<div class="portada"><div class="meta">Menteia · Vamo · October 2026 · Confidential</div>

# Y Combinator application (raw draft)

**Vamo** — Kiosk + AI advisor on WhatsApp that greets, quotes, books test drives, verifies identity and builds the customer's loan application at the dealership.</div>


Answers ready to paste into the YC form (Winter 2027 closes on **Nov 2, 2026**, 8 pm Pacific time; confirm at ycombinator.com/apply). Only real data as of Oct 28, 2026; where there is no data we say so. At the end, the critique a partner would make.

Criteria used: ycinsight.com/apply (what partners look for in each question), ycinsight.com/yc-deal and ycinsight.com/yc-request-for-startups.

## Company

### Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Kiosk + WhatsApp AI that sells cars in dealerships (50 characters)

### What is your company going to make?

Vamo puts a kiosk with a rotating QR on the dealership floor. The shopper scans it and an AI advisor on WhatsApp answers about models, prices and promotions, books a test drive, verifies ID with liveness, pre-fills the bank's credit application and gets an e-signature. The dealer sees the funnel by kiosk and model.

## Progress

### How far along are you?

Pilot with Ford and Lincoln in 3 branches in Mexico (we do not yet have a signed letter or pilot metrics to share). Public price: ~US$324 per kiosk per month. Revenue: $0 so far.

### How long have each of you been working on this? How much of that has been full-time?

Built in September–October 2026 on top of our KYC engine.

## Idea

### Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise? How do you know people need what you're making?

Shoppers walk out when every salesperson is busy, and 72% of new cars in Mexico are bought on credit (AMDA, 1H-2025), which takes days of paperwork. We have not yet measured the effect in the pilot.

### Who are your competitors? What do you understand about your business that they don't?

Dealer CRMs (Salesforce, DealerSocket), US AI tools for dealers (Impel, Fullpath, Podium), brand chatbots, and a human greeter. What we think we understand: the shopper is already in the store; capturing them there and following on WhatsApp is the wedge.

### How do or will you make money? How much could you make?

~US$324/kiosk/month plus a fee per completed credit file. Mexico has 2,800+ dealerships (AMDA). 60 kiosks is ~US$320k ARR (US$324 rent + ~US$120 in credit-file fees per kiosk per month); the path to large is every brand and LatAm/US Hispanic dealers.

### Tell us something surprising or amusing that one of you has discovered.

Pending — needs pilot data.

## Founders

### Founders

Three co-founders: Rafael Herrera (CEO/CFO), Vladimir Díaz (CTO, software engineer, 20 years, PhD in business competitiveness and innovation from IQS–Ramon Llull, advised Ford, CANTV, Google and Globant) and Francisco D'Angelo Ohep (lawyer, LLM in international business law, AI-law specialist from Universidad de Salamanca). Vladimir wrote the code.

## Numbers YC will work out

| Question | Honest answer |
| --- | --- |
| Default alive? | No. No revenue yet. |
| Does it fit a 2026 RFS? | No honest fit. |
| Valuation we would ask for outside YC | US$1,800,000 pre-money |
| What YC offers | US$500k: US$125k for 7% (≈ US$1.79 M post) + US$375k on an uncapped SAFE with MFN |

## Blunt critique (what a partner would attack)
- Without a letter, metrics or payment, 'pilot with Ford' does not count as traction for YC; it can even hurt credibility if it can't be verified.
- Turning the pilot into a paid contract (even for 3 kiosks) is worth more than any deck.
- Hardware + selling to dealerships = long sales cycle. YC will ask how long it takes to close a dealership and who signs.

## What to do in the next 8 weeks
- Get a letter or email from the dealer group.
- Measure scans, conversations, test drives and credit applications in the pilot.
- Charge the 3 branches.
- Talk to 10 dealership managers from other brands.