- Kathryn Cross is the founder of Anja Well being, a twine blood financial institution that freezes stem cells for long run ailment treatment method purposes.
- Cross joined Silicon Valley’s best startup accelerator, Y Combinator, in January 2022.
- After the three-month plan, she lifted $4.5 million from investors, which include Alexis Ohanian.
This as-advised-to essay is based mostly on a discussion with Kathryn Cross, the 23-year-aged founder of Anja Well being, based in Los Angeles, about her encounter in Y Combinator. It has been edited for size and clarity.
I to start with listened to about the startup accelerator Y Combinator when I was learning at Wellesley College and getting entrepreneurship courses at MIT. I located out extra just after graduating in January 2021 when I moved into Launch Residence, a coliving house for founders in Los Angeles.
I spent 3 months in the residence setting up Anja Health, a customized twine blood financial institution that freezes umbilical cord and placenta’s stem cells for long run disorder treatment functions, although doing the job as an experience designer for digital-consulting company Publicis Sapient. Many of the founders dwelling in the house ended up in Y Combinator, and they advised me how useful it was.
I did not get a lot of exposure to the tech environment at Wellesley, so I failed to come to feel fully outfitted with the proper network, resources, or know-how to operate a thriving startup. I felt I could find that in YC.
YC invests $125,000 in your firm in return for 7%, and then it invests a additional $375,000. I utilized twice for YC and was accepted into the W22 batch, which ran from January to April 2022.
The first time I used in February 2021, Anja Health was practically just an notion and hardly a website. I remaining my task with Publicis Sapient in June 2021 to begin operating complete-time for Anja Health and fitness. The 2nd time I used for the duration of the summer of 2021, I had income, shoppers, a performing web page, and a source chain.
I filled out an on the web kind and included a quick movie in my application
The kind provided issues like, “What difficulty are you fixing?” and “How major is your industry?” I conveyed most of what I wanted to say about my startup in the application type. For the video portion, I just preferred to demonstrate how confident I was as a person. I wore brilliant colors to assistance me stand out and tried to converse with self confidence.
The subsequent phase was a 10-minute Zoom connect with with YC partners and business people Jared Friedman, Nicolas Dessaigne, and Surbhi Sarna, whom I would have the option to do the job with if I was acknowledged. They asked me about the science driving my company, what I believed about market measurement, and what motivates me as a founder.
I’d practiced rather a handful of of my solutions with persons who had been through YC, so I was well prepared, but the interviews are notoriously extremely small, so I could’ve stated a lot more. When I received the connect with that I’d been accepted, I was delighted. Ninety % of providers acknowledged to YC have cofounders, but I designed it through as a solo founder.
When I was in YC, I would run my business enterprise from dwelling as usual
My YC experience was virtual, so I done it though dwelling in Los Angeles. Every week I listened to on the internet talks by profitable founders of corporations that went through YC like Airbnb and Stripe or professionals in fields like Search engine marketing. I also linked with YC alumni by means of Bookface, YC’s edition of Fb. I not only had my mentors at YC, but I was also mentored by the friends I was dwelling with.
You only need to dedicate a couple several hours each and every 7 days to the YC system. It can be not a case of having time off from your startup to go to the system, as they want you to function on your small business and accelerate it. Each individual morning I would get up all around 8 a.m., start out get the job done, and then have calls with a husband or wife, whether or not that was Nicholas, Jared, or Surbhi.
The closing portion of the 3-thirty day period training course is Demo Working day, when you current to a lot more than 1,000 probable buyers. A large amount of them are former YC founders or associates. It’s considerably considerably less intimidating on Zoom than it is in individual. I couldn’t even see all the people today in the space. When I was sitting in my residing place wanting at my laptop, I could only see my slides on a screen and me.
Presentations on Demo Working day are so brief, as each corporation has just one particular minute to talk, so it definitely will not call for a ton of preparation. What you truly have to prepare for is the fundraising that will come from Demo Day.
About the 3Â months you spend at YC, you master every little thing from discovering shoppers to fundraising
Although I would currently elevated $400,000 in a preseed round in the summertime prior to I joined YC, the system, especially its protection of the fundraising course of action, was however helpful to me.
The 1st time I fundraised I felt I was just flailing due to the fact I did not have any processes in spot. The next time I fundraised was after I’d finished my YC class, and not only was I quite intentional about whom I arrived at out to, but I also established timelines and tracked metrics, like the response charge. In the seed spherical, which ran from April to June 2022 and stemmed from Demo Working day, I elevated $4.5 million, and buyers incorporated Reddit’s cofounder Alexis Ohanian.
My goal for fundraising was to improve the enterprise and improve staffing concentrations. When I applied to YC, I was Anja Health’s only member of staff members. Now we are a team of five.
I continue to talk to my YC companions frequently. We have a group chat, and I information them on an as-required basis. I most likely could’ve reached what I have finished devoid of YC, but it would’ve been a lot more durable. In tech and the startup planet, your network is your net truly worth, and YC is a genuinely precious community.
Did you go by way of Y Combinator and have a tale to inform? Electronic mail Lauryn Haas at lhaas@insider.com.
Related Post
- Kathryn Cross is the founder of Anja Well being, a twine blood financial institution that freezes stem cells for long run ailment treatment method purposes.
- Cross joined Silicon Valley’s best startup accelerator, Y Combinator, in January 2022.
- After the three-month plan, she lifted $4.5 million from investors, which include Alexis Ohanian.
This as-advised-to essay is based mostly on a discussion with Kathryn Cross, the 23-year-aged founder of Anja Well being, based in Los Angeles, about her encounter in Y Combinator. It has been edited for size and clarity.
I to start with listened to about the startup accelerator Y Combinator when I was learning at Wellesley College and getting entrepreneurship courses at MIT. I located out extra just after graduating in January 2021 when I moved into Launch Residence, a coliving house for founders in Los Angeles.
I spent 3 months in the residence setting up Anja Health, a customized twine blood financial institution that freezes umbilical cord and placenta’s stem cells for long run disorder treatment functions, although doing the job as an experience designer for digital-consulting company Publicis Sapient. Many of the founders dwelling in the house ended up in Y Combinator, and they advised me how useful it was.
I did not get a lot of exposure to the tech environment at Wellesley, so I failed to come to feel fully outfitted with the proper network, resources, or know-how to operate a thriving startup. I felt I could find that in YC.
YC invests $125,000 in your firm in return for 7%, and then it invests a additional $375,000. I utilized twice for YC and was accepted into the W22 batch, which ran from January to April 2022.
The first time I used in February 2021, Anja Health was practically just an notion and hardly a website. I remaining my task with Publicis Sapient in June 2021 to begin operating complete-time for Anja Health and fitness. The 2nd time I used for the duration of the summer of 2021, I had income, shoppers, a performing web page, and a source chain.
I filled out an on the web kind and included a quick movie in my application
The kind provided issues like, “What difficulty are you fixing?” and “How major is your industry?” I conveyed most of what I wanted to say about my startup in the application type. For the video portion, I just preferred to demonstrate how confident I was as a person. I wore brilliant colors to assistance me stand out and tried to converse with self confidence.
The subsequent phase was a 10-minute Zoom connect with with YC partners and business people Jared Friedman, Nicolas Dessaigne, and Surbhi Sarna, whom I would have the option to do the job with if I was acknowledged. They asked me about the science driving my company, what I believed about market measurement, and what motivates me as a founder.
I’d practiced rather a handful of of my solutions with persons who had been through YC, so I was well prepared, but the interviews are notoriously extremely small, so I could’ve stated a lot more. When I received the connect with that I’d been accepted, I was delighted. Ninety % of providers acknowledged to YC have cofounders, but I designed it through as a solo founder.
When I was in YC, I would run my business enterprise from dwelling as usual
My YC experience was virtual, so I done it though dwelling in Los Angeles. Every week I listened to on the internet talks by profitable founders of corporations that went through YC like Airbnb and Stripe or professionals in fields like Search engine marketing. I also linked with YC alumni by means of Bookface, YC’s edition of Fb. I not only had my mentors at YC, but I was also mentored by the friends I was dwelling with.
You only need to dedicate a couple several hours each and every 7 days to the YC system. It can be not a case of having time off from your startup to go to the system, as they want you to function on your small business and accelerate it. Each individual morning I would get up all around 8 a.m., start out get the job done, and then have calls with a husband or wife, whether or not that was Nicholas, Jared, or Surbhi.
The closing portion of the 3-thirty day period training course is Demo Working day, when you current to a lot more than 1,000 probable buyers. A large amount of them are former YC founders or associates. It’s considerably considerably less intimidating on Zoom than it is in individual. I couldn’t even see all the people today in the space. When I was sitting in my residing place wanting at my laptop, I could only see my slides on a screen and me.
Presentations on Demo Working day are so brief, as each corporation has just one particular minute to talk, so it definitely will not call for a ton of preparation. What you truly have to prepare for is the fundraising that will come from Demo Day.
About the 3Â months you spend at YC, you master every little thing from discovering shoppers to fundraising
Although I would currently elevated $400,000 in a preseed round in the summertime prior to I joined YC, the system, especially its protection of the fundraising course of action, was however helpful to me.
The 1st time I fundraised I felt I was just flailing due to the fact I did not have any processes in spot. The next time I fundraised was after I’d finished my YC class, and not only was I quite intentional about whom I arrived at out to, but I also established timelines and tracked metrics, like the response charge. In the seed spherical, which ran from April to June 2022 and stemmed from Demo Working day, I elevated $4.5 million, and buyers incorporated Reddit’s cofounder Alexis Ohanian.
My goal for fundraising was to improve the enterprise and improve staffing concentrations. When I applied to YC, I was Anja Health’s only member of staff members. Now we are a team of five.
I continue to talk to my YC companions frequently. We have a group chat, and I information them on an as-required basis. I most likely could’ve reached what I have finished devoid of YC, but it would’ve been a lot more durable. In tech and the startup planet, your network is your net truly worth, and YC is a genuinely precious community.
Did you go by way of Y Combinator and have a tale to inform? Electronic mail Lauryn Haas at lhaas@insider.com.
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