YC Startup Intelligence & Founder Contact Enricher

An advanced data intelligence and prospecting Actor that extracts 5,800+ Y Combinator-backed startups from the official YC directory and deeply enriches them with verified founder names, direct emails, founder & company LinkedIn URLs, phone numbers, and official social media channels.

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Overview & Key Capabilities

Traditional YC scrapers only export a basic company directory without decision-maker contacts. This Actor combines the official YC database with deep website content extraction to deliver actionable sales and investment intelligence.

+------------------------+      +---------------------------+      +---------------------------+
| YC Algolia Public API  | ---> | Founder Scraper Engine    | ---> | Deep Website Crawl        |
| • 5,800+ Companies     |      | • Founder Names & Roles   |      | • Direct Corporate Emails |
| • Batch & Statuses     |      | • Personal LinkedIn/X     |      | • Social Profiles & Phones|
+------------------------+      +---------------------------+      +---------------------------+

Core Features

• Complete Directory Coverage: Access all 5,800+ YC startups across every batch (W05 to present).
• Founder Intelligence: Automatically extracts founder names and personal LinkedIn/X handles.
• Deep Website Enrichment: Crawls company domains (/contact, /about, /team) to discover public corporate emails, phone lines, and social handles.
• Granular Filtering: Filter by YC batch (e.g. W24, S23), status (Active, Acquired, Public), industry (AI, B2B, Fintech, Healthcare), and hiring status (isHiring).
• High-Speed Execution: Directly queries official search endpoints without fragile browser rendering.

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Comparison: Traditional Scrapers vs. This Actor

Feature	Basic YC Directory Scrapers	YC Startup Intelligence Enricher
Company Name & Description	Yes	Yes
Batch, Industry & Status	Yes	Yes
Founder Names & Roles	Rarely / Incomplete	Yes (Automated Extraction)
Direct Contact Emails	No	Yes (Deep Website Crawl)
Personal & Company LinkedIn	Basic / Missing	Yes (Both Company & Founders)
Social Media Footprint	No	LinkedIn, Twitter/X, GitHub, FB, IG
CRM / Webhook Ready	Basic	JSON, CSV, Excel, n8n, Zapier

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchQuery	string	""	Search keyword for company name, technology, or description.
batch	string	""	Filter by YC batch (e.g. W24, S23, F25).
status	string	""	Filter by status: Active, Acquired, Inactive, or Public.
industry	string	""	Filter by industry (e.g. Healthcare, Fintech, B2B, AI).
region	string	""	Filter by region (e.g. United States, Europe).
isHiring	boolean	false	Only return companies currently hiring.
isTopCompany	boolean	false	Only return YC top companies.
maxCompanies	integer	100	Maximum number of startups to extract (0 for all).
enrichContacts	boolean	true	Deep-crawl startup websites for verified emails, phones, and socials.

Sample Input

{
  "searchQuery": "AI",
  "batch": "W24",
  "isHiring": true,
  "maxCompanies": 50,
  "enrichContacts": true
}

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Output Data Structure

The Actor produces clean, structured JSON items in the default dataset:

{
  "id": 12345,
  "name": "Acme AI",
  "slug": "acme-ai",
  "website": "https://www.acme-ai.com",
  "oneLiner": "Autonomous intelligence workflow engine.",
  "longDescription": "Acme AI provides enterprise workflow automation...",
  "teamSize": 12,
  "ycUrl": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/acme-ai",
  "batch": "W24",
  "status": "Active",
  "industries": ["B2B", "Artificial Intelligence"],
  "founders": [
    {
      "name": "Jane Doe",
      "title": "Co-Founder & CEO",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/janedoe"
    }
  ],
  "email": "contact@acme-ai.com",
  "emails": ["contact@acme-ai.com", "support@acme-ai.com"],
  "phone": "+1-415-555-0199",
  "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/acme-ai",
  "twitter": "https://x.com/AcmeAI",
  "github": "https://github.com/acme-ai",
  "isHiring": true,
  "isTopCompany": false,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-16T12:00:00.000Z",
  "enriched": true
}

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API & Automation Integration

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

run_input = {
    "batch": "W24",
    "isHiring": True,
    "maxCompanies": 50,
    "enrichContacts": True
}

run = client.actor("constant_hyssop/yc-startup-enricher").call(run_input=run_input)

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"{item['name']} | Email: {item['email']} | Founders: {item['founders']}")

Node.js / TypeScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('constant_hyssop/yc-startup-enricher').call({
    searchQuery: 'Fintech',
    maxCompanies: 25,
    enrichContacts: true,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Extracted ${items.length} enriched YC startups.`);

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Use Cases

• Venture Capital & Deal Flow: Source high-velocity startups matching specific investment theses immediately upon batch announcements.
• B2B Outbound Prospecting: Target funded early-stage startups with direct founder LinkedIn contacts and corporate emails.
• Talent & Recruitment Agencies: Discover high-growth companies actively hiring engineering and product roles.