26 Startups Still Building
Every founder here got a rejection email. None of them stopped.
AIHello
AI-powered Amazon advertising automation that helps sellers optimize campaigns, cut wasted spend, and grow revenue — without an agency.
Jenni AI
AI writing assistant built specifically for academic researchers and students — cited by universities globally, growing without YC.
Papermark
Open-source document sharing platform with analytics — a self-hostable alternative to DocSend, built in public after a YC rejection.
Silx AI
AI-powered platform for building and deploying intelligent automation — still early, still building.
Thirsty Sprout
Marketing analytics and attribution platform helping DTC brands understand which channels actually drive revenue.
EasyRetro
Dead-simple retrospective board for agile teams — no setup, no fluff, no YC stamp required. Used by thousands of engineering teams worldwide.
Notably
AI research repository that turns messy user interviews and data into clear insights — helping product teams make faster, better decisions.
Testimonial.to
Social proof collection platform that lets businesses gather video and text testimonials in minutes — bootstrapped to $1M+ ARR alongside PDF.ai.
Cal.com
Open-source scheduling infrastructure — the Calendly alternative developers actually want to self-host. 25,000+ GitHub stars and growing.
Contra
Commission-free platform for independent professionals to work, collaborate, and get paid — raised $30M Series B, growing without YC's stamp of approval.
Lula
Commercial auto insurance platform for vehicle-sharing businesses and rental fleets — raised $35M to modernize a market YC didn't think was ready.
Dune
Blockchain analytics platform that lets anyone query on-chain data with SQL and publish dashboards — the de facto standard for crypto data analysis.
Maven
Cohort-based learning platform for professionals — live courses taught by practitioners, not professors. Built by the co-founder of Udemy.
VEED.io
Browser-based video editing platform for creators and teams — bootstrapped to $8M+ ARR before raising a Series A, with zero help from YC.
Starter Story
Media company documenting how founders built profitable businesses — 4M+ monthly readers, $1M+ ARR, bootstrapped from a side project started after a YC rejection.
Fitbod
AI-powered workout app that learns your body and adapts every workout based on your equipment, goals, and recovery — now one of the highest-rated fitness apps on iOS.
Canny
Product feedback and roadmap tool that helps teams collect, prioritize, and communicate around user feedback — bootstrapped to millions in ARR by two founders.
Unacademy
India's largest online learning platform — live classes from top educators, 50M+ learners, $3.4B valuation. YC passed on it.
CleverTap
Mobile marketing analytics and engagement platform used by 10,000+ apps globally — raised $105M and went public on the NYSE without a YC pedigree.
Clearbit
B2B data enrichment platform that helped 1,500+ companies understand their customers in real time — acquired by HubSpot.
Pieter Levels
Built a portfolio of profitable bootstrapped companies solo — Nomad List, Remote.OK, PhotoAI, InteriorAI — generating $200K+ MRR without a single dollar of VC.
Storemapper / Calm Fund
Built Storemapper into a profitable bootstrapped SaaS, then launched Calm Fund — a new model for funding bootstrapped companies that don't want venture strings attached.
Buffer
Social media scheduling and analytics platform, bootstrapped to profitability and stayed independent while competitors raised hundreds of millions and sold or shut down.
Ghost
Open-source publishing platform powering 100,000+ publications — built as a non-profit, fully independent, with no investors and no exit plan.
Shippo
Multi-carrier shipping API and platform used by 100,000+ e-commerce merchants to save on shipping rates and automate logistics.
Calm
The world's most downloaded meditation and sleep app — rejected by YC, went on to raise $75M and reach a $2B valuation.