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Work at a Startup is Y Combinator's own job board. It is the product behind the jobs pages on ycombinator.com, and it lists roles only at companies YC has funded: the site's own line is only YC companies, and its FAQ adds that most YC companies use it but not all. The site describes its open roles as thousands and publishes no figure for roles or for listed companies.
The model is different from a normal board. You create one free profile and, in the FAQ's words, YC makes it available to the startups it has funded; if a company is interested, it contacts you. Public cards are unusually informative: a salary range on most of them, an equity range, a visa line such as will sponsor, the company's YC batch, and when the company was last active on the site. Browsing works without an account for a first page of roles, then a sign-up wall. Every apply link goes through a YC login.
It is an American board by footprint. The public location filter offers San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, Chicago and India, and no European city. A Europe landing page exists; in September 2026 it showed eight public listings, six of them posted between seven months and more than four years earlier. Remote roles are labelled by country, so a US-only remote role and a multi-country European remote role are both marked as such.
The honest difference is scope by design. Work at a Startup is one accelerator's network, and inside it the depth is real: YC companies, YC batches, founders who reply. StartupMap is built across accelerators and investors. Its 4,569 European startups got in because they raised a round or came through an accelerator, any accelerator, and a person checked each one. Its 16,229 live roles are read from the startups' own careers sites, every role is visible without an account, and applying happens on the startup's site rather than through a shared profile.
Last reviewed: September 2026
| Compare | StartupMap | Work at a Startup |
|---|---|---|
| Which companies | Funded or accelerator-backed, any accelerator or investor, hand-reviewed | YC-funded only (most YC companies use it, not all) |
| European coverage | 4,569 European startups across 55 cities | No European city in the public location filter; the Europe page showed 8 public listings (Sept 2026) |
| Open roles | 16,229, all visible | Described as thousands; no figure published; a first page visible before sign-up |
| How applying works | On the startup's own careers site, no profile | One YC profile; founders reach out to you; apply links require a YC login |
| Salary, equity and visa on cards | No | Yes, on most public cards |
| Hiring signal | Live hiring status from each startup's careers site, re-synced nightly | A last-active date per company |
| Company context shown | Funding stage, investors, accelerator | YC batch |
No. The board is limited to companies Y Combinator has funded: the jobs page on ycombinator.com says only YC companies, and the FAQ's one caveat runs the other way, that most YC companies use it but not all. So a startup that came through Techstars, Antler, Entrepreneur First or a national accelerator is not there, however well funded. That is the point of the product, not a gap in it: YC is offering access to its own portfolio. If your question is where to see live roles at accelerator-backed companies, the answer on Work at a Startup is one accelerator's worth. StartupMap's bar is a funding round or any accelerator, and it records the accelerator on the startup so you can filter by it.
Bottom line: Work at a Startup covers one accelerator's companies; StartupMap covers accelerator-backed startups whichever accelerator backed them.
The site does not say, and the public evidence is thin. The location filter offers seven places, all American except India. There is a Europe landing page, and in September 2026 it showed eight public listings, six of them posted between seven months and more than four years earlier. More is very likely visible behind the login, because the public pages stop at a first page and invite you to sign up to see more, but no European count is published anywhere on the site, so none is claimed here. On StartupMap the count is the page: 4,569 European startups, 1,738 of them with at least one live role right now, on a map you can zoom into any of 55 cities.
Bottom line: Work at a Startup publishes no European figure and shows a handful of European roles publicly; StartupMap shows 1,738 European startups hiring today.
It means you are not applying to a job. The FAQ is explicit: you do not need to apply for a specific job or company; you fill in one application, YC makes it available to the startups it has funded, and a company that is interested contacts you. You can still click through to a specific role, but the apply link routes through a YC account, and the startup decides whether to reply. For a candidate who wants to be found, that is efficient. For a candidate who wants to pick a company and apply today, it adds a login and a wait. StartupMap has no profiles at all: you read a role, click through to the startup's own careers page, and apply there, with no account on either side of the click.
Bottom line: On Work at a Startup you apply once and wait to be chosen; on StartupMap you choose the startup and apply on its own site.
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