Substack is building β¦
", "ycBatch": "W18", "companyStatus": "Active", "companyFounded": 2017, "companyTeamSize": 90, "companyLocation": "San Francisco", "companyWebsite": "https://substack.com", "companyUrl": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/substack", "companySlug": "substack", "companyDescription": "Start a newsletter. Build your community. β¦", "founders": [ { "name": "Chris Best", "role": "Co-founder & CEO at Substackβ¦" }, { "name": "Hamish McKenzie", "role": "COO" }, { "name": "Jairaj Sethi", "role": "ππ½" } ], "scrapedAt": "2026-05-02T10:49:39.558Z" } ``` #### Company row, with both enrichment toggles on (truncated) Captured with `startUrls=["https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/airbnb"], scrapeFounderDetails=true, scrapeOpenJobs=true`: ```jsonc { "id": 271, "slug": "airbnb", "name": "Airbnb", "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/airbnb", "batch": "Winter 2009", "industry": "Consumer", "subindustry": "Consumer -> Travel, Leisure and Tourism", "industries": ["Consumer", "Travel, Leisure and Tourism"], "regions": ["United States of America", "America / Canada"], "allLocations": "San Francisco, CA, USA", "oneLiner": "Book accommodations around the world.", "teamSize": 6132, "status": "Public", "stage": "Growth", "topCompany": true, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "launchedAt": "2012-01-17T09:00:56.000Z", "website": "http://airbnb.com", "tags": ["Marketplace", "Travel"], "formerNames": [], "appVideoPublic": false, "demoDayVideoPublic": false, "founders": [ { "name": "Brian Chesky", "title": "Founder/CEO", "linkedinUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/", "twitterUrl": "https://twitter.com/bchesky", "isActive": true, "hasEmail": true }, { "name": "Nathan Blecharczyk", "title": "Founder/CTO", "linkedinUrl": "β¦", "twitterUrl": "β¦" }, { "name": "Joe Gebbia", "title": "Founder/CPO", "linkedinUrl": "β¦", "twitterUrl": "β¦" } ], "socials": { "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/airbnb/", "twitter": "https://twitter.com/Airbnb", "facebook": "https://www.facebook.com/airbnb/", "crunchbase": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/airbnb" }, "openJobs": [], "scrapedAt": "2026-05-02T10:49:25.606Z" } ``` *** ### Output fields #### Jobs row (~33 fields) | Field | Description | |---|---| | `title` | Posting title. | | `companyName` | Company display name. | | `roleCategory`, `roleSubcategory`, `jobType` | E.g. `Engineering`, `Devops`, `Full-time`. | | `experience` | Minimum experience asked for. | | `location` | Job location as YC shows it. | | `visaSponsorship` | `"Will sponsor"` if offered, else empty. | | `salaryMin`, `salaryMax`, `salaryCurrency` | Parsed numeric range and currency (`USD`/`GBP`/`EUR`/`INR`). | | `salaryRange` | Salary as the listing shows it (`"$185K - $225K"`). | | `equity` | Equity range as YC shows it. | | `postedAgo` | How long ago the job was posted (e.g. `"2 days"`). | | `datePosted` | ISO date and time the job was posted; empty when YC gives none. | | `applyUrl` | Direct apply link (the YC OAuth bridge to workatastartup.com). | | `url`, `jobId` | Posting URL (`https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/{co}/jobs/{id}`) and YC's job id, e.g. `gD334As-systems-engineer`. | | `description`, `descriptionHtml` | Full description as text and as HTML (preserves newlines). | | `ycBatch` | YC batch (e.g. `S21`, `W18`). | | `companyTagline`, `companyStatus`, `companyFounded`, `companyTeamSize`, `companyLocation` | One-liner, status, year founded, team size and location. | | `companyWebsite`, `companyLogo`, `companyUrl`, `companySlug` | External website, logo URL, YC profile URL and slug. | | `companyDescription` | The company's long description from its YC profile. | | `founders` | Array of `{ name, role }`; `role` is the founder's bio, else their title, else `"Founder"`. | | `scrapedAt` | ISO timestamp of when the row was produced. | #### Companies row (~26 fields, plus enrichment fields) | Field | Description | |---|---| | `id`, `slug`, `name` | YC company id, slug, display name. | | `url` | Profile URL (`https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/{slug}`). | | `batch` | E.g. `"Winter 2009"`, `"Spring 2026"`. | | `industry`, `subindustry`, `industries[]` | Top-level industry, second-level subindustry, full industries array. | | `regions[]` | HQ region tags. | | `allLocations` | Free-form location string. | | `oneLiner`, `longDescription` | Short tagline and full description. | | `teamSize` | Headcount or `null`. | | `status` | `"Active"` / `"Acquired"` / `"Public"` / `"Inactive"` / etc. | | `stage` | YC's stage label: `"Early"` / `"Growth"` / `"Public"` / etc. | | `topCompany`, `isHiring`, `nonprofit` | Booleans. | | `launchedAt` | ISO datetime (converted from epoch). | | `website` | External company website. | | `logo` | Small-logo URL from YC's S3. | | `tags[]` | Free-form YC tags. | | `formerNames[]` | Past company names if YC has them. | | `appVideoPublic`, `demoDayVideoPublic` | Whether YC's videos are publicly available. | | `scrapedAt` | ISO timestamp. | **With `scrapeFounderDetails: true`:** | Field | Description | |---|---| | `founders[]` | `{ name, title, bio, linkedinUrl, twitterUrl, avatarUrl, isActive, hasEmail }`. `name` and `title` are properly separated. | | `socials` | `{ linkedin, twitter, facebook, crunchbase, github }` (non-empty values only). | | `appVideoUrl`, `demoDayVideoUrl` | Direct video URLs when YC has them and they're public. | **With `scrapeOpenJobs: true`:** | Field | Description | |---|---| | `openJobs[]` | `{ jobId, title, url, type, roleCategory, roleSubcategory, salaryRange, equity, location, experience, applyUrl, postedAgo, visaSponsorship }`. | *** ### Monitoring mode When `monitoringMode` is enabled (jobs only), the actor only emits jobs whose numeric id has not been seen in previous runs by the same Apify user. Useful for: - Tracking new YC job postings as they appear - Building a historical archive without re-scraping - Keeping downstream notifications free of duplicates The actor maintains a per-user Key-Value store keyed `YC-JOBS-SEEN-{apifyUserId}`. On each run with `monitoringMode: true`, every listing job is checked against this store; new ids are added (with a small stub: `id`, `url`, `title`) and only those new jobs are enqueued for detail scraping. Reset by deleting the corresponding KV store from the Apify console. `monitoringMode` is currently jobs-only. Companies-mode dedup is planned but not implemented. *** ### Local development ```bash npm install npm run start:dev # runs src/main.ts via tsx npm run build # tsc to dist/ npm run lint # eslint src/ ``` Local input is read from `storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json`. For fully isolated runs set `APIFY_LOCAL_STORAGE_DIR` and `CRAWLEE_STORAGE_DIR` to a temp path. *** ### Limitations / known gaps - **Single-company URL** returns the one company whose slug matches, so 1 row max regardless of `maxItems`. - **Companies mode ignores `monitoringMode`** β dedup is jobs-only for now. - **`maxItems` is per URL, not global.** With 5 startUrls and `maxItems=100`, total output can be up to 500 rows (100 per URL). Set the cap accordingly to control cost. - **Multi-`queries` budget** is shared across keywords *within a single companies search URL/filter run*. If `maxItems` is small, later keywords may not fire (the first keyword fills the quota and the remaining keywords don't run). - **Companies enrichment cost** β `scrapeFounderDetails` and `scrapeOpenJobs` each add one extra lookup per company. For 100 companies, expect ~10β20 seconds extra per toggle. *** ### β FAQ **Can I scrape both jobs and companies in the same run?** Yes. Mix any `/jobs/...` and `/companies...` URLs in `startUrls`; each one auto-routes. `maxItems` is **per URL**, not global β pasting 5 URLs with `maxItems=100` can return up to 500 rows total. **Do I need to set up a proxy?** No. The defaults work out of the box. The proxy setting only affects the Jobs scraper; Companies mode ignores it. **What does the Jobs `location` slug actually filter on?** A case-insensitive substring of the slug (with `-` β ` `) against each job's `location` string. `remote` matches anything containing "Remote"; `india` matches the country code `IN` or the word `India`. **Can I get founders' LinkedIn URLs?** Yes β set `scrapeFounderDetails: true`. Each founder row includes `linkedinUrl` and `twitterUrl` from the company's YC profile. **Does `scrapeOpenJobs` overlap with running Jobs mode?** Different surface. `scrapeOpenJobs` enriches a company row with that company's open postings. Jobs mode (or a `/jobs/...` URL) returns each job as its own row in the dataset. **What's `monitoringMode` and when should I use it?** Jobs-only flag that dedupes against a per-user KV store of seen job ids. Use it for scheduled runs that should only emit new postings. **Can I use the actor with a single-company URL like `/companies/airbnb`?** Yes. It returns exactly one row, the company whose slug matches, regardless of `maxItems`. **How do I control cost?** Use `maxItems` strictly β both modes stop emitting once that ceiling is hit. Disable both enrichment toggles if you don't need founders/socials/jobs β they make runs slower. *** ### Support - File an issue or a feature request via the Apify Console **Issues** tab on the actor page. - Custom integrations (different output shape, additional filters, scheduled feeds into a warehouse) β open an issue describing the use case. *** ### Additional Services Need a Y Combinator dataset shaped to your pipeline? Custom integrations available: - **Custom output schemas** β alternative field names, flattened nested structures, filtered subsets for warehouse loaders. - **Webhook delivery** β push new YC jobs or company changes to Slack, Discord, your CRM, or any HTTP endpoint. - **Scheduled feeds** β daily/weekly runs into Postgres, BigQuery, Snowflake, S3, or Google Sheets. - **Bundled scrapers** β combine YC data with LinkedIn, Crunchbase, or AngelList for a multi-source pipeline. - **Private / dedicated builds** β your own version of the actor with niche filters, custom enrichment, or different rate behavior. Reach out via the [Apify Issues tab](https://apify.com/memo23/y-combinator-scraper/issues) or [contact memo23 on Apify](https://apify.com/memo23). *** ### Explore More Scrapers Looking for related job, recruiting, or startup-intelligence data? Other actors by the same maintainer: - [**HiringCafe Scraper**](https://apify.com/memo23/apify-hiring-cafe-scraper) β All HiringCafe job postings with company info, salary, remote/location filters - [**Stepstone Search Scraper**](https://apify.com/memo23/stepstone-search-cheerio-ppr) β DACH + EU jobs by URL or keywords - [**LinkedIn Jobs Scraper**](https://apify.com/memo23/linkedin-jobs-scraper) β Public LinkedIn job listings by keyword + location - [**Glassdoor Reviews**](https://apify.com/memo23/glassdoor-scraper-ppr) β Company reviews + ratings + interview reports - [**Capterra Reviews Scraper**](https://apify.com/memo23/capterra-scraper) β B2B SaaS reviews + scoring + competitor analysis *** ### π€ For AI Agents & LLM Apps Compact reference for AI agents calling this actor via the [Apify MCP server](https://mcp.apify.com) or the Apify API (actor: `memo23/y-combinator-scraper`). **Purpose:** Scrapes both YC surfaces β jobs (Work at a Startup) and companies (Startup Directory) β from one actor, with optional founder/social and open-jobs enrichment. **Minimal input:** ```json { "mode": "jobs", "role": "software-engineer", "location": "san-francisco", "maxItems": 25 } ``` URL mode variant: `{ "startUrls": ["https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/airbnb"], "maxItems": 25 }` (any `/jobs/...` or `/companies...` URL, auto-routed). **Output:** heterogeneous dataset β one row per job OR company (tell apart by `jobId` vs `slug`). Job rows: `jobId`, `title`, `url`, `companyName`, `companySlug`, `ycBatch`, `jobType`, `roleCategory`, `salaryRange`, `salaryMin`, `salaryMax`, `salaryCurrency`, `equity`, `location`, `postedAgo`, `experience`, `description`, `founders[]` (`name`, `role`), `datePosted`, `companyWebsite`, `scrapedAt`. Company rows: `id`, `slug`, `name`, `url`, `batch`, `industry`, `industries[]`, `regions[]`, `oneLiner`, `teamSize`, `status`, `stage`, `topCompany`, `isHiring`, `nonprofit`, `launchedAt`, `website`, `tags[]`, `scrapedAt`, plus enrichment `founders[]` (`name`, `title`, `linkedinUrl`, `twitterUrl`), `socials` (`linkedin`, `twitter`, `facebook`, `crunchbase`, `github`), `openJobs[]`. **Behaviors an agent should know:** - `maxItems` is a **per-URL / per-filter-run** cap (default 100), not global β 3 start URLs at `maxItems=100` returns up to 300 rows; free-tier accounts are capped at 100 per URL. - `startUrls` (Option A) overrides the filter form (Option B) entirely when non-empty. - `proxy`, concurrency, retries, and `monitoringMode` apply to Jobs mode only; Companies mode ignores them. - `scrapeFounderDetails` and `scrapeOpenJobs` (companies mode) each add one extra lookup per company and make runs slower; a single `/companies/{slug}` URL returns exactly one row regardless of `maxItems`. - `monitoringMode` (jobs only) emits only job ids not seen in prior runs by the same Apify user. - Billed per returned row; see the Pricing tab on the actor page. ### β οΈ Disclaimer This Actor accesses publicly available data on Y Combinator's website (`ycombinator.com`) for legitimate research, market intelligence, and business-analysis purposes. Use of this Actor must comply with Y Combinator's Terms of Service and all applicable laws, including data protection regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc.). "Y Combinator" and "YC" are trademarks of Y Combinator Management, LLC. This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Y Combinator. The Actor's authors are not responsible for any misuse. Users must: - Avoid overloading YC's website - Not use scraped data to violate user privacy or any terms - Use the data in compliance with applicable jurisdictions - Not republish scraped content in violation of copyright We do not store any scraped data; the Actor returns it directly to your Apify dataset for your authorized use. *** ### SEO Keywords y combinator scraper, ycombinator scraper, yc jobs scraper, work at a startup scraper, yc companies scraper, yc startup directory scraper, yc batch scraper, y combinator api alternative, yc data extraction, yc founder scraper, ycombinator founders linkedin, yc startup intelligence, startup data scraping, yc recruiter tool, yc lead generation, yc sales prospecting, yc batch winter 2026, yc spring 2026, yc demo day scraper, yc graduates list, y combinator json export, y combinator csv export, apify yc scraper, b2b startup database, vc lead generation *** ### License ISC. See [`package.json`](package.json). # Actor input Schema ## `startUrls` (type: `array`): Any YC URL. Auto-routed by path. Mix Jobs and Companies URLs freely. The two URLs prefilled below are sample defaults β clear them and paste your own when running. **Jobs URLs:** - `https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs` (curated index) - `https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs/role/{role}` (e.g. `β¦/jobs/role/software-engineer`) - `https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs/role/{role}/{location}` (e.g. `β¦/jobs/role/software-engineer/san-francisco`) - `https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs/location/{location}` (e.g. `β¦/jobs/location/new-york`) - `https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/{co}/jobs/{job}` (single job detail) **Companies URLs:** - `https://www.ycombinator.com/companies` (all companies) - `https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=Spring%202026&industry=B2B&query=fintech` (filtered search) - `https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/{slug}` (e.g. `β¦/companies/airbnb` β single-company lookup) ## `mode` (type: `string`): Pick a target surface; the matching filter fields below will be used. Jobs uses the role/location selectors; Companies uses the keyword/batch/industry/region/size block. ## `role` (type: `string`): Used when Mode = Jobs and Start URLs is empty. YC role category. ## `location` (type: `string`): Used when Mode = Jobs. City slugs match the city name in each job's location string; `remote` matches anything containing 'Remote'; `india` matches the country. ## `queries` (type: `array`): Used when Mode = Companies. One or more keywords (product category, market, technology, location, β¦). Each keyword runs as its own search; the results are merged and every company appears once. Empty = no keyword filter. ## `topCompany` (type: `boolean`): Only companies Y Combinator lists among its Top Companies. Off keeps every company the other filters match. ## `isHiring` (type: `boolean`): Only companies whose YC profile shows they are hiring now, handy for sourcing and sales lists. ## `nonprofit` (type: `boolean`): Only companies YC marks as nonprofit. Off returns for-profit and nonprofit companies together. ## `batch` (type: `array`): Cohorts to include, such as Winter 2026 or Summer 2025. Keep All Batches to search every cohort. ## `industries` (type: `array`): Sectors to include, such as Fintech or Healthcare. Keep All industries to search every sector. ## `regions` (type: `array`): Where the company is based. Keep Anywhere for no location limit. ## `minEmployeeSize` (type: `string`): Team size floor. '1+' keeps companies of any size. ## `maxEmployeeSize` (type: `string`): Team size ceiling. '1000+' keeps the largest companies too. ## `scrapeFounderDetails` (type: `boolean`): Companies mode only. Adds one extra lookup per company, so runs take longer. Adds `founders[]` (name, title, bio, linkedinUrl, twitterUrl, avatarUrl, isActive, hasEmail) plus `socials` (linkedin, twitter, facebook, crunchbase, github), `appVideoUrl`, `demoDayVideoUrl`. ## `scrapeOpenJobs` (type: `boolean`): Companies mode only. Adds one extra lookup per company, so runs take longer. Adds `openJobs[]` (title, role, location, salary, equity, experience, applyUrl, posted-ago). ## `enrichEmails` (type: `boolean`): If enabled, finds a contact email for each result from its own website (or by discovering it from the name). Adds contactEmail + contactWebsite columns plus a detailed emailEnrichment object. Best-effort. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): **Per-URL cap.** Each entry in Start URLs (Option A) and each filter run (Option B) gets its own quota of this many records. Pasting 3 URLs with `maxItems=100` returns up to 300 rows total (100 per URL). Free-tier accounts are capped at 100 per URL regardless. ## `monitoringMode` (type: `boolean`): Jobs scraper only: only jobs whose numeric id has not been stored in your Key-Value store yet are enqueued (per Apify user id). Useful for scheduled runs that should only emit new postings. ## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`): Jobs scraper only: max parallel requests. ## `minConcurrency` (type: `integer`): Jobs scraper only: min parallel requests to keep active. ## `maxRequestRetries` (type: `integer`): Jobs scraper only: retries before a request is marked failed. ## `proxy` (type: `object`): Proxy for the Jobs scraper. The default works out of the box. Companies mode ignores this setting. ## Actor input object example ```json { "startUrls": [ "https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs/role/software-engineer/san-francisco", "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=Spring%202026&industry=B2B" ], "mode": "jobs", "role": "", "location": "", "queries": [], "topCompany": false, "isHiring": false, "nonprofit": false, "batch": [ "All Batches" ], "industries": [ "All industries" ], "regions": [ "Anywhere" ], "minEmployeeSize": "1+", "maxEmployeeSize": "1000+", "scrapeFounderDetails": false, "scrapeOpenJobs": false, "enrichEmails": false, "maxItems": 100, "monitoringMode": false, "maxConcurrency": 10, "minConcurrency": 1, "maxRequestRetries": 3, "proxy": { "useApifyProxy": true } } ``` # 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 '