Michael Yan

When I was 19 years old, I met my cofounder Rushil at a hackathon.

At the time, he was still in high school and I just saw him as another teammate.

Then we worked together for 48 hours straight, won the hackathon, and I realized two things:
 
1. He’s incredibly cracked. 
2. We could start a company together.

A few months later I pitched him the idea for Simplify, and he joined as a founder.

Fast forward to last week: I spoke to over 1,000 students at one of the biggest collegiate hackathons in the US.

During my keynote I shared some of my favorite lessons from building Simplify, but the biggest lesson I left them with was this:

You never know when luck is going to strike, but you have to be ready to take advantage of it.

One of the things I love about hackathons is how much they mimic the experience of building a startup.

You're working under pressure, having fun, and you get to know your teammates really, really quickly.

That environment taught me so much early on, and it's one of the biggest reasons Simplify exists today.

So if you’re confused about where to start, just put yourself out there. Whether it’s a hackathon, event, mixer, or something else, just go. 

Going to a hackathon changed my career, and it’s super full-circle that I got to speak at one of the biggest ones in the country.

Massive shoutout to LA Hacks for the invite :)

P.S. I also spoke right before Evan Spiegel (founder of Snapchat) so if it looks like I was nervous, it’s because I was…

Two weeks ago, my mom got laid off after 19 years in the same job.

This weekend, she emailed me asking if I could fix her resume. 

We ended up staying on a 4-hour call and completely revamped it.

It had been decades since her job search–she was completely unfamiliar with things like ATS systems, keywords, and resume formats.

Instead of gatekeeping the advice I gave her, I figured it’d be helpful for people in a similar situation.

Here’s exactly what I told her to improve her resume: 👇

• Use a vetted, ATS-optimized template

Her old resume was super cluttered and outdated. I recommended her “Jake’s resume” instead (link in comments).

• Quantify every bullet point

We rewrote most of her experience bullets using the XYZ format. It goes: “Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z].“

As a ground rule, I told her to include a number / quantifiable result in two-thirds of her bullets.

• Include a “Career Highlights” section

My mom has over 20 years of experience and a PhD. Instead of making this hard to see, we wrote a 4-5 bullet point section at the top called “Career Highlights” (also a great tip for anyone who wants to highlight their strengths).

With all that said, hoping to celebrate her first interview soon.

P.S. This is the free AI resume builder that we used to make all these changes. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gd9xgfDF

I built the prototype for my startup in my dorm room.\n\nAs a sophomore at Stanford, I spent over 100 hours applying to jobs. \n\nI hated it.\n\nI'd job search during my free time, on the weekends, and even during class instead of paying attention to lectures. \n\nTo be honest, I hated manually finding and filling out job applications – I just assumed that’s how recruiting worked.\n\n💡 But then I had an idea: a job application autofiller. \n\nAs a CS major with some side-project experience, I wrote a basic script that auto-typed redundant information on my job applications. \n\nI realized it saved me a LOT of time – nearly 10 minutes per application.\n\nI started sharing it around nearby colleges myself (I even handed out over 20,000 Squid Game themed business cards to promote it). After a few weeks, I remember hitting our first 1,000 users. \n\nCliche, but it was crazy. \n\n🎉 Today, Simplify has helped nearly a million job seekers apply to 80 million jobs, and we’re a 7-person team shipping new features every single week.  \n\nThe lesson? You can just do things.\n\nP.S. Before you comment about my messy room, just know this was BEFORE I had a girlfriend….\n\nP.P.S. If you're looking for a job and re-typing your resume on job boards, check out Simplify: https://lnkd.in/gd74n6Xq

UPDATE: Position has been filled, thanks for all the interest!

👀 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸?

Simplify is looking for current or ex-recruiters from big-tech companies to join our resume review team!

Super flexible hours and great pay – bonus points if you have experience in technical recruiting! :)

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 “𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱!“ 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝘁!

When I was in college, I used a spreadsheet to track over 200 job applications.

It worked. It helped me land 5+ offers at companies like Microsoft and Meta.

But here's the truth: it was a MASSIVE waste of time.

I spent hours manually filling in application details after applying (job description, date, status, notes, etc). This was frustrating because it took time away from more important parts of the job search like actually applying and interviewing.

Plus, by the time I landed an interview, I would forget which resume version I used to apply and would have to comb through my massive spreadsheet.

That’s why I built an AI Job Tracker with all the features I wish I had in my spreadsheet: 
✅ Automatic application tracking
✅ Saved job descriptions
✅ Status columns (applied, interviewed, offered)
✅ Document storage for resumes and cover letters

It's the tool I needed back then, and I just released it for free to everyone.

Use it now: https://lnkd.in/gtWEMnEz