CDIS students launch a startup, Coldreach, and gain backing from Y-Combinator

Xiaohan Shen (BA ’23) and Hankel Bao (BA ’23) met while studying computer science and data science at UW–Madison and soon after co-founded Easyjobs, an AI-based tool that helps job seekers stay organized and save time by finding relevant positions and automatically filling applicant information.

Xiaohan Shen
Hankel Bao

Later, after writing more than 1,000 personalized sales emails for Easyjobs—which ate up their own time — Shen and Bao saw room for further innovation. Enter their second startup, Coldreach, which uses AI to generate personalized sales emails at scale. Coldreach was recently accepted into and backed by Y-Combinator, a highly competitive, San Francisco-based accelerator program that has launched companies such as Instacart, DoorDash, and Airbnb.

Learn about other student start-ups to keep an eye on!