# Y Combinator Startup Directory with Founders & Jobs (`dataspryva/y-combinator-startup-directory-with-founders`) Actor

Search Y Combinator's company directory by batch, industry, status, or keyword, and get each company's profile, founders, and open job postings. No login required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/dataspryva/y-combinator-startup-directory-with-founders.md
- **Developed by:** [Dataspryva](https://apify.com/dataspryva) (community)
- **Categories:** Jobs, Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.49 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Y Combinator Startup Directory with Founders & Jobs

Scrape **Y Combinator's startup directory** — all 6,337 companies across every batch since 2005 — with founders, open jobs, Launch YC posts, news and company media. Search by keyword, batch, industry, region, status or tag, or fetch specific companies by URL or slug. No login, no API key, no proxy.

### What this actor does

- **Two modes:** `search` for the full directory or filtered slices, and `byCompany` for a list of companies you already know.
- **Complete coverage:** all 50 YC batches and 6,337 companies, with no silent 1,000-row ceiling.
- **Company-first records:** batch, stage, status, industries, tags, badges, descriptions, locations, logo, socials, partner, photos, Launch YC posts, news and application answers.
- **Founders and jobs:** founder name, title, bio, LinkedIn, X, avatar and contactability flag; open jobs with salary and equity ranges, experience, visa, skills and optional full descriptions.
- **Empty fields are omitted** — no `null`, empty strings or placeholder values anywhere in a record.

### Output per company

- `type` — always `yc_company`
- `id`, `slug`, `url`, `name` — identity and YC profile link
- `companyId` — YC's numeric company ID
- `batch`, `batchName` — short code (e.g. `S24`) and full name (e.g. `Summer 2024`)
- `status` — `Active`, `Inactive`, `Acquired`, `Public` or `Not YC`
- `stage` — `Early` or `Growth`, when YC publishes it
- `industry`, `subIndustry`, `industries[]`, `tags[]`, `badges[]`
- `topCompany`, `isHiring`, `nonprofit` — present when YC flags the company
- `highlightBlackFounders`, `highlightWomenFounders`, `highlightHispanicFounders` — present when YC flags the company
- `shortDescription`, `longDescription`, `pitch`
- `website`, `logo`, `logoThumb`
- `foundingYear`, `launchedAt` (Unix timestamp), `formerNames[]`
- `teamSize` — omitted when YC reports 0 (unknown)
- `location`, `allLocations[]`, `city`, `country`, `regions[]`
- `linkedin`, `twitter`, `facebook`, `crunchbase`, `github`, `wellfound`
- `primaryPartner` — `{name, url, avatar}`
- `ycdcUrl`
- `photos[]` — public company photo URLs
- `videos[]` — `{title, videoUrl, libraryUrl, date}`
- `news[]` — `{title, url, date}`
- `launches[]` — `{id, title, tagline, url, createdAt, votes}` plus `body` when launch bodies are enabled
- `questionsAndAnswers[]` — `{question, answer}`
- `founders[]` — `{id, name, title, bio, avatar, linkedin, twitter, hasEmail, email, isActive, profileUrl}`; with founder profiles enabled, also `currentTitle`, `batches`, `previousRoles`, `schools` and extra social links
- `founderCount`
- `openJobs[]` — `{id, title, url, applyUrl, location, remote, type, role, roleSpecificType, prettyRole, minExperience, salaryRange, salaryMin, salaryMax, salaryCurrency, equityRange, equity, skills, visa, askUs, postedAgo}`; with job descriptions enabled, also `description`, `interviewProcess` and `hiringManager`
- `jobCount`
- `demoDayVideo`, `demoDayVideoUrl`, `applicationVideo`, `applicationVideoUrl`
- `kind`, `isCompanyHiring`, `topCompanyBadge`, `ycdcBadgeName`, `teamHighlights` — retained legacy fields, only when the source still supplies them
- `scrapedAt` — UTC timestamp of the scrape

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `mode` | string | `search` | `search` filters the directory; `byCompany` fetches `companyUrls` |
| `searchQuery` | string | – | Free-text relevance search (mode=search) |
| `batch` | string | `any` | `any` or a YC batch code such as `S24`, `P25` or `F26` |
| `industry` | string | `any` | Exact YC industry facet |
| `region` | string | `any` | Exact YC region facet, including `Remote` variants |
| `status` | string | `any` | `any`, `Active`, `Inactive`, `Acquired` or `Public` |
| `tags` | array | `[]` | Exact YC tags; any one match is enough |
| `isHiring` | boolean | `false` | Only companies with YC's Is Hiring badge |
| `topCompany` | boolean | `false` | Only companies with YC's Top Company badge |
| `nonprofit` | boolean | `false` | Only companies with YC's Nonprofit badge |
| `highlightBlackFounders` | boolean | `false` | Only companies YC flags as having Black founders |
| `highlightWomenFounders` | boolean | `false` | Only companies YC flags as having women founders |
| `highlightHispanicFounders` | boolean | `false` | Only companies YC flags as having Hispanic or Latino founders |
| `minTeamSize` | integer | – | Drop companies below this employee count |
| `maxTeamSize` | integer | – | Drop companies above this employee count |
| `sortBy` | string | `default` | `default` directory order or `launchDate` (newest first) |
| `companyUrls` | array | `[]` | Full YC URLs, `/companies/<slug>` paths or bare slugs (mode=byCompany) |
| `scrapeFounders` | boolean | `true` | Add founders from the company page |
| `scrapeOpenJobs` | boolean | `true` | Add open jobs from the company page |
| `includeJobDescriptions` | boolean | `false` | Add full job descriptions, interview process and hiring manager |
| `includeLaunches` | boolean | `true` | Add Launch YC post metadata |
| `includeLaunchBodies` | boolean | `false` | Add the full text of each Launch YC post |
| `includeNews` | boolean | `false` | Add news items linked from the company page |
| `includeFounderProfiles` | boolean | `false` | Add previous roles, schools and current title per founder |
| `maxItems` | integer | `50` | Stop after this many companies (1–7,000), applied after filters |

#### Example: a batch's fintech companies with founders and job details

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "batch": "S24",
  "industry": "Fintech",
  "scrapeFounders": true,
  "scrapeOpenJobs": true,
  "includeJobDescriptions": true,
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

#### Example: export the complete directory

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "scrapeFounders": true,
  "scrapeOpenJobs": false,
  "includeLaunches": true,
  "maxItems": 7000
}
```

#### Example: look up specific companies

```json
{
  "mode": "byCompany",
  "companyUrls": [
    "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/airbnb",
    "/companies/stripe",
    "doordash"
  ],
  "scrapeFounders": true,
  "scrapeOpenJobs": true,
  "includeLaunchBodies": true
}
```

#### Example: top hiring companies in Europe, newest launches first

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "region": "Europe",
  "topCompany": true,
  "isHiring": true,
  "minTeamSize": 50,
  "sortBy": "launchDate",
  "scrapeFounders": true,
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Use cases

- **Lead generation** — build batch, industry or region lists with founder names, titles and LinkedIn profiles.
- **Recruiting** — pull open YC roles with salary ranges, equity, experience requirements and full descriptions.
- **Market mapping** — compare companies across batches, industries, regions, team sizes and stage.
- **Competitive research** — track launches, news and product positioning from the directory.
- **Diversity sourcing** — use the founder highlight badges YC itself publishes.
- **Data enrichment** — fetch known companies by URL or slug and append founders, jobs and media.

### FAQ

**Do I need a login or API key?**
No. The directory, company pages, founder profiles and job pages are public.

**How many companies are in the directory?**
About 6,337 companies across 50 batches, growing with each new batch. A single run can export up to 7,000 companies.

**Why is there no revenue, ARR or funding data?**
Y Combinator does not publish revenue, valuation or funding amounts in the directory, company pages or job pages. The actor does not infer or fabricate them.

**Why are there no founder email addresses?**
YC publishes only a contactability flag, surfaced as `hasEmail`. The actor does not guess or verify email addresses.

**Why are some founders, jobs, launches or news items missing?**
Those sections are published per company. When a company has none, the field is omitted rather than filled with an empty value. Companies with a hiring badge can still have no public job postings.

**Where do `stage`, `launchedAt` and `formerNames` come from?**
From YC's own directory metadata. When that metadata is unavailable for a run, those fields are omitted and the run continues.

**Why is `teamSize` missing for some companies?**
Some companies report 0 employees, which means unknown. A zero is not a real team size, so it is omitted and size filters exclude it.

**Do I need a proxy?**
No. The actor reads public pages directly without a proxy or browser.

**Is this affiliated with Y Combinator?**
No. This is an independent, third-party actor that reads Y Combinator's public directory and is not operated by or affiliated with Y Combinator.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

search filters the directory; byCompany fetches the exact companies in companyUrls.

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Free-text relevance search across company names, descriptions and tags (mode=search).

## `batch` (type: `string`):

YC batch. P = Spring, S = Summer, W = Winter, F = Fall. 'any' includes every batch.

## `industry` (type: `string`):

Exact YC industry facet. 'any' includes every industry.

## `region` (type: `string`):

Exact YC region facet. 'any' includes every region.

## `status` (type: `string`):

Company operating status. 'any' includes every status.

## `tags` (type: `array`):

Exact YC tags; any one match is enough. Common tags: AI, B2B, SaaS, Fintech, Developer Tools, Marketplace, Generative AI, Consumer, Machine Learning, E-commerce, Healthcare, Analytics, Hardware, Open Source, Health Tech, Productivity, Education, AI Assistant, Robotics, Infrastructure.

## `isHiring` (type: `boolean`):

Only companies carrying YC's Is Hiring badge.

## `topCompany` (type: `boolean`):

Only companies carrying YC's Top Company badge.

## `nonprofit` (type: `boolean`):

Only companies carrying YC's Nonprofit badge.

## `highlightBlackFounders` (type: `boolean`):

Only companies YC flags as having Black founders.

## `highlightWomenFounders` (type: `boolean`):

Only companies YC flags as having women founders.

## `highlightHispanicFounders` (type: `boolean`):

Only companies YC flags as having Hispanic or Latino founders.

## `minTeamSize` (type: `integer`):

Drop companies with fewer employees. Companies reporting 0 (unknown) are excluded.

## `maxTeamSize` (type: `integer`):

Drop companies with more employees. Companies reporting 0 (unknown) are excluded.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Directory order follows YC relevance; launchDate puts the newest directory launches first.

## `companyUrls` (type: `array`):

Companies to fetch (mode=byCompany). Accepts full ycombinator.com/companies URLs, /companies/<slug> paths or bare slugs.

## `scrapeFounders` (type: `boolean`):

Add each company's founders with title, bio, LinkedIn, X and profile link. Uses the company page already fetched for the record.

## `scrapeOpenJobs` (type: `boolean`):

Add current job postings with salary and equity ranges, experience, visa, skills and remote signal.

## `includeJobDescriptions` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch one extra page per job for its full description, interview process and hiring manager.

## `includeLaunches` (type: `boolean`):

Add Launch YC post metadata (title, tagline, date, votes, link).

## `includeLaunchBodies` (type: `boolean`):

Add the full text of each Launch YC post. Makes records much larger.

## `includeNews` (type: `boolean`):

Add news items linked from the company page.

## `includeFounderProfiles` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch one extra page per founder for previous roles, schools and current title.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many companies. Applied after filters and before detail pages.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "batch": "S24",
  "industry": "any",
  "region": "any",
  "status": "any",
  "tags": [],
  "isHiring": false,
  "topCompany": false,
  "nonprofit": false,
  "highlightBlackFounders": false,
  "highlightWomenFounders": false,
  "highlightHispanicFounders": false,
  "sortBy": "default",
  "companyUrls": [],
  "scrapeFounders": true,
  "scrapeOpenJobs": true,
  "includeJobDescriptions": false,
  "includeLaunches": true,
  "includeLaunchBodies": false,
  "includeNews": false,
  "includeFounderProfiles": false,
  "maxItems": 3
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `companies` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing all scraped Y Combinator company records.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "mode": "search",
    "batch": "S24",
    "tags": [],
    "isHiring": false,
    "topCompany": false,
    "nonprofit": false,
    "highlightBlackFounders": false,
    "highlightWomenFounders": false,
    "highlightHispanicFounders": false,
    "sortBy": "default",
    "companyUrls": [],
    "scrapeFounders": true,
    "scrapeOpenJobs": false,
    "includeJobDescriptions": false,
    "includeLaunches": false,
    "includeLaunchBodies": false,
    "includeNews": false,
    "includeFounderProfiles": false,
    "maxItems": 3
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("dataspryva/y-combinator-startup-directory-with-founders").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "mode": "search",
    "batch": "S24",
    "tags": [],
    "isHiring": False,
    "topCompany": False,
    "nonprofit": False,
    "highlightBlackFounders": False,
    "highlightWomenFounders": False,
    "highlightHispanicFounders": False,
    "sortBy": "default",
    "companyUrls": [],
    "scrapeFounders": True,
    "scrapeOpenJobs": False,
    "includeJobDescriptions": False,
    "includeLaunches": False,
    "includeLaunchBodies": False,
    "includeNews": False,
    "includeFounderProfiles": False,
    "maxItems": 3,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("dataspryva/y-combinator-startup-directory-with-founders").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "mode": "search",
  "batch": "S24",
  "tags": [],
  "isHiring": false,
  "topCompany": false,
  "nonprofit": false,
  "highlightBlackFounders": false,
  "highlightWomenFounders": false,
  "highlightHispanicFounders": false,
  "sortBy": "default",
  "companyUrls": [],
  "scrapeFounders": true,
  "scrapeOpenJobs": false,
  "includeJobDescriptions": false,
  "includeLaunches": false,
  "includeLaunchBodies": false,
  "includeNews": false,
  "includeFounderProfiles": false,
  "maxItems": 3
}' |
apify call dataspryva/y-combinator-startup-directory-with-founders --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,dataspryva/y-combinator-startup-directory-with-founders"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/fbBWIR9F8RcmhmS4l/builds/u3s5u8dLqnytfJXXx/openapi.json