Editor's note: This year we honored some of the brightest young minds in the Bay Area innovation sector as part of our Inno Under 25 feature. Check out all the profiles from this year's honorees here.
Spurred by their own job search frustrations, the founders of Simplify set out to make it easier for others. Michael Yan, Ethan Horoschak and Rushil Srivastava were all computer science majors at Stanford before dropping out. Srivastava had been researching machine learning use cases in dermatology, while Yan and Horoschak both interned at Facebook. Then in early 2020, they noticed a lot of people were losing their internships as pandemic restrictions cemented around the U.S. So, they decided to build a small tool to help others apply to open positions more quickly on LinkedIn — it generated a lot of interest, and within a few months, they founded Simplify to develop software that would streamline the job application and recruiting process for as many people as possible.
Michael Yan
- Age: 22
- Title: CEO and co-founder of Simplify
- Education: Stanford, computer science (dropped out)
Ethan Horoschak
- Age: 22
- Title: COO and co-founder of Simplify
- Education: Stanford, computer science (dropped out)
Rushil Srivastava
- Age: 20
- Title: CTO of Simplify
- Education: UC Berkeley, computer science (dropped out)
About Simplify
- Location: San Francisco
- What the company does: developing a universal job application system
- Funding: $1.2 million
What are some qualities in yourselves that you think have led to your success?
Michael: Stubbornness. We really don’t like to give up.
Ethan: I’m good at working with very different types of people and mediating between them. I’m also very flexible and learn quickly. So, I can bounce around a lot of very different tasks. And like, get on board and complete them.
Rushil: Integrity. We’re really passionate about what we’re doing, and we really care. And we’re very decisive in our decisions and the paths we take to them.
Why did you decide to pursue entrepreneurship?
Michael: At our core, we wanted to solve a problem that we were frustrated with. We faced this problem, we realized that a lot of people faced this problem, and it wasn’t so much that we were like, oh, we’re gonna choose this lifestyle choice.
So, it’s less that we chose to be entrepreneurs, but more so that we just wanted to solve a problem that we were very frustrated with.
You’re all Gen Zers — what does that mean to you?
Michael: I was gonna say TikTok-addicted, but I’m not sure if that’s a good one.
Rushil: We’re self-reliant. We’re not dependent on other people. I think we’re very independent. We’re gonna solve problems within ourselves. And we’re pragmatic.
Ethan: We like to find things that are inefficient or frustrating and try to fix them. Kind of like, go against the mold of how things used to be done.
Is there someone who has influenced your life or made you think about something in a different way?
Michael: My high school chemistry teacher. He really taught me to not care as much about what other people thought and not be confined by other people’s expectations.
Rushil: Naval Ravikant, the founder of AngelList. The way he thinks about the world and thinks about business problems is just so fascinating.
Besides your own company, what’s another issue that you’re passionate about?
Michael: Education for everybody, and it shouldn’t be limited by geographic location or financial opportunity.
Rushil: Education, too, but also digital rights. I’m wearing an EFF shirt right now. I’m a huge advocate for digital rights, and I think that’s something that’s going to be very important.
Ethan: I’m pretty interested in endangered species protection, environmental protection and sustainability.
Can you give me your elevator pitch in 10 words or less?
Creating the universal job assistant for early career talent.
What are three must-have apps on your phone?
Michael: TikTok, Spotify and LinkedIn.
Rushil: Reddit, DoorDash and Twitter.
