Use YC MCP for Batch Research Without Feeding It Your Fund CRM
A repeatable public-data research pass using YC batch and company tools, with private thesis and outreach decisions kept separate.
An agent can fetch a YC batch, narrow it by a public product category, and bring back company records. It cannot infer your fund's conviction from that catalog. Keep the public lookup repeatable and do the thesis work in your private fund record. This is a practical division of labor for a GP preparing a batch review, not a promise that a chat transcript is an investment system.
- Ask the YC MCP server for a named batch, not an undefined "latest" batch.
- Narrow the public list by industry, tag, or a plain-language search.
- Open individual company records and verify material claims against the source.
- Record your fund's fit, conflicts, and next steps privately.
- Approve any founder contact yourself; a research tool does not send it.
Make the public pass reproducible
The GPAgent YC MCP guide documents a yc-mcp server for MCP-compatible assistants. Its list_yc_batch tool accepts a batch name; search_yc_companies can filter on an industry, tag, or query; get_yc_company opens a specific company. Start a session with the batch label you intend to review and save that label with your research. If you ask for "current companies" with no batch, the same prompt can mean a different cohort later.
| Operator request | Public tool | What still needs human judgment |
|---|---|---|
| "Show this named YC batch" | list_yc_batch | Is this the cohort we agreed to review? |
| "Find companies describing developer tools" | search_yc_companies | Does the category fit our actual thesis? |
| "Open the record for this company" | get_yc_company | Are its description and people current on the source page? |
The server's tool reference describes these lookups, and the YC directory provides the independent public listing to check. Public catalog data can be late, incomplete, or ambiguous. Do not present a returned founder name, website, or product claim as independently confirmed merely because a tool returned it.
Write the investment note somewhere else
For each company worth discussing, make two fields in the private review: what the public source says and what the fund believes or needs to learn. A search hit belongs in the first field. A thesis fit, relationship history, partner comment, and decision to reach out belong in the second. Do not paste confidential LP context or private founder conversations into a public-data lookup prompt.
This is also why a large result set is not a sourcing win by itself. The agent can prepare records and flag missing information. A GP still chooses whom to meet and what to ask. For the workflow after the public batch pass, see working a YC batch without automating founder outreach. If your firm needs an investing workspace behind that research, GPAgent's platform explains where private deal context lives.
FAQ
Can the YC MCP tools score companies for our thesis?
The documented tools retrieve and search public company data. Your thesis and evidence for a fit score have to come from the fund's own process. Do not treat a category match as an investment recommendation.
Is a company absent from a batch search necessarily absent from YC?
No. Check the batch name, filter, and YC's own directory. A missing search result is not proof of absence from the program.
Build on the fund record, not a prompt.
See how GPAgent keeps agentic investing workflows tied to a durable CRM, API, and activity ledger.