Sunset (YC F24): The Final Light on Financial Bureaucracy

In partnership with

It’s a strange and surreal thing, facing down the digital trail of a life extinguished. Death doesn’t close the doors, you see. 

The real-world cleanup—the purging of bank accounts, investments, and assorted financial relics—falls on the shattered shoulders of the living. 

Free Notion and Unlimited AI

Thousands of startups use Notion as a connected workspace to create and share docs, take notes, manage projects, and organize knowledge—all in one place. We’re offering 3 months of new Plus plans + unlimited AI (worth up to $3,000)! To redeem the Notion for Startups offer:

1. Submit an application using our custom link and select Beehiiv on the partner list.

2. Include our partner key, STARTUP4110P67801.

Learn More

Y Combinator startup Sunset, fresh out of YC’s F24 batch, has taken up arms in this grim and tedious fight.

Sunset isn’t here to play the tearful mourner or the stoic executor; they’re here to clear out the tangled web of a deceased's accounts and hand you a tidy, centralized estate account on a silver platter. If the world’s going to insist on bureaucracy, Sunset’s going to sweep the field.

There’s a myth—one of those silly, cozy myths that people cling to—that death is final. You lose someone, and it’s all over. 

But in truth, death is only the beginning of a new mess. The stark, cold reality hits when you’re neck-deep in paperwork, dredging up ancient bank accounts and investment portfolios, hunting for the scattered pieces of a loved one’s financial legacy. After all, the banks don’t shut their doors in sympathy when someone kicks the bucket. The financial cleanup falls on the shoulders of the grief-stricken.

The two-person army behind this crusade is made up of Stephen Walter and Kaela Worthen, founders with the sort of fire you’d expect from people who’ve seen the maddening aftermath of financial cleanup firsthand.

Walter, for one, was blindsided by the bureaucratic nightmare that hit him when his father-in-law passed away.

Imagine being knee-deep in grief and asked to hunt down every last bank account, mortgage, insurance policy, and hidden investment that the departed left strewn across the financial landscape.

Walter realized there had to be a better way—a way out of the paperwork labyrinth that most of us find ourselves trapped in after a death. And thus, Sunset was born.

Worthen, meanwhile, is a startup veteran with scars from her time at Reddit, Podium, and her own ventures, Paintbrush and Imzy.

She’s the product mastermind, a “product person with a touch of engineering, UX, and data science,” who wields her experience like a machete, hacking through the jungle of financial absurdity alongside Walter.

Their combined experience brings a brutally honest vision to Sunset: in the world’s darkest moments, they’ll be the ones untangling the red tape, extracting the hidden accounts, and consolidating everything into one clear, clean estate account. No more scattering; no more chasing.

Sunset doesn’t just make the process easier—they make it almost poetic.

Their process is both blunt and brilliant. When you lose someone, Sunset’s team goes to work. First, they scour public and private databases. They dive into IRS records, banks, investment firms, and obscure ledgers that would otherwise remain locked and unyielding to the common mourner. Their algorithms trawl through financial reporting, looking for the deceased’s digital footprint: the half-forgotten 401(k) from a job twenty years ago, a checking account left with a few hundred bucks, or an IRA gathering dust in the back pages of a financial institution’s forgotten database. And when they confirm a match, they go in with surgical precision to close every account, liquidate every asset, and siphon it all into a Sunset-managed estate account.

A Radical New Model

But Sunset doesn’t stop there. They’re taking the fight to the status quo, and here’s where it gets bold. Sunset is free to use—yes, free. No high fees sneaking in under the door, no hidden charges tucked into the fine print. They make their money on the interest earned while the funds sit in Sunset’s estate accounts. This means every dollar, every cent they secure, goes straight into your account. But while it’s there, Sunset catches a cut on the interest, an elegantly ruthless monetization strategy that also doubles as a mandate to be fast and efficient. If they’re not getting you the money promptly, they’re not making money either.

This incentive model isn’t just smart; it’s revolutionary in the arena of estate handling, where professionals usually charge exorbitant fees to deal with the dead’s financial leftovers. In an industry that’s made grief its primary cash cow, Sunset’s approach feels like an audacious, almost punk-rock stance. They’re turning a system built to profit off loss on its head, making it clear they’re here to serve the living.

The Black List of Death's Legacy

Once they’ve secured the money, Sunset pours it all into an estate account that you can access, manage, and control. This single account becomes a kind of shrine to the deceased’s financial life, devoid of unnecessary complexity. They handle bank accounts, retirement funds, life insurance payouts, mutual funds, personal loans, and even credit card balances. Mortgages and real estate? They’ll dig those up too. They’ve even started tapping into unclaimed property and business ownership—assets that are usually overlooked or lost in the chaos. 

Imagine the relief. Sunset’s service is an exorcism, clearing away the unnecessary clutter that clings to a life. Their new feature set reads like a dark shopping list of every hidden asset America’s legal system has to offer: savings accounts, CDs, 401(k)s, IRAs, personal and investment real estate, stocks, bonds, and HSA accounts. They’ve even got a line on the vehicles gathering dust in some far-off garage. If it can be discovered, Sunset will track it down.

But Sunset isn’t about pouring over paperwork for the hell of it. They want efficiency. Every database they tap, every account they close, it’s all about getting the job done quickly and cleanly. The alternative, after all, is months, maybe years, of emotional torture for those left behind. By compressing this labyrinthine process into a service you can access online, Sunset spares the living the financial scavenger hunt that has plagued families for decades.

A System Designed for the Bereaved

The business model would be impressive on its own, but Sunset’s edge is sharpened by its founders’ own experiences.

Walter’s personal story—wrestling with his father-in-law’s tangled financial afterlife—is more than just a soundbite. It’s the bitter reality that gave rise to Sunset. The stark, unforgiving bureaucracy left him with a bruised soul and a clear vision: no one else should have to suffer through that hell. This isn’t just a business idea; it’s a mission.

Worthen’s empathy, seasoned by her own tech scars, adds depth to Sunset’s approach.

She’s crafted the user experience as something almost ritualistic—a way for the living to purge the mess without getting lost in the weeds. It’s the kind of clean, clear simplicity that only someone who’s seen the ugly side of Silicon Valley could appreciate. Here, you won’t find the typical customer service black hole. Walter himself keeps an inbox open, ready to field questions from anyone plunging into the nightmare of closing accounts for a deceased loved one.

Breaking the Industry’s Morbid Monopoly

Sunset is up against an industry that has capitalized on grief and confusion for years. The probate and estate planning sectors thrive on hidden fees, lengthy processes, and exploitation disguised as “professional assistance.” This isn’t just about creating a company; it’s a declaration of war on an industry built to keep people in the dark.

Sunset’s radical transparency—their “no hidden fees” policy, the clear incentive alignment, the swift closure process—turns them into rebels against the juggernaut. They’re not just cleaning up accounts; they’re flipping the whole field. And in the world of Y Combinator’s countless startups, that rebellious spirit is what makes Sunset shine.

A Glimpse of the Future

For those reeling from loss, Sunset offers more than just a service; it’s a lifeline. In the most chaotic and fragile moment, they provide order, clarity, and—dare we say—a bit of peace. They don’t expect you to navigate this wilderness alone. They’re the navigators, the clean-up crew, the people who will go into the dark corners and clean out what needs to be cleaned, with a process that’s as smooth as it is surreal.

For the brave souls prepared to deal with the financial detritus of their loved ones, Sunset is open for business. Their site, sunsetapp.com, welcomes those ready to face down the dollars and cents of a loved one’s legacy. Walter’s got his inbox open, and if anyone can take on the last remains of bureaucracy, it’s him. So, when death comes knocking, let Sunset answer the door.

--- 

Shameless Pitch Opps.ai

Get data on your ideal customer or investor.

Tell Valet to “Create a Campaign Targeting by Ideal Customer [Geography, Industry, Title, Company Size, Title of Contact]

Valet our A.I. Agent researches your data and builds your campaign turning days of work into minutes.