The startup study · 1,437 YC startups
AI recommended just
98 of 1,437 startups
We asked AI the question each startup's buyers would ask, without naming anyone. For 1,262 of them, it recommended other companies and never the startup.
Asking AI, like a buyer would
A buyer asksHow to measure freight dimensions using existing security cameras?
AI recommendsYOLOv8-OBBMask R-CNNAprilTagsArUco markersYOLOv8-seg
Not namedtransload (YC Spring 2026) wasn’t in either answer
7%recommended for their own buyer's question
1,339never named, in any answer
1,437checked so far, of 1,437
Checked with Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemini 2.5 Flash + Google Search · latest Nov 9, 2026
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Where AI looks
The sites AI read most
For these buyer questions, AI's Google searches pulled up these sites most often, not the startups' own. Its answers were built from pages like these, so they're the ones worth getting onto.
medium.com
youtube.com
reddit.com
github.com
arxiv.org
zapier.com
dev.to
gartner.com
vellum.ai
Browse
Startups by category
B2B (general)14 of 369recommendedAI picks insteadAnthropicLangGraphMicrosoft Copilot StudioEngineering, Product and Design18 of 246recommendedAI picks insteadCursorClaude CodeWindsurfInfrastructure13 of 146recommendedAI picks insteadE2BModalAnthropicConsumer (general)7 of 76recommendedAI picks insteadChatGPTGoogle GeminiClaudeProductivity1 of 55recommendedAI picks insteadLangGraphn8nAiderOperations3 of 51recommendedAI picks insteadn8nJobberServiceNowFintech (general)3 of 44recommendedAI picks insteadWisePayoneer3CommasSecurity6 of 44recommendedAI picks insteadNeMo GuardrailsLlama GuardGitHub Advanced SecuritySupply Chain and Logistics4 of 42recommendedAI picks insteadFlexportAlvysNetSuiteFinance and Accounting4 of 41recommendedAI picks insteadHighRadiusVic.aiBlackLineSales3 of 36recommendedAI picks insteadClayGongApollo.ioMarketing1 of 35recommendedAI picks insteadClaudeChatGPTHeyGenAnalytics1 of 34recommendedAI picks insteadBigQueryDatabricksSnowflakeInsurance3 of 34recommendedAI picks insteadFurtherAIGradient AIAkur8Legal4 of 33recommendedAI picks insteadHarvey AISpellbookLexis+ AIContent0 of 17recommendedAI picks insteadDescriptRunwayCapCutAsset Management0 of 16recommendedAI picks insteadQuantConnectTrade IdeasTrendSpiderConsumer Finance0 of 15recommendedAI picks insteadKalshiAirwallexBettermentConsumer Electronics0 of 14recommendedAI picks insteadApple WatchWHOOP 4.0Payments1 of 12recommendedAI picks insteadStripeAdyenApple PayRecruiting and Talent1 of 12recommendedAI picks insteadMetaviewhireEZAshbyBanking and Exchange0 of 11recommendedAI picks insteadKalshiGaming1 of 11recommendedAI picks insteadRosebud AIBolt.newChatGPTRetail4 of 10recommendedAI picks insteadAkeneoSalsifyCredit and Lending2 of 8recommendedAI picks insteadLoanProAbrigoDomuHuman Resources0 of 8recommendedAI picks insteadRipplingSocial1 of 5recommendedTravel, Leisure and Tourism1 of 4recommendedAI picks insteadExpediaJob and Career Services0 of 3recommendedApparel and Cosmetics0 of 1recommendedFood and Beverage0 of 1recommendedOffice Management1 of 1recommendedTransportation Services0 of 1recommendedVirtual and Augmented Reality1 of 1recommended