YC W26 Explorer

Interactive exploration tool for the Y Combinator Winter 2026 batch — 1000+ startups visualized on a force-directed graph with AI-powered gap analysis.

No backend. No build step. Just open index.html.

Features

• Force-Directed Graph — Visual exploration organized by industry, sub-industry, and similarity-based clusters with convex hulls and progressive icon loading
• Analytics Dashboard — D3 visualizations: industry heatmap, team size distribution, hiring trends, tag analysis, geographic breakdown, similarity clusters
• Multiple Views — Graph, Table (sortable/paginated), Cards (infinite scroll), Analytics
• Smart Search — Weighted multi-field search with relevance scoring across name, tags, description
• Filtering — Filter by starred, unvisited, hiring, has-notes, industry, sub-industry
• Insights Tab — Batch analytics: industry saturation, niche sub-industries, rare tags, hiring hotspots
• AI Co-Researcher — BYO API key (OpenAI or Gemini) for gap analysis, thesis building, idea roasting
• Compare Mode — Side-by-side comparison of up to 3 companies
• Find Similar — Semantic similarity (pre-computed) with Jaccard fallback
• Export System — JSON, CSV, Markdown with per-field selection
• Research Notes — Personal annotations persisted in localStorage
• URL State Sharing — Share filtered views via URL hash parameters
• Keyboard Shortcuts — Full keyboard navigation for power users

Getting Started

git clone https://github.com/triggeredcode/yc_explorer.github.io.git
cd yc-explorer
open index.html

No npm install. No build. The app loads data/companies.js and data/similarity_data.js (pre-computed similarity matrix and clusters) and stores all user state (starred, visited, notes, API keys) in browser localStorage.

AI Chat Setup

1. Click AI Chat in the top bar
2. Enter your API key (OpenAI or Google Gemini)
3. Use pre-built prompts or ask anything:
   • Find the gap — What ideas are missing from this batch?
   • Roast my idea — Compare your concept against 1000 companies
   • Build a thesis — Strongest themes and contrarian bets
   • Who should I talk to? — Find relevant companies for your project
   • What's missing near this? — Gap analysis around the selected company

Your API key never leaves your browser except to call the provider you chose. No proxy, no middleman.

Project Structure

yc-explorer/
├── index.html              # HTML shell with all UI structure
├── css/
│   └── styles.css          # All styles (graph, sidebar, cards, analytics, chat)
├── js/
│   ├── state.js            # Global state variables and constants
│   ├── data.js             # Data loading and transformation
│   ├── similarity.js       # Pre-computed similarity data access
│   ├── filters.js          # Search scoring, filtering, drill-down
│   ├── graph.js            # D3 force graph with hierarchical clusters
│   ├── sidebar.js          # Tree view, list view, tab switching
│   ├── cards.js            # Mini/expanded cards, navigator bar
│   ├── similar.js          # Similarity engine (semantic + Jaccard fallback)
│   ├── compare.js          # Compare mode and overlay table
│   ├── insights.js         # Batch analytics and niche discovery
│   ├── analytics-engine.js # Query resolver with cached computations
│   ├── analytics-charts.js # D3 chart visualizations for analytics view
│   ├── export.js           # Field picker, JSON/CSV/Markdown export
│   ├── ai-chat.js          # AI chat with OpenAI and Gemini streaming
│   ├── views.js            # Table, Cards, Analytics view controllers
│   ├── sharing.js          # URL hash state encoding/decoding
│   └── app.js              # Event wiring and initialization
├── data/
│   ├── companies.js        # Company data (YC_COMPANIES_DATA array)
│   └── similarity_data.js  # Pre-computed similarity matrix & clusters
├── .gitignore
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

Deploy

GitHub Pages

1. Push to GitHub
2. Settings → Pages → Source: main branch, root directory
3. Live at https://triggeredcode.github.io/yc_explorer.github.io/

Other Hosting

Works on any static host (Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, S3). Just serve the files — no server-side processing needed.

Tech Stack

• D3.js — Force-directed graph and analytics charts
• Tailwind CSS — Styling (CDN)
• Font Awesome — Icons (CDN)
• Vanilla JS — No framework, no bundler

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
→ / J	Next company
← / K	Previous company
S	Star / unstar
E	Expand / collapse card
Esc	Close panels
/	Focus search
1	Graph view
2	Table view
3	Analytics view
4	Cards view

Privacy

• All data stays in your browser
• API keys stored in localStorage only
• No analytics, no tracking, no server

Author

Built by @triggeredcode

License

MIT