Claude Code plugin for writing YC applications that get interviews.
Built on Paul Graham's "How to Apply" essay, partner advice (Seibel, Tan, Caldwell, Livingston), and real accepted applications (Dropbox S07, Basedash S20).
claude plugin marketplace add thisisfatih/apply-yc
claude plugin install apply-yc@apply-ycThree skills. Run in order.
Fires first. Understand the founder before touching the form.
- Reapply check — Applied before? What batch, what feedback, what changed? 30% of accepted founders applied before. This context changes everything.
- Deep discovery — Founder background, hard achievements, company, traction, why now. Probes until specific. No adjectives, only facts.
- Angle analysis — Surfaces your 3 strongest cards for a YC partner. Flags instant-reject risks (no technical founder, no product, no traction, "no competitors") before any drafting happens.
Nothing gets drafted until the angle analysis is confirmed.
Drafts in the order that matters, not form order.
- Gatekeeping questions first — 50-char pitch, "what does your company make", "most impressive thing". These decide whether the rest gets read. Multiple versions, iterate until excellent.
- Complete remaining sections — all other fields, using the established narrative.
- Partner critique pass — reads the full draft as a YC partner would. Flags every [KILL] and [WEAK] answer. Rewrites, not comments.
Nothing goes to the form until [KILL] flags are resolved.
Requires Playwright MCP. Opens the live YC application form.
- Claude fills every field from the locked profile
- Screenshot shown after each section — you approve before advancing
- You click all buttons (Save, Submit, Next). Claude never clicks those.
"I want to apply to YC"
│
▼
founder-profile
├── Applied before? → reapply context
├── Who are you, what's the company, what's impressive
├── What's your traction (real numbers)
└── Angle analysis → confirm before proceeding
│
▼
yc-application
├── 50-char pitch (iterate until excellent)
├── Product description (partner must get it in 4 seconds)
├── Most impressive thing (PG: most important question)
├── Complete remaining sections
└── Full partner critique → fix all [KILL] flags
│
▼
form-fill (+ Playwright)
├── Open ycombinator.com/apply (you log in)
├── Claude fills each section
├── You review screenshot → approve
└── You click Submit
If you don't want Playwright, the first two skills work standalone. Run founder-profile + yc-application to get polished, partner-reviewed answers. Paste them yourself.
Every batch (4x/year): refresh yc-context.md — deadlines, RFS list, deal terms. A scheduled agent does this automatically and opens a PR if anything changed.
Every year: re-verify deal terms, partner roster, acceptance rate stats.
See docs/sources.md for all citation URLs.
skills/
yc-application/
SKILL.md router + core principles
references/
application-questions.md full question list, rubrics, real examples
critique-rubric.md partner-mindset checklist
interview-prep.md format, question bank, what not to do
reapplying.md "what changed" strategy + implicit signal detection
successful-applications.md Dropbox S07 + Basedash S20 annotated
video-and-demo.md founder video guidelines
yc-context.md batch structure, deal terms, RFS, partners
founder-profile/
SKILL.md discovery + angle analysis
onboarding/
SKILL.md entry point — routes to the right skill
form-fill/
SKILL.md Playwright form filler
evals/
evals.json 5 test cases
inputs/ 3 real accepted applications (Flex S16, OpenPhone S18, Muse W12)
docs/
sources.md all citation URLs + refresh schedule
MIT
README maintained automatically by 🐘 elephant — keep your docs in sync without the manual work.