YC Applications
Her YC application called Softcup a competitor to watch. By August she owned it.
Flex applied to YC in 2016 with one founder, $225,000 raised and nothing shipped. The form named Softcup, the only other menstrual disc, as a rival to watch. By August Flex owned it. Then came 30,000 stores, a bank collapse and 185 million discs. The form is below.
When Lauren Schulte (now Lauren Schulte Wang) applied to Y Combinator in early 2016, The Flex Company had not shipped a product. The design was finished and a supplier contract was drafted. Preorders would open in April and the first discs would go out in September. She describes herself as "a sole founder with a strong team of two full-timers, six freelancers, and four hard-working advisors." It was her second application. She had been through the YC Fellowship the batch before.
The product was a disposable disc, worn higher than a tampon, and the pitch leaned on sex. FLEX, the form says, is "used for mess-free period sex, and can be worn in place of traditional menstrual products." Her reason for building it opens the idea section: "I hate tampons."
The traction section is a waitlist. $225,000 raised, product trials with over 200 women, 20,000 signups in three months, $0 spent on acquisition, and 1,000 new trial signups a week. A quarter of the signups were men. She planned to sell monthly subscriptions from her own website and bring in $3 million in revenue over two years. The target was "a $100 million company in 5 years (similar to Dollar Shave Club)." Retail would come in 2017.
Two answers read differently once you know what happened. In one, she explains that her team found "an old patent for a product that’s been completely neglected by a small, private drug company," with "20 years of post-clinical research for us to draw from." Flex was basing its own design on it. In the competitors answer, below the consumer-goods giants she feared most, she names the one rival whose product was like hers. Softcup was "another competitor" whose "product design is most similar to ours."
YC took Flex into the Summer 2016 batch. On 10 August 2016, TechCrunch reported that the company had raised $1 million and bought Softcup for an undisclosed amount. "Flex now owns all of the market’s menstrual disc products," the piece said.
Softcup was older than Flex by two decades. It reached the market in 1994 as Instead, made by Ultrafem, and Evofem bought it in 1998. By Flex's own account on the Softdisc site, Evofem raised the price 38% after years of retailer pressure. It slowed production and was going to discontinue the product. Flex, "the only other manufacturer of menstrual discs," bought the brand instead. A 2022 press release says the deal gave Flex "20 years of R&D on menstrual device technology." Flex also says Schulte coined the term "menstrual disc" in 2016.
Subscriptions from her own site were meant to be the business, with retail as an add-on. The business developed the other way around. In 2018 Softcup, renamed Softdisc, went into Target. CVS followed in 2019 and Walmart in 2022, taking Flex to nearly 30,000 stores. In January 2022 the company said revenue had more than doubled in 18 months, "led by its retail business." It claimed a 43% share of the sustainable period-care market, citing Nielsen data.
Her own forecast soon passed the form's. In July 2017, nine months after Flex began shipping, she wrote that the company was on track for $4 million in revenue that year. The application had aimed for $3 million over two. In April 2019 she told Beauty Independent that Flex had raised $8.3 million and that she was still the majority shareholder. "Our growth has been so extraordinary that we don’t need to raise money ever again," she said. It raised again anyway. By January 2022 the company had raised $20 million in total, $12 million of it since the start of the pandemic, led by CircleUp and Halogen Ventures.
In March 2023 Silicon Valley Bank failed. Flex had done all of its banking there. Beauty Independent reported that the collapse made it hard to finance new products and put launches on pause. The money that came next started with a direct message. Kate Upton, a customer, had written to Schulte Wang asking how she could help. Upton introduced her to her husband, the pitcher Justin Verlander, who, with Upton, made a "multimillion-dollar" investment announced in March 2024. The money backed a new line of bamboo pads and liners.
By then Flex said it had sold more than 130 million menstrual discs. In April 2026 it put the figure at over 185 million. It had bought two more companies: Keela, a menstrual-cup startup whose co-founders launched Flex Cup with it in 2018, and Allbodies, a sexual-health education platform, in December 2023. YC's directory lists Flex as active, based in Venice, California, and sold in more than 30,000 stores including Walmart, Target, CVS and Walgreens. Schulte Wang is still CEO.
The directory also lists a second founder now: Panpan Wang, CFO. In the application he is an advisor who "quit his VC role in SF to move to LA and help me grow the business."
She was wrong about the channel. She pitched a Dollar Shave Club for discs, and the business she built grew on store shelves. She was right about the product, and right about which rival mattered. Within months of calling Softcup a competitor to watch, she owned it.
The application below is exactly what she filed. Read it knowing how it ends.
Flex (The Flex Company) — Y Combinator, Summer 2016 · Accepted Reproduced verbatim from the founder's application. Source: getintoyc.com
Company
Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.
We make FLEX, a more comfortable alternative to tampons
What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.
FLEX™ is a disposable feminine hygiene product. It’s shaped like a diaphragm, used for mess-free period sex, and can be worn in place of traditional menstrual products.
The menstrual products we use today were created in the 1930’s. They’re uncomfortable, disruptive, and inconvenient. 91% of women say they want alternatives, yet the $15B market for feminine hygiene continues to grow.
FLEX is worn internally, was designed for 12 hours of wear, and has the added benefit of mess-free period sex. It is disposable, is not linked to toxic shock syndrome, and is so comfortable, women tell us that they forget that they’re on their period when wearing it.
Founders
Please tell us about an interesting project, preferably outside of class or work, that two or more of you created together. Include urls if possible.
Our team is based in San Francisco but one member (Whitney) lives in L.A. We’re always looking for ways to save money on gas or flights. I came up with a concept for a DJ set and pitched a popular S.F. nightclub. I had never done anything like this but I managed to successfully broker a deal that paid for Whitney’s flight and her time. Plus, we had enough money remaining to purchase product samples and business cards! She played a sold-out show with another popular DJ and we took the opportunity to promote FLEX, gain trial sign-ups, and give away product samples.
How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet? Have any of the founders not met in person?
I’m a sole founder with a strong team of two full-timers, six freelancers, and four hard-working advisors.
AJ Forsythe of iCracked (YC W12) knew I was looking for someone with ecommerce acquisition experience and introduced me to his friend, Erika Jensen, who has 10 years of ecommerce business, most recently at JimmyJane leading marketing and acquisition efforts. She joined us in summer 2015 and has been building our ecommerce website and will be leading our online acquisition efforts.
Panpan Wang has a background in health as an entrepreneur and investor. He’s been working with me on FLEX since January 2015 in a working advisory role and has seen the company grow from pre-pitch deck to what it is today. Over the last two months, he’s taken a more active role. He’s also my life partner and quit his VC role in SF to move to LA and help me grow the business. We’ve been friends for over two years and have dated for one year.
Progress
How far along are you?
April marks our 1 year anniversary and we’ve raised $225k.
Key milestones:
\- We’ve run product trials with over 200 women \- In the last 3 months, we’ve acquired 20,000 signups of customers who want to try FLEX \- $0 spent on acquisition \- We continue to grow with 1,000 trial signups each week \- 25% of our signups are men
How long have each of you been working on this? How much of that has been full-time? Please explain.
I’ve been working on FLEX for over 1 year. Our product is fully designed and ready for manufacturing. We have a supplier contract drafted and we’re currently working to close with a North American contract manufacturer.
\- In April, we launch preorders \- In September, we ship to customers \- In 2017, we expand to retail
If you are applying with the same idea as a previous batch, did anything change? If you applied with a different idea, why did you pivot and what did you learn from the last idea?
This is my second time applying to YC. (I was in the Fellowship W16 batch)
If you have already participated or committed to participate in an incubator, "accelerator" or "pre-accelerator" program, please tell us about it.
I received funding from Amplify.LA. They’re not a true incubator; they provide funding and free office space, but no programming or time limit.
Idea
Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making?
I picked this idea for three reasons:
1\. I hate tampons and like many women, I’ve spent a quarter of my life in discomfort caused by traditional menstrual products. In addition to physical discomfort, I’ve always been bothered by the social stigma that surrounds menstruation and period sex. Couples are missing out on 23% more opportunities for sex, and the great tragedy is that this is the time of month when women want it most. If women weren’t ashamed to talk about their periods, I’m certain we’d have better alternatives to the products that we use today. 2\. NPR called 2015 the “Year of the Period.” We have reached the tipping point of a global menstruation movement. Women are trying “new” products like menstrual cups, period panties, and tampon subscriptions, but these solutions have come with a new set of challenges and frustrations. Women (particularly millennials) are demanding new product innovation and are open to trying brands that resonate with them more than ever before. 91% of women want a tampon alternative (Journal of Women’s Health). 3\. In the product development process, we discovered an old patent for a product that’s been completely neglected by a small, private drug company (the company is focused on making a lubricant that’s more profitable for them). This product has 20 years of post-clinical research for us to draw from, and we’ve been able to use samples of this product for user research with over 200 women. We’re using this product for the basis of our product design, which allows us to move very quickly, streamline the FDA regulatory process, as well as expensive design iterations with manufacturers. We’re making a few improvements to differentiate the product (better fit/materials, more environmentally friendly, and made in the USA).
We have the perfect experience building brands and e-commerce platforms to bring this product to market in a completely new way that resonates with millennials.
\- We have 30 years’ experience using products we loathe. \- I have ten years of experience launching consumer brands and communications strategies at companies like Coca-Cola, Autodesk and Upwork. \- Erika has ten years of e-commerce experience. Most recently she grew e-commerce sales at JimmyJane from roughly $X to $Y in 1.5 years with a $0 budget.* \- Our advisory team is hard-working and each member has 15–20 years of expertise in related fields: board certified OB/GYN, consumer e-commerce/subscription, healthcare manufacturing and supply chain, healthcare venture, and engineering.
What's new about what you're making? What substitutes do people resort to because it doesn't exist yet (or they don't know about it)?
What’s new about FLEX:
\- The distribution channel (e-commerce, direct to consumer, subscription) \- Chic design, high-end packaging, differentiated branding and unique millennial voice \- Product features (fit/materials) \- It can be worn up to 12 hours and it is not linked to TSS \- 23% more sex; it allows a user and their partner to engage in mess-free intercourse (and if her partner is male, he won’t feel much, if anything) \- Environmental impact (fewer changes, less packaging and waste)
This market is extremely underserved; women who don’t want to use tampons or pads have very few options other than menstrual cups.
There’s are a couple of important differences between FLEX and menstrual cups. Menstrual cups block the vaginal canal (don’t allow sex), they fill up and must be rinsed and reused. This makes for an awkward experience at work or in a public restroom. Menstrual cups are also difficult to insert (there are four different ways you can fold it before inserting) and remove (mine got stuck), which are huge barriers to adoption. Finally, menstrual cups are reused for 5–10 years, and this is a huge behavior change from disposing tampons. FLEX is disposable and addresses this important concern.
Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most?
Our competitors include large consumer goods companies and menstrual cup manufacturers.
We fear large consumer goods companies most: P&G (Tampax, Always), Kimberly-Clark (Kotex), Playtex Products, Energizer (o.b., Stayfree, Always). They have significant resources and channel relationships, but they also lack a standout brand; they don’t have a voice that resonates with millennials.
Softcup is another competitor* to watch because their product design is most similar to ours. Their awareness is very low, our brand is highly differentiated, and we’ve created an entirely different distribution strategy (direct to consumer, subscription-based with higher margins than traditional retailers).
Major menstrual cup manufacturers are competitors (DivaCup, Lunette) because they share many of the same benefits of our product and they have been in the market since the early 2000’s.
Finally, startups like white-labeled tampon subscription companies (LOLA, Cora) and absorbable period panties (THiNX, Dear Kate) are gaining momentum with millennials. The products aren’t new, but they have brands that engage millennials.
What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get?
Women (and men) love our branding and positioning. 25% of our signups are from men. We’ve found a way to stand out amongst the cheap, pink-and-purple packaging of traditional feminine hygiene products, and our messaging (mess-free period sex) has been an effective hook to get women to try our product for the first time.
Once women try FLEX, they want to switch to FLEX permanently for a few reasons:
\- When women wear a pad or tampon, it’s a constant reminder that they’re undergoing this really uncomfortable experience \- FLEX is so shockingly comfortable that women tell us that they forget that they’re on their period when wearing it \- Instead of running to the bathroom 4–5 times per day to change a leaky tampon, FLEX requires changing only once every 12 hours \- It’s very easy to use
In addition to a high-quality product, we’ve created a quality customer experience online. Most menstrual product purchases happen in drug stores, but drug stores don’t facilitate discovery of new feminine hygiene products. Millennials read and shop online, and we’ve created an e-commerce platform that educates them with peer-generated reviews and content.
Women learn about feminine hygiene products from their friends. The bulk of our early traction (20k organic signups) have come from word-of-mouth. On average, every person that signs up to try FLEX, recommends us to at least 1 additional person. Our campus ambassador program is one great example of our grassroots marketing efforts.
How do or will you make money? How much could you make?
We’ll sell monthly subscriptions of FLEX through our own e-commerce website; subscriptions will include free shipping for subscribers.
The global feminine hygiene market is over $15B and growing; the U.S. tampon market is $4B and growing. We aim to capture $3M in revenue during our first two years and see ourselves as a $100 million company in 5 years (similar to Dollar Shave Club).
How will you get users? If your idea is the type that faces a chicken-and-egg problem in the sense that it won't be attractive to users till it has a lot of users (e.g. a marketplace, a dating site, an ad network), how will you overcome that?
Distribution: starting online/direct to consumer; we’ll also leverage existing relationships with online retail partners.
Awareness:
Earned: media & influencers — we’ve given samples to well-known women (media, bloggers, Instagram, founders) and we will run a hero campaign featuring them, and seek a celebrity endorsement; we’ll run an aggressive PR campaign for earned media
Paid: traditional online advertising (social media, Google Adwords); content networks
Owned: content & social — we’ll continue to write original content and contributed articles and share on social media
Grassroots efforts are the most important part of customer adoption; 79% of women say they’ve made purchases based on the recommendation of a peer, and 82% of women say they share brands and products with friends (Ladies’ Home Journal). This includes campus ambassador programs (sororities, sports teams, clubs), and direct selling
Samples and referrals: every new subscriber gets a free sample to give to a friend with discount code; we run frequent contests for online friend referrals
Equity
What kind of entity and in what state or country was the entity formed?
We are incorporated in Delaware as a C-Corp.
Legal
Are any of the founders covered by noncompetes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? If so, please explain.
None of the team is under an overlapping non-compete.
Who writes code, or does other technical work on your product? Was any of it done by a non-founder? Please explain.
All code and intellectual property has originated from The Flex Company team members.
Is there anything else we should know about your company?
When making a purchasing decision, 73% of consumers care about the company, not just the product. Once we are profitable, we will donate a percentage of our profits toward a non-profit partner that furthers our social mission.
We’ll undergo B Corp Certification to hold ourselves to higher standards of transparency, accountability and performance. This designation is much like a Fair Trade or LEED certification and signals that we’re committed to making a profound social difference and safeguarding people and the planet, while remaining profitable.
While this will not change our legal standing as as a Delaware C Corp, B Corp Certifications are often confused with legally recognized Benefit Corporations. Other examples of certified B Corps include Patagonia, The Honest Company and Plum Organics (now owned by Campbell’s).
Others
Please tell us something surprising or amusing that one of you has discovered.
I’ve always gotten yeast infections for a full week after my period when using tampons, and I learned through speaking with hundreds of women that many have the same issue; a dirty secret tampon companies and women themselves don’t talk about.
After using FLEX many women — including Erika and I — no longer get post-period yeast infections.
This isn’t so much amusing as it is amazing.
Many of the women I speak with about their periods tell me that their mom started them on pads… because if they used a tampon, they “wouldn’t be a virgin anymore.” Women are always surprised at themselves for saying that. I think we don’t realize that period stigma is so deeply ingrained in us.
Curious
What convinced you to apply to Y Combinator? Did someone encourage you to apply?
Several of our friends have founded YC companies (e.g., StyleLend, iCracked, Airhelp, Her). We’ve seen the positive impact that their experience has had on their businesses. Our desire to accelerate growth of the business and the strong recommendation of these founders motivated us to apply.
Keep reading
The rest of this article: Her YC application called Softcup a competitor to watch. By August she owned it.
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