oriented toward doing everything online and would default to doing what they were told and using email. I called the landlord and within 40 minutes we had an offer on the house, toured the same day, and signed the lease the next morning.
How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet? Have any of the founders not met in person?
Danielle and Kevin will be married 6 years in August, and have known each other since 2005. We met over an email list in 2004, Kevin blew me off, and we random reconnected in a Seattle restaurant a year later.
Danielle and Andy met a little over two years ago at a bar in Austin, Texas during South by Southwest and had a late night marathon conversation about fantasy novels and historical fiction. Of the hundreds of people Danielle met at the event, she remembered him. When Andy moved to the Bay Area to pursue his company full time Danielle became an advisor and helped get them into the 500 Startups accelerator program. When he literally had less than $20 to his name she made him 3000 calorie sandwiches because he refused to borrow money.
Kevin and Andy met through Danielle and spent a lot of time together during the summer of 2012 when the Referly house was down the street from the LaunchGram house. They share a love for cigars and long talks under the stars.
If we fund you, which of the founders will commit to working exclusively (no school, no other jobs) on this project for the next year?
All of us
Do any founders have other commitments between X and Y inclusive?
No
Progress
How far along are you?
Our beta is paid subscription email targeted at private equity investors. We've gotten commitments from 4 people to pay at least $20/month (that's $240 a year - Morningstar charges $195/year).
How long have each of you been working on this? How much of that has been full-time? Please explain.
We've been working on this for about 3 weeks, most of the research is in spreadsheets rather than code at this point. We've written 663 lines of code for scrapers and crawlers to pull various data and process it.
Idea
Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making?
When I was a kid (2001) I worked for my Dad and I used Morningstar everyday to crunch numbers and produce reports. I had a love/hate relationship with it, loving the data but wishing we could make something even better.
Until 2009 I was Editor in Chief for Seattle 2.0 (http://www.seattle20.com) before it was sold to Puget Sound Business Journal, and we made an index of local startups that was quite controversial and got a lot of press coverage and web traffic each month. For a long time I've dreamed of making an index of all startups worldwide, and eventually all privately owned companies.
I performed vendor searches for financial custodians for 401k plans (family biz), PR firms, vendors etc. at Twilio. It's a huge pain doing this research and turning to analyst reports is an expensive solution which doesn't include most smaller companies.
I have been meeting with people to understand what they'd user this for. So far, I have heard interest from VCs/angels for investment decisions, senior executives for buying decisions, and individuals for employment decisions. I think with the creation of Funders Club, Kickstarter and many more new exchanges for private company liquidity there is a need for better sources for due diligence.
What's new about what you're making? What substitutes do people resort to because it doesn't exist yet (or they don't know about it)?
The fastest growing companies are increasingly non-public and rely on totally different metrics than firms like Bloomberg or Morningstar offer. Today VCs do their own analysis to figure out who the hot firms are, we expect to commoditize some of that.
People rely on expensive ($15k/quarter minimum) analyst services like Gartner & Forrester in bigcompanies, but I think for the most part we are competing with handmade and researched spreadsheets.
Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most?
Crunchbase, Forrester, Gartner, Bloomberg, StartupStats.com, Dow Jones Business Wire, various business indices, Morningstar
What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get?
I'm an insider to small business, not a professional trained journalist or analyst. I have experience trying to create a meaningful footprint for Twilio, so I know where to look for the data to indicate growth and success. Often their are non-traditional ways to do this that require scraping, crawling, and mucking through seemingly disconnected information - but I can see patterns I think other people miss, and I am willing to dig deeper than anyone else because I find it endlessly fascinating.
How do or will you make money? How much could you make?
We can make money for data subscriptions, analyst reports, custom research and banner advertising on our media properties.
Morningstar had $100M net income in 2012 (on $650M revenue), Bloomberg LP had $7.6B in revenue in 2011, Gartner had $165M net income in 2012 (on $1.6B revenue). Based on these benchmarks I believe it is reasonable to build a $100M/year income business in this space.
How will you get users? If your idea is the type that faces a chicken-and-egg problem in the sense that it won't be attractive to users till it has a lot of users (e.g. a marketplace, a dating site, an ad network), how will you overcome that?
Direct sales, online media property using our own data to write interesting data-driven content, highly targeted paid advertising.
Equity
Please describe the breakdown of the equity ownership in percentages among the founders, employees and any other stockholders. If there are multiple founders, be sure to give the equity ownership of each founder.
Incorporated 2012
$1,010,000 convertible note
Legal
Are any of the founders covered by noncompetes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? If so, please explain.
No
Who writes code, or does other technical work on your product? Was any of it done by a non-founder? Please explain.
No (Not done by a non-founder)
Others
If you had any other ideas you considered applying with, please list them. One may be something we've been waiting for. Often when we fund people it's to do something they list here and not in the main application.
Twilio for global logistics
P2P postal delivery service
Please tell us something surprising or amusing that one of you has discovered.
Andy wants to go to the moon or Mars one day, and he's fine with a one-way ticket.
See Why
Feedback
Feedback
Executive Summary:
The application emphasizes the blend of technical expertise and entrepreneurial experience within the team, with backgrounds in community building, software development, and startup entrepreneurship in unique fields such as microbreweries. The startup aims to offer an innovative solution by commoditizing VC analysis through a comprehensive database, targeting private equity investors. The beta version showing initial customer traction indicates a promising start, though the validation of the revenue projections and broader market acceptance remains critical for further advancement.
Investment Thesis Relevance:
The focus on democratizing access to costly VC analysis data aligns well with YC’s preference for scalable and innovative technology solutions that disrupt traditional markets. The concept taps into the growing need for accessible, detailed private market data, promising a strong fit within YC's investment portfolio, particularly if they can clearly illustrate the scalable aspect of their technology and business model.
Market Understanding and Strategy:
The identification of major competitors like Morningstar and Bloomberg showcases a clear understanding of the market landscape. The strategy to offer more affordable and comprehensive data solutions sets a solid foundation. However, further differentiation strategies need to be developed to carve out a significant market share from well-established competitors.
Business Model Evaluation:
The key revenue streams from data subscriptions, custom research, and advertising indicate a diverse approach. However, the financial stability of these streams, particularly in comparison to large benchmarks like Morningstar, appears optimistic given current customer commitments. A more detailed and pragmatic revenue projection could strengthen the business model.
Team Competency and Dynamics:
The diverse set of skills among the team members covers critical areas necessary for the startup’s success. The personal and professional bonds between team members could serve as a strong foundation for collaborative success. However, additional expertise, particularly in market analytics or financial services, might be required as the business scales.
Operational Efficiency and Milestone Achievement:
Despite being at an early stage, the initial operational outputs like code development and securing preliminary customer commitments indicate proactive progress. A more defined operational roadmap with clear milestones and timelines would provide greater clarity on their operational strategy and commitment to meeting set goals.
Use of Language:
The application is well-written, leveraging clear and concise language that effectively communicates the team's vision and business proposition. The minimal use of jargon, which is appropriately explained, helps in making the application accessible while demonstrating technical knowledge.
Financial Health and Projections:
The financial approach, demonstrated by securing a substantial convertible note, shows readiness and strategic planning. However, the current financial projections based on limited customer engagements appear overly optimistic. More conservative, evidence-backed projections would enhance credibility.
Constructive Criticism and Advice:
Refine Market Strategy: Enhance the strategy for scaling customer acquisition and specify competitive advantages over existing solutions more clearly.
Detailed Financial Projections: Develop more realistic, detailed financial models, supported by market research and early traction metrics.
Operational Roadmap: Define clear operational milestones and timelines to provide a clearer vision of the product development lifecycle and market entry.
Final Thoughts:
The startup showcases potential through a solid team and innovative solution. Emphasizing more realistic financial projections, detailed market penetration strategies, and clear operational milestones will be crucial in their YC application to demonstrate their preparedness and scalability potential. Addressing these areas can significantly enhance their proposition to YC.
Executive Summary:
The application emphasizes the blend of technical expertise and entrepreneurial experience within the team, with backgrounds in community building, software development, and startup entrepreneurship in unique fields such as microbreweries. The startup aims to offer an innovative solution by commoditizing VC analysis through a comprehensive database, targeting private equity investors. The beta version showing initial customer traction indicates a promising start, though the validation of the revenue projections and broader market acceptance remains critical for further advancement.
Investment Thesis Relevance:
The focus on democratizing access to costly VC analysis data aligns well with YC’s preference for scalable and innovative technology solutions that disrupt traditional markets. The concept taps into the growing need for accessible, detailed private market data, promising a strong fit within YC's investment portfolio, particularly if they can clearly illustrate the scalable aspect of their technology and business model.
Market Understanding and Strategy:
The identification of major competitors like Morningstar and Bloomberg showcases a clear understanding of the market landscape. The strategy to offer more affordable and comprehensive data solutions sets a solid foundation. However, further differentiation strategies need to be developed to carve out a significant market share from well-established competitors.
Business Model Evaluation:
The key revenue streams from data subscriptions, custom research, and advertising indicate a diverse approach. However, the financial stability of these streams, particularly in comparison to large benchmarks like Morningstar, appears optimistic given current customer commitments. A more detailed and pragmatic revenue projection could strengthen the business model.
Team Competency and Dynamics:
The diverse set of skills among the team members covers critical areas necessary for the startup’s success. The personal and professional bonds between team members could serve as a strong foundation for collaborative success. However, additional expertise, particularly in market analytics or financial services, might be required as the business scales.
Operational Efficiency and Milestone Achievement:
Despite being at an early stage, the initial operational outputs like code development and securing preliminary customer commitments indicate proactive progress. A more defined operational roadmap with clear milestones and timelines would provide greater clarity on their operational strategy and commitment to meeting set goals.
Use of Language:
The application is well-written, leveraging clear and concise language that effectively communicates the team's vision and business proposition. The minimal use of jargon, which is appropriately explained, helps in making the application accessible while demonstrating technical knowledge.
Financial Health and Projections:
The financial approach, demonstrated by securing a substantial convertible note, shows readiness and strategic planning. However, the current financial projections based on limited customer engagements appear overly optimistic. More conservative, evidence-backed projections would enhance credibility.
Constructive Criticism and Advice:
Refine Market Strategy: Enhance the strategy for scaling customer acquisition and specify competitive advantages over existing solutions more clearly.
Detailed Financial Projections: Develop more realistic, detailed financial models, supported by market research and early traction metrics.
Operational Roadmap: Define clear operational milestones and timelines to provide a clearer vision of the product development lifecycle and market entry.
Final Thoughts:
The startup showcases potential through a solid team and innovative solution. Emphasizing more realistic financial projections, detailed market penetration strategies, and clear operational milestones will be crucial in their YC application to demonstrate their preparedness and scalability potential. Addressing these areas can significantly enhance their proposition to YC.
Executive Summary:
The application emphasizes the blend of technical expertise and entrepreneurial experience within the team, with backgrounds in community building, software development, and startup entrepreneurship in unique fields such as microbreweries. The startup aims to offer an innovative solution by commoditizing VC analysis through a comprehensive database, targeting private equity investors. The beta version showing initial customer traction indicates a promising start, though the validation of the revenue projections and broader market acceptance remains critical for further advancement.
Investment Thesis Relevance:
The focus on democratizing access to costly VC analysis data aligns well with YC’s preference for scalable and innovative technology solutions that disrupt traditional markets. The concept taps into the growing need for accessible, detailed private market data, promising a strong fit within YC's investment portfolio, particularly if they can clearly illustrate the scalable aspect of their technology and business model.
Market Understanding and Strategy:
The identification of major competitors like Morningstar and Bloomberg showcases a clear understanding of the market landscape. The strategy to offer more affordable and comprehensive data solutions sets a solid foundation. However, further differentiation strategies need to be developed to carve out a significant market share from well-established competitors.
Business Model Evaluation:
The key revenue streams from data subscriptions, custom research, and advertising indicate a diverse approach. However, the financial stability of these streams, particularly in comparison to large benchmarks like Morningstar, appears optimistic given current customer commitments. A more detailed and pragmatic revenue projection could strengthen the business model.
Team Competency and Dynamics:
The diverse set of skills among the team members covers critical areas necessary for the startup’s success. The personal and professional bonds between team members could serve as a strong foundation for collaborative success. However, additional expertise, particularly in market analytics or financial services, might be required as the business scales.
Operational Efficiency and Milestone Achievement:
Despite being at an early stage, the initial operational outputs like code development and securing preliminary customer commitments indicate proactive progress. A more defined operational roadmap with clear milestones and timelines would provide greater clarity on their operational strategy and commitment to meeting set goals.
Use of Language:
The application is well-written, leveraging clear and concise language that effectively communicates the team's vision and business proposition. The minimal use of jargon, which is appropriately explained, helps in making the application accessible while demonstrating technical knowledge.
Financial Health and Projections:
The financial approach, demonstrated by securing a substantial convertible note, shows readiness and strategic planning. However, the current financial projections based on limited customer engagements appear overly optimistic. More conservative, evidence-backed projections would enhance credibility.
Constructive Criticism and Advice:
Refine Market Strategy: Enhance the strategy for scaling customer acquisition and specify competitive advantages over existing solutions more clearly.
Detailed Financial Projections: Develop more realistic, detailed financial models, supported by market research and early traction metrics.
Operational Roadmap: Define clear operational milestones and timelines to provide a clearer vision of the product development lifecycle and market entry.
Final Thoughts:
The startup showcases potential through a solid team and innovative solution. Emphasizing more realistic financial projections, detailed market penetration strategies, and clear operational milestones will be crucial in their YC application to demonstrate their preparedness and scalability potential. Addressing these areas can significantly enhance their proposition to YC.
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Plan. Do. Grow.
Get started with Interseed
Sign up to Join the Waitlist
No credit card required
Plan. Do. Grow.
Get started with Interseed
Sign up to Join the Waitlist
No credit card required