Part 3 · The GTM part · How we found the buyers
Two questions per company: can they pay, and do they need it now? Funding answers one; public clues the other.
Every YC startup, with stage and jobs.
6,269 companies · 1,473 hiringTop VC funds: a16z, Sequoia, Accel, Index, Greylock, Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, GV, First Round, Bessemer, Insight Partners, Redpoint, Felicis. All raised a priced round.
13 funds · 1,677 company websitesJobs naming Claude Code, Cursor, Lovable or v0.
1,018 LinkedIn posts · 90 HN companies · remote boards: 0 hitsGreenhouse, Lever and Ashby, read in full.
406 boards found · 12,725 postings readAI-agent files and review bots.
36 orgs found · 24 with agent files · 17 with review botsBudget score. $40 per user a month ≈ $10,000 a year for 20 people.
| Check | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Last round Series B or later | 3 | Funding news |
| Series A, or seed of $10M+ | 2 | Same |
| Raised in last 18 months | +1 | Announcement |
| 10+ open roles (5–9 earns half) | +1 | Job board |
| 50 to 1,000 people | +1 | YC or site |
Budget high = 3+. Under 15 people or no priced round: Tier 3 · Future pipeline. Over 1,000 people: separate list.
Need score. One quote and link per clue. Posts over 120 days earn half.
| Signal | Points |
|---|---|
| PM, design, marketing or ops hire builds with AI | 30 |
| Engineers use coding agents | 15 |
| Leader writes on AI coding | 15 |
| Post mentions checking AI code | 10 |
| Non-engineers ship code | 10 |
| Agent files in public code | 10 |
| AI review bot on pull requests | 10 |
| Hiring growth, marketing, design or web engineers | 5 |
| Hiring PMs or designers now | 5 |
Need high = 30+, with a non-engineer or AI-check signal.
An AI reviewer re-reads every quote and cuts weak ones. A script re-scores, so the reviewer never picks the box.
Box, score, quote, contact. Head of Engineering decides.
“Every AI change arrives with its proof.”
Adds new companies, drops closed jobs.
The 6 October run, real numbers
How one company is scored
| PM must build with Claude Code | 30 |
| Engineers use coding agents | 15 |
| Engineers review AI-written code | 10 |
| Hiring PMs or designers now | 5 |
| Need (45+, non-engineer signal) | 60 · Hot |
| Last round Series B | 3 |
| 44 open roles | 1 |
| Budget: 3+ | 4 · can pay |
| Designer prototypes with Claude and Codex | 30 |
| Engineers use Devin, Claude, Codex | 15 |
| Engineers review AI code | 10 |
| Hiring PMs or designers now | 5 |
| Need | 60 · Hot |
| Seed of $7.6M, under $10M | 0 |
| Raised Feb 2026 | 1 |
| 8 open roles | 0.5 |
| Budget | 1.5 · too early |
Same need. Only one can pay this quarter.
Next steps