---
title: "Validate Startup Idea"
method: POST
path: "/api/validate-idea"
---

# Validate Startup Idea

`POST /api/validate-idea`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://api.exploreyc.com` (the document declares no server; this is the origin it was published from)
- URL: `https://api.exploreyc.com/api/validate-idea`
- Auth: none declared

Validate a startup idea by finding similar companies in the YC portfolio

Uses semantic similarity search with OpenAI embeddings to find companies
working on similar problems/solutions.

Returns market analysis including:
- List of similar companies with similarity scores
- Market indicator (green/yellow/crowded)
- Industry breakdown
- Batch timeline showing when similar companies were founded
- Market size as percentage of total YC portfolio

## Request body

- IdeaValidationRequest
  - `idea` string, required
  - `max_similar` integer, nullable

## Response `200`

Successful Response

- IdeaValidationResponse
  - `similar_companies` object[], required
  - `total_similar` integer, required
  - `market_indicator` string, required
  - `market_analysis` string, required
  - `industry_breakdown` object, required
  - `batch_timeline` object[], required
  - `market_size_percentage` number, required

## Other responses

- `422`: Validation Error

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/exploreyc/apis/yc-company-scraper-api.md) - [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/exploreyc/apis/yc-company-scraper-api/llms.txt) - [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/exploreyc/apis/yc-company-scraper-api/revisions/d48bd3e241b8?raw)