Common Paper’s founders are halfway through Y Combinator’s winter cohort. Here’s what they’ve learned so far

Following the launch of new features for its contract management software, Philly-area SaaS startup Common Paper’s founders headed to Y Combinator at the start of this year.

The accelerator is one of the world’s most prominent and has propelled companies that are now household names, including Airbnb, Coinbase and DoorDash. Running through the end of April, the program is offering the general advice, connections and counsel that most startups expect from an accelerator, cofounder Jake Stein told Technical.ly.

But this one has brought a unique advantage to the company, which aims to provide a solution to the tedious and time-consuming problems startup founders often deal with in legal negotiation in contracts: The very people they aim to sell to — early-stage, often B2B startups getting their sales processes off the ground — are working alongside them in the accelerator. Not only are they able to hear from more early-stage founders about the issues they face in legal contracts, but they’ve been able to pick up some of the startups as clients, Stein said.

Now, about halfway through the program, Stein and cofounder Ben Garvey are also benefiting by learning more about a Y Combinator-originated funding tool: the SAFE, or simple agreement for future equity.

Before Common Paper officially developed and launched its own standardized contracts and agreements, the founding team researched a wide range of existing standardized agreements, in and out of the startup space, Stein said. They found Y Combinator’s SAFE, a way for startups to raise early funding — a sort of “new and improved” version of a convertible note, Stein said. In joining the winter cohort, the founders have been able to learn about the process of creating a standardized contract via one that’s been in place for almost a decade.

[For further reading: “What are the differences between SAFEs and convertible notes?“]

Y Combinator’s programming has turned hybrid since the pandemic, with a mix of in-person events at the start and end of the session, plus virtual meetings and in-person happy hours on a weekly basis. Stein and Garvey headed to Y Combinator HQ in Silicon Valley at the start of the year, and Stein said they’ve been so far pleased to work alongside startups across different industries.

“One of my favorite parts has been meeting this amazing group of humans working on all kinds of fascinating things,” he said.

As they look toward the second half of the accelerator, they’re setting their sights on growing their user count and the number of the contracts they offer. Stein said Common Paper’s success rests in their customers’ success, as they bring in new clients when their existing ones make sales using Common Paper’s contracts and software.

“We are totally aligned in incentives with our customers,” Stein said. “We only succeed when they bring on new customers.”

They’re also looking at how they might add to their product offering, such as integrating tools to help users past the point of a signed contract. If a vendor negotiates and signs a contract with a client, Common Paper is building a feature that helps get them paid. They’re in talks with Y Combinator alumni Stripe about how a payment system might be integrated, Stein said.

Of the experience so far, Stein said one standout has been the reception to them building Common Paper in Philly. He’s long traveled to the Bay Area in his career running tech startups (RJMetrics, Stitch), and he’s often received surprised or confused reactions when he says he’s building tech companies here. But that’s changing.

“It’s still unusual for some folks, they might ask some questions, but it’s much less surprising than it used to be,” Stein said. “Most people in the accelerator were temporarily there in San Francisco for the beginning of the accelerator, then heading home to these other places where they’re building. That’s changed, and it’s nice, more normalized.”