# Cinapse (YC W22)

The YC-backed Operating System of Hollywood

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/cinapse.io
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:165068
- Last updated: 2026-07-10T05:01:12Z
- Generated at: 2026-07-11T01:46:16Z

## Quick facts
- 21st century operating system for behind-the-scenes logistics in Film & TV production
- Used by 50+ productions across Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Disney, Paramount, and more
- Growing 48% month-over-month (used by 16% of all current productions in N.A. and Europe)
- Raised $2.5M from Y Combinator, Neil Patrick Harris, Gaingels, and more in 2021 and 2022
- 1000+ sign-ups since Feb 2024 launch
- Addressing an untapped $250 billion market of offline, analog production workflows and expenses

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:124830: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)
- wefunder:fundraise:124829: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## FAQ
1. **Hi, Herman, Could you please shed some light on why 2023's revenue was $0? Especially when you mentioned in the overview that "used in 50+ productions across Netflix...." Did all the sign ups happen in 2024? If yes, would you mind providing some numbers of revenues of the firs...**
   - Hi Nick, I'm happy to provide more context here! The reason for no revenue in 2023 is that we spent the entire year focused on product development and beta testing. We didn't charge users during the beta phase, as our priority was refining the platform and gathering feedback from our testers. Additionally, the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which lasted from May to November 2023, had a significant impact on the industry. With productions halted and many of our potential users...
2. **What's the price of each share of Cinapse (YC W22) on wefunder.com???**
   - Hi George, we're raising via a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) on a $12M post-money valuation. Thank you!
3. **What's the plan and mission of Cinapse in 1 year? 3 years? 5 years??**
   - YEAR 1 - Get Cinapse on 50% of all productions, secure at least 1 studio-wide contract. YEAR 3 - Cinapse is on over 90% of all productions and has studio-wide contracts at every major studio (Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Disney, Paramount, Sony, etc.) YEAR 5 - Cinapse is the hub for all film and television logistics. Equipment rentals, vendors, crew, cast, payroll, etc. all plug into Cinapse because we know what is needed, where it's needed, how of much of it is needed, and how much the production...
4. **Hi, I would like to organise a call with the founder before making an investment. Is it possible to book a zoom? Thanks**
   - Hi Noah, please email me herman@cinapse.io so we can set up a call!
5. **Can you share your thoughts on how often you will update us on how things are progressing with your goals and business plan? Secondly, do you intend to file the annual report with the SEC? Thanks for your feedback.**
   - Hi Karolina - We intend to update investors on at least a quarterly basis on our progress. Cinapse will file annual reports with the SEC so long as we are required to do so. You can read more here: https://help.wefunder.com/glossary/297438-annual-reports Thank you!

## Team
- Herman Phillips (Co-Founder & CEO)
- Roger W Tran (Co-Founder & COO)
- Heather Wagner (Co-Founder & Senior Product Advisor)
- Greg Kufera (Co-Founder)

## Q&A
- Q: Based on how successful this raise was where people were oversubscribed in a short time, do you either plan to reopen the raise like other startups have or plan to have another raise? My investment got removed and still want to be invested.
  - A: We may do another round in the future and will let you know when or if that happens. Thanks so much for your interest and support, Tristin!
- Q: Say you raise $124,000... then you use 65% to just pay your staff... (using your own data, that will equate to oddly 3.5 employees making about $19k each, if divided evenly - and I am sure we can all agree that $19k is not a great yearly income), which leaves you with about $40k after WeFunder - to run the company? ...for a year? That overhead does not reflect in your past statements - and where is the money to actually grow? Feels like you are asking for money as a lifeline, not growth. Where are the others who made this company - it seems like you are the only person now actually doing anything. You are the only one in the video / instagram / other media - but Greg, who shows about 97% voting rights - is absent. Is he no longer involved? Are the others still involved? Also, you had an initial $2.5 MILLION invested... but, now you are on a crowd-funding site. Awkward. How come Y-Combinator or the original VCs are not investing more? I understand grand plans, but you seemingly have no legs to go there. What am I missing? Remember you are asking me to give you money with no real ROI, the SAFE framework does not solidly project an ROI.
  - A: Hi Peter - Thank you for your thoughtful questions. Here’s a breakdown of where we are and why we’ve chosen this funding approach, along with answers to your other questions: 1) Founder Compensation & Focus on Growth: The founding team doesn’t intend to take any pay for the next calendar year, and has not taken any pay for all of 2024, as you'll read in our Form C. Our focus is on aggressive growth, and all funds raised are being reserved for expanding our engineering team and advancing product development. 2) Team Involvement: Roger and I are fully involved in the day-to-day work, with Heather lending her expertise on use of the product in the real world as a full time 1st Assistant Director. Heather has never been involved full time in the company, except briefly during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Greg stepped back for personal reasons but still advises us periodically. Voting rights and board control belong to Roger and I as of October 2024. 3) Crowdfunding & Customer Investment: We launched this Wefunder round primarily because many of our customers repeatedly expressed interest in investing. We wanted to give our community an opportunity to invest alongside us. Per YC advice, we are raising as little as possible, and this is part of our larger funding plan, as we are raising $500K total now, as a bridge to our Series A. 4) Funding History & Learning from Past Pivots: Regarding our initial $2.5 million: Since we raised our initial $2.5M in 2021 and 2022, we made two pivots before landing on our current product and strategy, which by far has the most promise and traction of any of our previous wedge hypotheses. Early on, we learned tough lessons about scaling too fast and not pre-selling. Today, we’ve adapted to a much leaner burn rate (now ~$10K/month) to ensure every dollar is focused on validating our growth thesis and driving us toward our vision. Cinapse has come a long way in nearly 5 years, and we’re determined to see our vision through. Building and selling a product in Hollywood is a war of attrition; B2B in Hollywood is not about rapid growth, but about having time enough to build strong relationships, establishing and proving yourself in the industry in order to become the standard. Our burn rate is the lowest now in the history of the company, allowing us to stay laser-focused on achieving our goals. We have already changed the industry forever by introducing real time collaborative scheduling software en mass. And this is just the beginning.
- Q: What's the plan and mission of Cinapse in 1 year? 3 years? 5 years??
  - A: YEAR 1 - Get Cinapse on 50% of all productions, secure at least 1 studio-wide contract. YEAR 3 - Cinapse is on over 90% of all productions and has studio-wide contracts at every major studio (Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Disney, Paramount, Sony, etc.) YEAR 5 - Cinapse is the hub for all film and television logistics. Equipment rentals, vendors, crew, cast, payroll, etc. all plug into Cinapse because we know what is needed, where it's needed, how of much of it is needed, and how much the production is willing to spend on it. We will be the central source of truth for all production logistics and decision making on every production, and power the whole value chain.
- Q: Hi, Herman, Could you please shed some light on why 2023's revenue was $0? Especially when you mentioned in the overview that "used in 50+ productions across Netflix...." Did all the sign ups happen in 2024? If yes, would you mind providing some numbers of revenues of the first half of 2024 or the first 3 quarters revenue?
  - A: Hi Nick, I'm happy to provide more context here! The reason for no revenue in 2023 is that we spent the entire year focused on product development and beta testing. We didn't charge users during the beta phase, as our priority was refining the platform and gathering feedback from our testers. Additionally, the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which lasted from May to November 2023, had a significant impact on the industry. With productions halted and many of our potential users out of work, this further contributed to the lack of revenue and our decision to not charge for the product in 2023 and remain in beta. All paid sign-ups began in late January 2024. Currently, most of our revenue comes from individual users—Assistant Directors, Production Managers, and Line Producers—who are paying for the platform out of pocket. Later this year, we’ll be launching our Team subscriptions, enabling these users to push for production-level subscriptions, where the productions themselves will cover the costs for the duration of the project. I’ll reach out to you via email with the 2024 revenue numbers for the first half and/or the first three quarters shortly.
- Q: It amazes me that at the beginning of a Crowdfunding campaign round, the founder(s) state that investors are important. But on the other hand, when a buyout pr acquisition offered is made and signed. Those investors are left out ofnthe ROI and dont receive anything or a very small fraction of a return. That is sad. Transparency and honesty are missing parts.
- Q: do you anticipate having another crowdfunding raise in the future?
  - A: Quite possibly!
- Q: What is the current revenue run rate on a monthly basis?
- Q: Hi! Can you help me understand how you reached the 300k paying user projection? I can't really figure out how you got there. Are there that many people working on productions at any given time willing to pay out of pocket for something like this?
  - A: Hi Rory - Thanks for the question! The 300,000 user projection is based on a combination of market research and industry knowledge, particularly looking at the number of licenses our main competitor has sold for similar scheduling software. Our target audience includes Assistant Directors, Producers, Production Managers, and film students globally - not to mention the opportunity for us to also sell to creators on YouTube and TikTok who also have to schedule their productions.
- Q: Great progress with Cinapse IO! How do you envision growth over the next six months, especially in reaching more investors? Excited to follow along!
- Q: Can you share your thoughts on how often you will update us on how things are progressing with your goals and business plan? Secondly, do you intend to file the annual report with the SEC? Thanks for your feedback.
  - A: Hi Karolina - We intend to update investors on at least a quarterly basis on our progress. Cinapse will file annual reports with the SEC so long as we are required to do so. You can read more here: https://help.wefunder.com/glossary/297438-annual-reports Thank you!
- Q: What's the price of each share of Cinapse (YC W22) on wefunder.com???
  - A: Hi George, we're raising via a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) on a $12M post-money valuation. Thank you!
- Q: Hi, I would like to organise a call with the founder before making an investment. Is it possible to book a zoom? Thanks
  - A: Hi Noah, please email me herman@cinapse.io so we can set up a call!