How to Find Y Combinator Founders: Directory, LinkedIn & Search

Search traffic to YC directories is not only company names and ai##### IDs. A large share is founder-focused: "Supabase founders," "Continue.dev founders," "[name] LinkedIn Y Combinator," or "who founded [startup]." Those queries want a person, their role, and the company they built.

Guide Startups lists 10,000+ founders drawn from YC company data, with links between people and startups. This guide shows the fastest paths on this site—company page first, then the founders directory, then external profiles (LinkedIn, GitHub) when you need more context. For company IDs and slugs, see how to look up a YC company by ID; for all browse routes, see how to browse YC companies.

If you know the startup name, start on /companies and search for it—e.g. "Supabase," "Continue," or "Altrina." Open the company profile (/companies/{slug}-{id}).

The Founders section on each company page includes, when available:

• Founder name (linked to /founders/{name-slug})
• Title (e.g. CEO, CTO)
• Short bio
• LinkedIn and Twitter/X links

Example: Supabase lists founders such as Paul Copplestone and Ant Wilson with LinkedIn URLs. Continue is the profile for Continue.dev (common Search Console query: "continue.dev founders"). Company-first research is usually faster than guessing a founder slug from a full name.

The founders index lists every founder name extracted from YC companies, alphabetically, with pagination (48 names per page). Each entry links to /founders/{slug}, where the slug is the lowercased, hyphenated name (e.g. /founders/ant-wilson for Ant Wilson).

On a founder page you see:

• The founder’s display name
• All YC companies tied to that person in our data (some founders appear on more than one company)
• Links back to each company profile

Use this path when you have a person’s name but not the company, or when you want to confirm which startup they are associated with. There is no sitewide founder search box yet—browse pages or use the company search workaround below.

When you do not know the founder’s name, narrow companies first:

1. Search companies — on /companies, use keywords from the product ("devtools," "database," tagline words).
2. Filter by batch — open /batches, pick a cohort (e.g. W20), scan cards, then open profiles.
3. Filter by industry — use /industries for a vertical, then open companies and read the Founders block.

Queries like "altrina ai founders" or "14.ai founders" map cleanly: search the company, then scroll to Founders. That matches how Search Console long-tails are phrased—company brand + "founders" or "LinkedIn."

Guide Startups surfaces LinkedIn and Twitter links on company pages when they exist in our dataset. Use them to verify role, history, and mutual connections—especially for outreach or press.

LinkedIn tips:

• Confirm the profile matches the YC company (name, logo, batch timing).
• Check "Experience" for CEO vs. co-founder vs. advisor titles.
• Prefer warm intros over cold InMail when possible.

GitHub and other sources: Search Console often shows queries like "name" github or medium or substack. Our directory may not list GitHub; use company websites, YC profiles, or public repos after you identify the right person on a company page.

Ethical boundaries: Use public professional information for research, recruiting, or journalism—not scraping private data or harassing founders. Respect opt-outs and platform terms.

Some searches quote a product description instead of a company name—e.g. "array labs 3d map" or "instant SaaS management." Those are company discovery problems, not founder-directory problems:

1. Search distinctive words on /companies.
2. Open the matching profile.
3. Read the Founders section and LinkedIn links.

For CEO-only questions ("who is the CEO of…"), the company page founder list plus title field is the right first stop; dedicated CEO lookup patterns are covered in a separate guide. If you only have an ai##### code, use company ID lookup first, then founders.

• Searching founder names on /companies — company search matches company name and description, not founder names. Find the company, or browse /founders.
• Confusing batch codes with people — W24 is a cohort, not a person. See YC batches explained.
• Expecting every founder to have LinkedIn — some profiles omit links; try the company website or YC’s directory [1].
• Ignoring name collisions — common names may map to one slug; confirm via company and bio on the company page.
• Skipping the company page — you lose bios and social links that founder-only pages do not duplicate today.

To find Y Combinator founders on Guide Startups: search the company on /companies and use the Founders block (bios + LinkedIn), or browse /founders when you start from a name. Combine with batch and industry browse for discovery without a known company.

For the full directory map, read how to browse YC companies. Confirm critical details on YC’s official directory [1] when accuracy matters for publication or investment.