YC Application for International Founders Outside the US

This page covers exactly how international founders outside the US should approach every part of the application, what practical logistics to address proactively, and the specific positioning mistakes that weaken otherwise strong international applications.

The substance YC evaluates — traction, insight, team, market size — is identical regardless of where you are based. What differs is the context a partner needs to evaluate that substance accurately, and the practical questions a partner will have about your ability to actually participate in the batch.

YC's batch takes place in person in San Francisco, beginning with an in-person retreat and continuing with weekly in-person meetups throughout the program. This means international founders need a credible plan for being physically present, and the application benefits from addressing this proactively rather than leaving it as an open question a partner has to raise.

Beyond logistics, a partner evaluating a market they are unfamiliar with needs you to do more translation work than a US-based founder addressing a market the partner already understands intuitively. This is not a penalty for being international — it is simply a function of how unfamiliar context gets evaluated, and founders who do this translation work well consistently strengthen their applications.

Company Location and Incorporation

State your current location plainly and do not worry about pre-emptively incorporating in the US before applying. YC does not require a company to be incorporated before applying, and if a company is incorporated outside the US, Canada, Singapore, or the Cayman Islands, YC will guide accepted founders through creating a parent entity in one of those jurisdictions as part of onboarding. Spend no time or money on this before you are accepted.

The Relocation and Commitment Field

Address relocation proactively and specifically rather than waiting for a partner to ask. State your current visa status, your plan for securing the appropriate visa if you do not already have one, and your concrete commitment to being present for the in-person batch.

Strong framing:

"We are based in Lagos, Nigeria. Neither of us currently holds a US visa. We have consulted with an immigration attorney about the visitor visa pathway typically used for the YC batch period and understand the process and rough timeline. If accepted, we are fully prepared to begin that process immediately and relocate for the full duration of the program."

This shows you have done real homework rather than treating visa logistics as someone else's problem to solve later.

The Market Size Field

Lead with your actual local market in local terms, translated clearly for a reader who may not have intuitive context for your region, and only then connect it to a broader expansion thesis if relevant.

Weak framing (vague global framing that obscures the real opportunity):

"The global logistics software market is worth $15 billion and growing rapidly."

Strong framing (specific, translated, locally grounded):

"Nigeria has approximately 40,000 registered SME importers who rely on freight forwarders for customs clearance. At an average of $180 per shipment in software-enabled clearance fees, the addressable market in Nigeria alone is roughly $86M annually for our specific service. We see a clear expansion path into Ghana and Kenya, which share similar customs structures, as a near-term next step."

The strong version gives the partner enough specific, locally-grounded numbers to evaluate the opportunity on its own terms, rather than asking them to take a global figure on faith.

The Distribution and Customer Acquisition Field

Be specific about the actual channels you use in your market, and explain anything that might not be intuitive to a reader unfamiliar with how distribution works in your region.

"We acquire customers primarily through WhatsApp Business groups organized by trade associations — these groups function similarly to professional associations in the US, with 200 to 600 members each, and are the primary channel through which SME importers in Lagos share trusted recommendations. We are active in 23 such groups and convert roughly 6% of group members who engage with our outreach message."

Addressing these practically, even briefly, in the application or being ready to discuss them confidently in an interview removes friction that otherwise distracts from evaluating the actual business.

Treating the home market as a stepping stone when it is actually a sufficient opportunity on its own. Some international founders default to describing their local market only as a starting point for eventual US expansion, even when the local market alone is large enough to justify a venture-scale business. If your local opportunity is genuinely large, make that case directly rather than reflexively framing everything around a future US pivot.

Citing global market size figures instead of doing the local translation work. As covered above, a credible local market figure with clear math behind it is far more persuasive to a partner than an abstract global figure that does not specifically describe your addressable opportunity.

Leaving visa and relocation questions unaddressed until the interview. Waiting for a partner to raise this in the interview wastes valuable interview time on logistics rather than substance, and can read as a founder who has not thought seriously about what acceptance would actually require.

Assuming the local competitive landscape is obvious to a US-based partner. Competitors that are extremely well known within your local market may be completely unfamiliar to a partner. Name them, briefly explain what they do, and then explain specifically why your approach serves an underserved segment — do not assume the comparison is self-evident.

Underselling local distribution advantages. Founders building for markets outside the US sometimes treat their deep local network, language fluency, or cultural proximity as unremarkable, when in fact these can be genuine, hard-to-replicate advantages over a hypothetical well-funded competitor entering the market from outside. State these advantages explicitly and specifically.