YC Founder Verification

How it works

YC founders can create verification links that prove their participation in Y Combinator. These links display:

The founder's name and profile picture
Which YC company they founded and which batch they participated in (optional)
Contact information (optional)

For Founders

Create and manage your verification links here.

For Partners: Verifying YC Founders

When you need to verify someone's YC founder status, ask them to share their verification link with you. The link will look like:

https://www.ycombinator.com/verify/[unique-code]

Each verification link is unique and controlled by the founder. They can update what information is displayed or disable the link at any time.

Instructions to send to founders

To request a founder provide a verification link, send them something like this:

To verify your Y Combinator founder status, could you please share your YC verification link?

You can create one by visiting https://www.ycombinator.com/verify/manage and clicking "Create Verification Link". This will generate a unique link that proves your participation in Y Combinator.

The verification link is completely under your control — you choose what information to display and can disable it at any time.

Thanks!

For Partners: Verifying YC AI Stack (Student Deals) Access

YC also runs the YC AI Stack, a separate deals program for students who have attended select YC events. Students are not YC founders, so founder verification links do not apply to them. Instead, when someone redeems your YC AI Stack deal, YC generates a unique verification URL for that redemption:

https://deals.ycombinator.com/redemptions/verify/[unique-token]

The verification page shows the redeemer's name, email, and LinkedIn, along with the YC events that qualify them for YC AI Stack access and any custom fields your deal collects.

Where to find verification URLs

In your deal's redemptions dashboard and CSV export
In the signed webhook payload sent for each redemption, if you use webhooks

Verification URLs are generated when "verification URLs" is enabled in your deal's redemption settings. If you run a YC AI Stack deal and don't see them, enable the setting or contact us.

API access

Append .json to any redemption verification URL to get a machine-readable version. Providers like Anthropic and OpenAI verify redemptions programmatically this way.

View API response schema

{
  id: number;
  valid: boolean;
  redeemed_at: string;        // ISO 8601
  user_name: string;
  user_email: string;
  companies: Array<{
    name: string;
    url?: string;
    batch?: string;
    title?: string;
    directory_url?: string;
  }>;
  linkedin?: string;
  avatar_url?: string;
  custom_responses?: Record<string, string>;
  student_events?: string[];  // YC events granting access
  deal_id: number;
  deal_title: string;
}

API Access

Append .json to any founder verification URL to get a machine-readable version:

https://www.ycombinator.com/verify/[unique-code].json

View API response schema

{
  verified: boolean;
  name: string;
  message: string;
  batches?: Array<{
    name: string;
    tag?: "current_batch" | "future_batch";
  }>;
  companies?: Array<{
    name: string;
    url?: string;
    batch?: string;
    title?: string;
    directory_url?: string;
    tags?: ("active_founder" | "inactive_founder" |
           "active_company" | "inactive_company" |
           "current_batch" | "future_batch")[];
  }>;
  email?: string;
  cell?: string;
  linkedin?: string;
  twitter?: string;
  facebook?: string;
}

Notes

Verification links only confirm YC participation, not the level of current involvement with any company.
Founders control what information is displayed and can disable links at any time.
For questions about the verification system, please contact us.