Y Combinator Scraper: YC Companies, Founders & Email Pattern

What it does

Companies, founders and open jobs from Y Combinator's public startup directory, one row type per run, with domain, LinkedIn, batch, team size and salaries. Each row can carry the company's email pattern, and the row says whether that pattern rests on an email the company published or is a free guess.

{
  "rowType": "company",
  "companyId": 755,
  "name": "Bright",
  "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/bright",
  "website": "https://www.thinkbright.mx/",
  "domain": "thinkbright.mx",
  "oneLiner": "Sunrun for the developing world",
  "batch": "Winter 2015",
  "batchCode": "W15",
  "status": "Active",
  "stage": "Growth",
  "teamSize": 100,
  "industries": ["Industrials", "Energy"],
  "location": "New York City, NY",
  "country": "US",
  "yearFounded": 2014,
  "linkedinUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/9506733/",
  "foundersCount": 1,
  "jobsCount": 0,
  "emailPattern": {
    "domain": "thinkbright.mx",
    "pattern": "first.last",
    "confidence": 0.1,
    "inferred": true,
    "evidenceCount": 0,
    "mxValid": true,
    "mxHosts": ["aspmx.l.google.com", "alt1.aspmx.l.google.com"],
    "emailProvider": "Google Workspace",
    "catchAll": null,
    "billable": false
  },
  "detailFetched": true
}

Why this one

Use cases

• Build a target list of YC startups in one region, batch, industry or tag, with domain, team size and company LinkedIn.
• List the founders of a batch with their LinkedIn and bio, to research decision makers before any outreach.
• Collect open roles at YC companies with structured salary, equity, visa and the hiring manager named on the job page.
• Watch a region or batch on a schedule, sorting by `launchDate` to see the newest companies first.
• Join the directory to other company data on the `domain` column, which is filled on every company row.

Input

Every field has a default, and the defaults are deliberately small so a first run is cheap enough to inspect before you commit to a sweep. This table mirrors the Actor's own input schema field for field.

Output and fill rates

A field being in the schema is not the same as it having a value. The percentages below were counted on real runs; the sample sizes are in Measurements. Anything not listed here is not promised.

Every key is always present. A field that exists but is empty comes back as explicit null, so a parser never has to guess.

Datasets

Different record types go to different datasets, so the main table never carries columns that are blank on most rows.

Pricing

Pay per delivered result. Charges are applied as each row is produced rather than in a lump at the end, so an aborted run bills only for what it actually gave you.

Measurements

Each figure is shown with the method that produced it. A benchmark without a method is a marketing claim wearing a number's clothes.

What it will not do

Stated plainly so you can judge fit before spending anything.

• One directory query returns at most 1,000 results. The Actor splits large searches by batch, which reached 6,267 of 6,267 companies, but a single filtered query cannot see past 1,000.
• Email candidates are mostly inferred: 91.1% of founders got one, while only 7.5% of companies (6 of 80) had a pattern backed by evidence. Check `emailCandidateInferred` and `emailCandidateConfidence` before using one.
• No address is verified. The Actor reads MX records and never connects to a mail server, so `catchAll` is always null.
• The `stages` filter is applied after the search, because the directory cannot filter by stage, so a stage-filtered run reads more than it delivers.
• The jobs output always restricts to hiring companies, and only 18 of the 221 Latin American companies were hiring on 1 October 2026.
• Past companies come from Work at a Startup and were filled for 48.3% of founders; company X and Crunchbase links for 48.8% of companies.
• Separate runs are independent: a company delivered by two runs is charged in each.
• Y Combinator's site terms prohibit scraping and ask a blocked visitor not to circumvent the block. The Actor connects directly and measured 0 blocks in 2,177 requests, and its README states that it switches to a fresh session if the site starts blocking.

Privacy

• Founders and hiring managers are natural persons, so founder rows are personal data under the GDPR whatever the professional context.
• Founder and hiring-manager data for companies based in the EU, EEA, UK or Switzerland is withheld by default; enabling `includeEuPersons` makes the user responsible for a lawful basis under the GDPR.
• Emails at personal domains such as gmail.com and outlook.com are removed everywhere, including inside descriptions, unless `includePersonalEmails` is enabled.
• Email candidates are constructions, marked with their confidence and whether they are inferred. The README warns against bulk email.
• Image links are delivered without their temporary signature, and video links are not delivered at all.
• Removal requests: privacy@actorstack.dev

See also the data removal process.

Guides for this Actor

• Stated vs inferred company dataCompany data comes in three layers — what a source publishes, what can be derived from it, and what is constructed from a rule. Two Actors, and how each one labels which layer a value came from.
• Scrape the YC companies listExporting YC companies, founders and jobs from the public directory: one row type per run, the 1,000-result ceiling and the batch split that gets past it, measured fill rates, and what a founder email candidate actually is.