YC application · 2026

YC application questions: how to answer all 10

Each main question in plain words: what partners want to learn, how long to write, the most common mistake, and how accepted YC companies answered. Always check the official YC apply page for the current form.

Question 1

What is your company going to make?

What partners want: Name the user and what you make. Skip slogans.
Good length: 15–30 words
Most common mistake: Using big words like "platform" or "AI-powered ecosystem" instead of saying who uses it and what it does.

Airbnb (W09)
Airbnb described itself as a way to book a room in someone's home — "air bed and breakfast" — plain words anyone could repeat.
Lesson: Name the user and the thing in one plain sentence. No slogans.
Source: Airbnb on the YC company directory

Stripe (S09)
Stripe's early pitch was payments for developers: a few lines of code to accept a payment, instead of weeks of bank paperwork.
Lesson: Say who it is for and what painful thing it replaces.
Source: Stripe on the YC company directory

Question 2

Why did you pick this idea? How do you know people need it?

What partners want: Describe what you saw and what real customers told you.
Good length: 60–150 words
Most common mistake: Saying "the market is huge" instead of what you saw yourself and what real customers told you.

Airbnb (W09)
The founders were hosts themselves: they rented air mattresses in their own flat during a design conference when hotels sold out, and guests paid.
Lesson: Show you lived the problem and that real people already paid.
Source: Paul Graham on Airbnb's start

Question 3

What's new about it? What do people use today instead?

What partners want: Name the current alternative and your specific difference.
Good length: 50–120 words
Most common mistake: Writing "we have no competitors." Something always exists, even a spreadsheet or doing nothing.

Dropbox (S07)
Drew Houston's application explained that sync tools existed but all failed on reliability or setup — Dropbox would "just work" from a normal folder.
Lesson: Name the real alternatives and your one specific difference.
Source: Dropbox's original YC application (public)

Question 4

How will you make money? How much could you make?

What partners want: Explain who pays, the price and the assumptions behind your estimate.
Good length: 40–100 words
Most common mistake: Big top-down numbers ("1% of a $50B market") with no price or buyer named.

Question 5

How far along are you? Any users or revenue?

What partners want: Add real numbers and dates. Zero users or revenue is fine if true.
Good length: 40–120 words
Most common mistake: No numbers or dates. Zero users is fine if true; vague words are not.

Airbnb (W09)
Before YC, Airbnb had real bookings and revenue — small numbers, stated plainly, including the famous cereal boxes that funded them.
Lesson: Small true numbers beat big vague claims. Zero is fine if honest.
Source: Paul Graham on Airbnb's start

Question 6

Who are the founders and why are you the right team?

What partners want: Name each founder's work and experience with this problem.
Good length: 60–150 words
Most common mistake: Listing job titles without saying what each founder has built or done.

Pebble (W11)
Pebble's founders had already built smartwatches for BlackBerry as students — years of direct experience with the exact problem they pitched.
Lesson: Show each founder's specific history with this problem, not job titles.
Source: Pebble on the YC company directory

Question 7

How will you get users?

What partners want: Describe the first customers and a specific way to reach them.
Good length: 40–100 words
Most common mistake: "We'll go viral" or "social media." Name the first 10 customers and how you'll reach them.

Stripe (S09)
The Collison brothers installed Stripe for early users themselves — the "Collison installation" — instead of sending a signup link and hoping.
Lesson: Describe exactly how you will get your first 10 users, by hand.
Source: Paul Graham: Do Things That Don't Scale

Airbnb (W09)
Airbnb's founders went door to door in New York, meeting hosts, photographing homes and fixing listings one by one.
Lesson: A specific, manual plan for first customers beats "we'll run ads".
Source: Paul Graham: Do Things That Don't Scale

Question 8

Why now?

What partners want: Say what changed and why that matters to customers.
Good length: 30–80 words
Most common mistake: Not saying what changed. Something new must make this possible or needed today.

Question 9

What's the hardest part, and what have you learned?

What partners want: Name a real obstacle, what you tried and what changed your mind.
Good length: 50–120 words
Most common mistake: Picking a fake weakness. Name a real problem and what you learned from it.

Question 10

1-minute founder video script

What partners want: Introduce the founders, explain what you make and read it aloud with a timer.
Good length: 100–150 words
Most common mistake: Reading slides or a script word for word. Be yourselves, plain and quick.

Dropbox (S07)
Dropbox's famous early demo video showed the product working, plainly, in about three minutes — and its waiting list jumped from 5,000 to 75,000 overnight.
Lesson: Show the thing working. Plain beats polished.
Source: Drew Houston on the Dropbox demo video

Common questions

How many questions are on the YC application?

The application has a few dozen fields, but about 10 main written questions decide most of the read: what you make, why this idea, what's new, how you make money, progress, team, getting users, why now, the hardest part, and a 1-minute founder video. Check YC's official apply page for the current form.

How long should YC application answers be?

Short. YC asks for plain, direct answers. A good opening answer is 15–30 words. Most other answers work best at 40–150 words. If a stranger can't repeat your answer back, it's too long or too vague.

Can I see real accepted YC applications?

A few have been shared publicly, such as Airbnb's. This page shows documented examples from accepted YC companies for each question, each with a source link so you can check it.

Does answering an RFS idea help?

Working on an idea from YC's Request for Startups shows you match what partners are looking for, but it doesn't guarantee an interview. Clear answers and real progress matter more.

How do I check my YC application before submitting?

Paste your answers into our free YC application review tool. It gives a clarity grade, flags vague words and missing numbers, and shows real examples. It does not predict YC's decision.

Next: see more accepted application examples, the YC acceptance rate, or YC interview questions.