The Story Dating Ring’s founders apply to the very competitive, very prestigious startup school 

Y-Combinator. And, they're accepted - one of 76 companies in an initial applicant pool of 2000. Lauren, Emma, and Katie pack their bags and head to beautiful Mountain View, California to build the company The 3 months in Y-Combinator bring all sorts of challenges and surprises. An unconventional marketing strategy proves selling dates is nothing like selling cheeseburgers. A survey reveals new information about Dating Ring's customers. After a series of matchmaking mishaps, the Dating Ring founders respond by changing a defining part of their business. And the whole time, they're racing to grow fast and show results. All that pressure, leads to a lot of tension and a blowout fight among the founders. Lauren, Emma, and Katie try to recover in time to pitch 500 investors onstage at Y Combinator’s Demo Day. One more thing -- we have a new show launching soon here at Gimlet Media. It's going to be great. You can hear a promo of the show here. 

The Facts Our iTunes artwork was illustrated by Cari Vander Yacht. Check out her work at 

www.carivanderyacht.com Our theme song was written and performed by Mark Phillips. Season two of Startup features brand new original music, written and performed by our own John Delore along with his band mates, Jordan Scanella, Sam Merrick and Isamu McGregor.