Meet the Seattle-area startups that simply graduated — remotely — from Y Combinator

Five startups from the Seattle area have just completed the Y Combinator long-distance accelerator with fresh ideas on software containers, notes, reusable missiles and how to manage a hybrid workplace.

Silicon Valley’s YC added a record of 350 new companies to its winter program that participated in a virtual demo day on March 23rd.

Though unable to attend in person, Seattle attendees said a network of mentors, investors, and thousands of alumni was still a powerful resource for growth.

Thanks to the remote control, these partners were able to offer 50% more office hours than in previous years, said Lindsay Amos, Director of Communications at YC, and at the same time expand the range. Half of the companies that participated in the 2021 Winter Cohort were based in 41 countries outside the United States.

In the meantime, it hasn’t deterred investment. So far, investors have poured $ 350 million into YC’s 2020 summer cohort, Amos said. This shows that they are happy even without personal interaction with startups.

Here’s a look at the participants from the Seattle area (another company is in stealth mode):

Dendron

The product: There’s no shortage of note taking apps, but Dendron wants to give these notes the kind of structure that Excel gave numbers. The software would provide a consistent framework to make note-taking more organized and searchable, even across thousands of files.

The secret sauce: The company aims to help its customers manage large collections of notes over time. “Managing information is something people really get excited about, especially in the COVID world where, in the past, many companies have relied on tribal knowledge,” said co-founder Kevin Lin. “When you take that away, when people are no longer face to face, you see the real flaws in our knowledge structure.”

What’s next: The company closed a $ 2 million financing round in April and plans to hire two full-time engineers. According to Lin, the company is also working to optimize the product for use in teams as the demand for new users emerged on the platform.

How was it going through the Y Combinator program virtually? “You provided all of the material in the first week and the rest of the program focused on exactly what your company needed. There wasn’t always a mandatory check-in, with the understanding that everyone was busy building a business. In some ways it was easier to talk to people because you could just ping them on Slack, but you definitely lose the presence of being there in person. “

What was the most important lesson you learned from this experience? “YC has one of the most comprehensive knowledge bases of what it is like to go through a venture-backed business – from rewarding, dealing with investors to reaching Series A milestones. Either it is in the knowledge base or you are can talk to one of the partners about it. “

Quiet

The technique: Kalm assists software developers in managing container clusters, including routing traffic, providing webhooks, and configuring access.

The secret sauce: Co-founders Scott Winges and Tian Li decided to start the startup after developing the open source software as a workaround for Kubernetes in their previous company. Building features and support on top of their open source model is a big part of what sets them apart from their competitors, they said.

“There used to be a relatively small number of people using microservices, but a lot of people are moving there in a short period of time,” said Li. “So this market has been neglected. The traditional players did not have any new offers for this segment. “

What’s next: Leaving the accelerator, Kalm is focused on adding new customers and users to ensure profitability.

“The thing we’re working on is pretty technical so it’s going to be a multi-year roadmap, but YC is good at setting an opening pace,” said Li.

How was it going through the Y Combinator program virtually? “It was much more convenient and workable for us to do with families,” Winges said. “You can probably pack a lot more stuff in because you don’t have to hold these meetings in person. You can go straight from a sales pitch to a YC meeting. “

What was the most important lesson you learned from this experience? “Just having her seal of approval helped,” said Li. “It was a great college course to learn how to do B2B. They were actually very tactical. Starting a startup is quite a lonely journey … but it was really helpful to have a few other people who started at the same time and are on the same path. “

Stoke Space Technologies

The technique: The Stoke Space Technologies team wants rocket launches to look a lot more like air travel. The goal is to build rockets that are fully reusable and designed for daily flight – which will lower costs and dramatically increase availability for space missions.

The secret sauce: A working, reusable second stage rocket would “get us out of a production-constrained paradigm where you no longer make big, expensive machines that are brand new every time,” said Andy Lapsa, Co-Founder and CEO. “It becomes very important when you think about the speed and cadence between missions.”

What’s next: Stoke has funding from a previous capital increase and is in the design and testing phase of its device. The 12-person team with avionics and production engineers is to be expanded.

How was it going through the Y Combinator program virtually? “We build hardware and it’s difficult to move it. What everyone has discovered since we were away is that you can be more flexible with your time. The face-to-face interaction itself is pretty valuable, but it would be quite disruptive for a hardware company to pick up and go. “

What was the most important lesson you learned from this experience? “It was just tireless reinforcement building something people wanted and talking to customers early on. It was really amazing to hear so many different experiences and to put our feet by the fire. “

Working sphere

(Worksphere Image)

The technique: When employees return to the office, they can use the Worksphere software to reserve space and coordinate face-to-face meetings.

The secret sauce: While it’s designed to help companies balance safety and productivity during the pandemic, the startup is focused on enabling a hybrid work environment for workplaces that capture both the efficiency of working from home and the benefits of face-to-face collaboration want.

“This is such a fundamental problem for the future of the way we work,” said Co-Founder and CEO Aakhil Fardeen. “We feel like we had front row seats in this transformation. When we bring the right people together at the right time, we create value. “

What’s next: Worksphere has seen organic traffic and growth, Aakhil said, as he works to roll out the product for its early adopters.
“In the past four weeks in particular, it has become very real for companies and customers to see what they’re up to when they open their offices,” he said.

How was it going through the Y Combinator program virtually? “It was an intense but very educational experience because even in [the interview process]We learned things that we needed to elaborate on. You did a great job organizing everything and making sure we feel part of the YC community. “

What was the most important lesson you learned from this experience? “They really push you to talk to customers. When you speak to customers twice a week, you will be asked to speak to them twice a day. That impressed me very much. YC is really good at refining your message and communicating your work in a very precise way. “