Search YC Companies by Name, Founder, Tagline or Batch

People search YC companies many ways: company name, founder name, product keywords from a tagline, batch code (W24), or opaque IDs (ai29973). Guide Startups supports all of these from /companies plus browse routes for batches, industries, founders, and years.

This guide is the practical companion to how to browse YC companies—focused on search tactics for competitive research, hiring, investing, and answering long-tail Google queries.

Fastest path: type the startup name in the companies search box—partial matches work (e.g. "stripe," "wedge," "supabase").

Each result links to /companies/{name-slug}-{company_id}. Examples:

• Stripe — Summer 2009
• Wedge — Summer 2025
• Supabase — Winter 2020

If two companies share a similar name, the trailing company_id disambiguates URLs. Misspelling "demand sphere" instead of DemandSphere? Try phonetic fragments or tagline keywords in the next section.

When you know the person but not the startup:

1. Search /founders by first/last name (paginated directory).
2. Or search /companies—founder names are indexed in company records.
3. Open the company profile → Founders section for title, bio, LinkedIn.

Detailed workflow: how to find YC founders. For CEO-specific queries ("who runs this company"), see YC company CEO and leadership lookup.

Batch search answers "who was in my cohort?" or "what did W24 build?"

1. Decode the code — YC batch codes decoded (W24 = Winter 2024).
2. Open /batches → select Winter 2024 (or matching season/year).
3. Scan or sort the company list; use industry tags to narrow.

Combine with batch size data to set expectations (~250 companies for large W/S cohorts recently).

Search Console sends traffic with product descriptions instead of names—e.g. "instant SaaS management," "3D map," "cashier-less retail," "Palantir for healthcare AI agents."

On Guide Startups: enter distinctive phrases in the companies search box. The index matches short_description, long_description, and tags.

Tips for better results:

• Use 2–4 specific words (not full sentences).
• Try synonyms: "AI agent" vs. "automation" vs. "copilot."
• Filter mentally by batch or industry after results appear.
• Open top matches and verify batch + founders on the profile.

Vertical guides help interpret results: healthcare AI, fintech verticals, messaging startups.

High-impression queries like ai29973 are company IDs, not batch codes. Strip the ai prefix → search 29973 on /companies, or open /companies/*-29973 if you know the slug.

Full walkthrough: how to look up any YC company by ID. This resolves navigational traffic with 0% CTR in Search Console—users need a direct path to the company page.

Advanced research stacks browse routes:

No single advanced query UI is required—sequence search + browse pages. Investors building market maps often export mentally from batch pages by vertical.

1. Try exact company name on /companies.
2. If unknown, search tagline keywords from the product category.
3. If you have a person, use /founders or founder field on company pages.
4. If you have W24/S21, go to /batches.
5. If you have ai#####, use numeric ID search.
6. Cross-check batch, tags, and website on the profile before outreach.

To search Y Combinator companies effectively, match your input type to the right tool: name and keywords on /companies, people on /founders, cohorts on /batches, and IDs via the ID lookup guide.

Long-tail tagline searches are first-class—use them to discover startups you would never find by name alone.