Founder Market MapWhere Startups Are Building with AI
A market map of trending startup problem areas that shows how crowded each one is in YC company data, ranks a founder's idea against every funded company in the snapshot, and lists cited cases of teams building AI there.
Built with Astro, Cloudflare Workers, OpenAI embeddings, Node.js, Lighthouse, axe-core.
8 areas
Trending startup problem areas, each with YC counts and growth
5 metrics
Position readout when a founder matches their idea to the map
What it is
Founder Market Map tracks eight problem areas that are rising in startup circles, such as AI finance, defense and security, energy and climate, and industrial AI. For each one it shows how many YC companies work there, how fast the area is growing, and real, cited examples of teams building AI in it, with the stacks they use. A match tool embeds a founder's description and ranks it against every funded company in the snapshot, with a five-metric readout of where the idea sits. Data is pulled from YC and Techstars, rebuilt into trends and areas, and checked by verification scripts before each deploy.
The problem
Founders hear that a space is 'hot' without any way to see how many funded companies are already there, or what those teams actually build.
What I built
Dated snapshots of public YC and Techstars data are turned into area counts and growth rates. The match tool runs embeddings through a one-route Cloudflare Worker. Every use case cites its source, and a method page explains how each number is made.
What happened
Live as a preview with a snapshot dated 2026-10-15.
What it changed
- Lets a founder check crowding before committing to a space
Who it fits
- Founders choosing or testing a startup idea
- Investors and advisors scanning where AI teams are clustering
- Embedding match against every funded company in the snapshot
- Repeatable pipeline from YC and Techstars pulls to the published site
- Release gates for build, links, accessibility, Lighthouse and live data
Want something like this built?
Bring the job that eats your week. Step 1 is a free 15-minute fit call. Step 2 is the AI Staff Assessment, $500, a written assessment you keep. Step 3 is your first hire at a published price, or you take the assessment and stop.