The Y Combinator Portfolio: how a Portfolio of public YC alumni works, who runs it, and what it is not

I'm Chris, co-founder of Autopilot. Y Combinator is the most famous startup accelerator in the world, and every few months someone asks how to invest in it. You can't, directly; YC is private, and so are most of the companies it funds. What you can do is own the ones that went public. That's what the Y Combinator Portfolio on Autopilot is, and here's how it works, who runs it, and where the idea stops.

One thing first, because we're an SEC-registered investment adviser and I have to say it. Autopilot is the app. The actual investment advice comes from Autopilot Advisers, LLC. If you want the full legal version of anything in here, it's on our disclaimer page.

1) What Y Combinator is

Y Combinator is a startup accelerator founded in 2005 by Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Robert Tappan Morris, and Trevor Blackwell. It funds early-stage companies in batches, and its alumni include some of the best-known technology companies of the past two decades: Airbnb, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, Reddit, and Stripe all came through it. Most YC companies stay private or fail; a small number go public, and those are the only ones an ordinary brokerage account can own. Y Combinator has no relationship with Autopilot and has nothing to do with this Portfolio.

2) What the Portfolio is

The Y Combinator Portfolio launched on Autopilot on April 17, 2025. Its Published Pilot is Quiver Quantitative, a data company whose bio describes its mission as surfacing "actionable, easy to interpret data that hasn't already been dissected by Wall Street," and its manager is Autopilot Advisers, LLC. The description is a rule, not a stock list: the Portfolio "is made up exclusively of YC startups," and "each time a YC startup goes public, it will automatically be added to the portfolio." So it's a rules-based basket of public YC alumni that grows as alumni list. The Y Combinator Portfolio fact sheet shows its largest positions by weight with a timestamp, lists the rebalance cadence as not disclosed, and publishes the live record of follower accounts since launch, gross and modeled net, with drawdown and a date on every figure. Following it requires Quiver Quantitative's Pilot subscription, which covers every Portfolio Quiver publishes here; the rest of them are in Quiver Quantitative on Autopilot: the Y Combinator, South Korea Is Next, KnowIt AI Flagship, and AI Cash Flow Leaders Portfolios, and what one subscription covers.

3) What it is not

It isn't an investment in Y Combinator, which is private, and it isn't exposure to YC's private portfolio, where most of the value in the YC story historically sits before an IPO. By the time a company is in this Portfolio, it has already gone public, at whatever valuation the market gave it that day, and you're buying it alongside everyone else. That's not a flaw; it's the honest boundary of what a public-market Portfolio can do with a private-market idea. Anyone telling you a brokerage account gets you "into YC" is selling something.

4) The rule has consequences

A basket that adds every YC alumnus at IPO will hold winners and losers alike, because the rule doesn't judge; it includes. It will also be concentrated in whatever sectors YC companies happen to come from, technology above all, and its makeup changes with each new listing. Read the sheet's largest positions and its drawdown before you decide whether that shape fits you, and remember the record starts on April 17, 2025, not in 2005. How to read a rules-based record is in How to read a Portfolio's track record before you follow it, and the general case for following a rule versus a person is in How to choose which investor to follow: attribution, survivorship, concentration, and when to stop.

5) How following works

You connect the brokerage you already have, pick the Portfolio, and set how much of the account follows it. Then you give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders to that account. When the Portfolio changes, we send them and your broker fills them. The money stays put. Your holdings won't match the Portfolio exactly, because account size, brokerage support for fractional shares, and trade timing all change what lands in your account, and those cautions are on the fact sheet.

Frequently asked questions

How to invest in Y Combinator companies

You can't invest in Y Combinator itself, which is private, or in its private portfolio companies through a brokerage account. What you can own are YC alumni that have gone public. Autopilot's Y Combinator Portfolio, published by Quiver Quantitative and managed by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, is a rules-based basket of exactly those: per its description it holds only YC startups and adds each one when it goes public. Its fact sheet shows the largest positions and the live record since April 17, 2025.

Y Combinator portfolio stocks

The stocks in Autopilot's Y Combinator Portfolio are public companies that came through Y Combinator, added under the rule in the Portfolio's description as they list. The current largest positions by weight, with a timestamp, are on the fact sheet at autopilotfactsheets.com/portfolios/y-combinator; this page doesn't list holdings because they change. Well-known public YC alumni include Airbnb, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, and Reddit, named here as examples of YC companies, not as a statement of what the Portfolio holds.

What is the Y Combinator Portfolio on Autopilot?

A Portfolio published by Quiver Quantitative and managed by Autopilot Advisers, LLC, live since April 17, 2025, that per its description "is made up exclusively of YC startups" and adds each YC startup to the Portfolio when it goes public. It's a rule-based basket of public YC alumni, followed in your own brokerage account, with its largest positions and live follower record on its fact sheet. Following it requires Quiver Quantitative's Pilot subscription.

Is the Y Combinator Portfolio the same as investing in Y Combinator?

No. Y Combinator is a private accelerator, and most of its companies are private; neither can be bought in a brokerage account. The Portfolio holds only YC alumni that have already gone public, bought at market prices after their IPOs, so it captures the public chapter of the YC story and none of the private one. Y Combinator has no relationship with Autopilot or this Portfolio.

TLDR

You can't buy Y Combinator, but you can own the alumni that went public, and this Portfolio is a rule that does exactly that, adding each one at IPO. Quiver Quantitative publishes it, Autopilot Advisers manages it, the record starts April 17, 2025, and the sheet has the positions and the drawdown. It's the public chapter of the YC story, not the private one. If one fits, choose a Portfolio and connect your brokerage. Then give Autopilot Advisers limited authority to send orders to that account. When the Portfolio changes, we send them and your broker fills them. Depending on your plan and brokerage, you may need to confirm first. The money stays put.

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Since Autopilot Advisers is an SEC-registered investment adviser, we have to put disclaimers on stuff like this. They're below, and the full version is on our disclaimer page.

Disclosures

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Y Combinator is not affiliated with Autopilot or this Portfolio and has not endorsed either; the Y Combinator Portfolio is published by Quiver Quantitative, an independent Pilot that is not an investment adviser, and managed by Autopilot Advisers, LLC. Companies named as Y Combinator alumni are examples from public sources, not statements of the Portfolio's holdings. No performance figure is stated; the record is on the dated fact sheet.