Bam
Property Management

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)
  • Any additional information the founder wishes to verify

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

For Founders

Create and manage your verification links at https://www.ycombinator.com/verify/manage.

To create a verification link, visit that URL and click "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.

For Partners: Verifying YC Founders

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

You can send founders a message 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.

When someone redeems your YC AI Stack deal, YC generates a unique verification URL for that redemption. 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

Verification URLs are generated when "verification URLs" is enabled in your deal's redemption settings. You can find them in:

  • Your deal's redemptions dashboard and CSV export
  • The signed webhook payload sent for each redemption, if you use webhooks

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.