BeSimple AI
YC X25 startup building the data layer for AI, starting with voice. Parent of the Pila8 contributor app and a 60-second annotation-platform builder.
What is BeSimple AI?
BeSimple AI is a Y Combinator X25 startup founded in 2025 by Bill Wang (CEO, ex-Meta product, Brown University) and Yi Zhong (ex-Meta engineering, MIT). The founding team previously built annotation tooling used on Meta's Llama models. The company is positioning as "the data layer for AI," starting with voice data and expanding into multimodal datasets. Two products are live: (1) Pila8, the contributor-facing app where individuals record voice and video data for AI training and earn credits redeemable for cash (covered in our Pila8 review), and (2) a developer tool that lets AI teams spin up their own data annotation platform in roughly 60 seconds, eliminating the multi-month custom-build cycle that has been the norm for annotation infrastructure. BeSimple raised a $3M seed round in November 2025 from Y Combinator, Surgepoint Capital, Porterfield Ventures, Amino Capital, WELIGHT Capital, Multimodal Ventures, Script Capital, and several angels. The team sits between Redwood City and San Francisco with six employees and is hiring aggressively across product, engineering, and operations.
Mission & values
Build the data layer for AI by making high-quality voice, video, and multimodal datasets faster and cheaper to produce than custom annotation pipelines ever could.
Qualifications
Two engagement paths. (1) Full-time corporate roles are listed on Work at a Startup at workatastartup.com/companies/besimple-ai and Y Combinator's own job board. Open positions cover founding engineering (full-stack), strategic projects (audio data operations), and growth. The team is small (six FTEs as of mid-2026), in-person heavy in Redwood City / SF, with high-equity offers typical of YC-stage startups. (2) Contributor work via Pila8 is open globally with a phone or laptop; see the Pila8 entry for pay rates and signup steps. Pila8 is the right entry point if you want supplemental income; the corporate jobs are the right entry point if you want to join a frontier AI-data startup early.
Leadership
Yi Zhong
Co-Founder
Co-founded BeSimple AI in 2025. Previously engineering at Meta on the same Llama annotation tooling. MIT.
Hiring process
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1
Apply via Work at a Startup
Browse open roles at workatastartup.com/companies/besimple-ai and submit your application through the YC platform.
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2
Recruiter or founder screen
For a six-person team most early calls happen directly with Bill or Yi. Confirms fit, role match, and location.
About 5 days
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3
Technical or functional deep-dive
Engineering: live coding plus systems discussion. Ops / growth: case interview around audio-data pipelines or contributor-acquisition metrics.
About 7 days
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4
Team day or paid trial
Common at YC-stage companies: spend a half day or paid week working alongside the team before either side commits.
About 7 days
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5
Offer with equity
Offer + comp + equity discussion. Expect aggressive equity given the seed stage.
About 3 days
Funding
Awards & recognition
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Y Combinator X25 batch · 2025
Y Combinator
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$3M seed round closed · 2025
BeSimple AI
Company information
- Industry: AI Training Data / Voice Data Infrastructure
- Location: Redwood City, CA, USA
- Founded: 2025
- Employees: 6
- Website: besimple.ai ↗
- LinkedIn: Company page ↗