Founder Directory
Built by Keitoto
Founders159
Known for these resultsRole45%Role is parsed from founder titles in yc.db. Known for 45% of these rows — the rest have no title at all, mostly 2019–2023. Those rows stay in the result and are counted as Unknown, never as No.Bio90%Bio coverage: 90% of these founders have a bio on their YC profile. Every bio-derived facet (ex-company, school, credentials, discipline) is Unknown for the rest.Ex-company23%Ex-company is matched from bios with employment context (ex-, formerly, worked at). 23% of these rows have at least one match.School29%School is matched from bios, case-sensitive for acronyms. 29% of these rows have at least one match.
- Mert TurnaFounder/CTO · DeryaS26B2B · San Francisco
- Oguzhan KaracaFounder/CEO · DeryaS26B2B · San Francisco
- Benjamin MartindaleFounder/CEO · DonkeyS26B2B · San Francisco
- Minghao TanFounder/CTO · DonkeyS26B2B · San Francisco
- Erim GurlemisFounder/COO · GUILDS26Industrials · New York
- Kaya CelebiFounder/CEO · GUILDS26Industrials · New York
- Joshua IbrahimFounder/CTO · ManifoldS26Industrials · Los Angeles
- Nicolas YehFounder/CEO · ManifoldS26Industrials · Los Angeles
- Ali Eren AytekinFounder · SpaceFlow Technologies, Inc.S26B2B · San Francisco
- Emre Isik@Emrre_isikFounder/CEO · SpaceFlow Technologies, Inc.S26B2B · San Francisco
- Hakan Enes AksuFounder · SpaceFlow Technologies, Inc.S26B2B · San Francisco
- Bryce JudyFounder/CEO · Tarifflo Inc.S26B2B · Salt Lake City
- Alex Tung@alexytungFounder/CEO · WhitespaceS26B2B · San Francisco
- Leon YaoFounder/CTO · WhitespaceS26B2B · San Francisco
- Jibran Hutchins@jibranhutchFounder/CEO · HaladirW26B2B · San Francisco
- Joseph Tso@josephtso914Founder/COO · HaladirW26B2B · San Francisco
- Quan Huynh@quanmhuynhFounder/CIO · HaladirW26B2B · San Francisco
- Chandru Shanumugasundaram@tweetchanshanFounder/CTO · burntS25B2B · San Francisco
- Joseph Jacob@Joseph_Jacob13Founder/CEO · burntS25B2B · San Francisco
- Rhea Karimpanal@RheaKarimpanalFounder/CPO · burntS25B2B · San Francisco
FOUNDERROLEBATCHINDUSTRYLOCATIONTEAMX_url
Mert TurnaDeryaFounder/CTOSummer 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States2—Oguzhan KaracaDeryaFounder/CEOSummer 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States2—Benjamin MartindaleDonkeyFounder/CEOSummer 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States7—Minghao TanDonkeyFounder/CTOSummer 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States7—Erim GurlemisGUILDFounder/COOSummer 2026IndustrialsNew York, United States2—Kaya CelebiGUILDFounder/CEOSummer 2026IndustrialsNew York, United States2—Joshua IbrahimManifoldFounder/CTOSummer 2026IndustrialsLos Angeles, United States2—Nicolas YehManifoldFounder/CEOSummer 2026IndustrialsLos Angeles, United States2—Ali Eren AytekinSpaceFlow Technologies, Inc.FounderSummer 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States4—Emre IsikSpaceFlow Technologies, Inc.Founder/CEOSummer 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States4https://x.com/Emrre_isikHakan Enes AksuSpaceFlow Technologies, Inc.FounderSummer 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States4—Bryce JudyTarifflo Inc.Founder/CEOSummer 2026B2BSalt Lake City, United States5—Alex TungWhitespaceFounder/CEOSummer 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States2https://x.com/alexytungLeon YaoWhitespaceFounder/CTOSummer 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States2—Jibran HutchinsHaladirFounder/CEOWinter 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States4https://x.com/jibranhutchJoseph TsoHaladirFounder/COOWinter 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States4https://x.com/josephtso914Quan HuynhHaladirFounder/CIOWinter 2026B2BSan Francisco, United States4https://x.com/quanmhuynhChandru ShanumugasundaramburntFounder/CTOSummer 2025B2BSan Francisco, United States3https://x.com/tweetchanshanJoseph JacobburntFounder/CEOSummer 2025B2BSan Francisco, United States3https://x.com/Joseph_Jacob13Rhea KarimpanalburntFounder/CPOSummer 2025B2BSan Francisco, United States3https://x.com/RheaKarimpanal
Showing 1–20 of 159 founders
Leon Yao
Founder/CTO·Whitespace
PRIMARY INFO
RoleFounder/CTO
Team size2
BatchSummer 2026
LocationSan Francisco, United States
Company statusActive
StageEarly
BIO
Founder at Whitespace. Previously Research Engineer at Instadeep, designing RL solutions for NP-hard optimization problems. First-author paper at top-3 robotics conference on autonomous navigation. Former CTO at Test and Tutor (1000+ users, 3 school partnerships). MSc in Machine Learning and BEng in Mechanical Engineering from UCL.
Ex-company, school and discipline below are derived from this bio. Nothing is inferred when the bio is missing.
BACKGROUND
Credentialsnone mentioned
DisciplineResearcherKeyword match from the bio text, not a classifier.
TRACK RECORD
First YC company on record
