Sena - Search YC People with Natural Language

TL;DR

TL;DR: Sena lets you search 6,876 YC people — founders, investors, alumni — using plain English, no filters or boolean queries required.

Source and Accuracy Notes

• Project page: sena.so — verified
• YC Network directory: sena.so/directories/yc-network — verified
• HN launch thread: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45491224 — verified
• License: proprietary SaaS (no open-source repo)
• Source last checked: 2026-07-10

What Is Sena?

Sena is a network intelligence platform that helps you find, understand, and connect with people across startup ecosystems. Its flagship feature is the YC Network Search — a directory of 6,876 Y Combinator founders, investors, and alumni that you can query with natural language instead of filters.

Instead of toggling dropdowns for “batch year,” “industry,” and “investor type,” you simply ask questions like:

• “Who are YC founders in AI who raised over $1M?”
• “Which S25 founders are building developer tools?”
• “YC investors focused on climate tech”

Sena returns ranked results drawn from public YC data, updated as new batches join.

How YC Network Search Works

The YC Network directory on Sena is a curated, AI-searchable index of YC people. Key capabilities:

• Natural language queries — search by batch, industry, funding stage, or abstract quality (“top performers,” “first-time founders”)
• Guest access — directories can be set to public, allowing anyone to view AI-generated summaries without logging in
• Bulk CSV upload — add people using names and LinkedIn profile URLs via template CSV
• Directory sharing — generate invite links for collaborators to view or contribute to a directory

The underlying Sena platform supports multiple network directories beyond YC, but the YC Network is the highest-profile public one.

Use Cases

For investors: Find founders from specific YC cohorts working in your thesis area. “S25 founders in LATAM building fintech” returns structured results without manual filtering.

For founders: Identify advisors, co-founders, or early employees who share a YC background. Natural language makes it fast to narrow down by geography, industry, or prior exit.

For BD and recruiters: Map the YC network around a specific company or investor without scraping Hacker News or LinkedIn.

How to Access

1. Go to sena.so/directories/yc-network
2. Click Search and type your query in plain English
3. Browse results — each entry links to the person’s public YC profile
4. Optional: enable Guest access in directory settings to share results without requiring a Sena login

No credit card or account is required for basic search on public directories.

FAQ

Q: Is the YC Network directory free to search? A: Yes for basic search on public directories. Some Sena features (bulk exports, private directories, team collaboration) require an account.

Q: How current is the YC data? A: Sena’s index reflects YC’s public batch data. New cohorts are added as they complete Demo Day. Exact freshness depends on the directory maintainer.

Q: Can I search for investors only? A: Yes — natural queries like “YC investors in healthcare” or “angels who backed S24 companies” work directly.

Q: Does Sena scrape LinkedIn? A: Sena’s YC Network appears to use public YC batch data. Bulk CSV upload requires you to provide LinkedIn URLs yourself.

Conclusion

Sena’s YC Network Search is a practical tool for anyone who regularly works with YC alumni data. Natural language search replaces the friction of filter UIs, making it fast to answer “who is building X in YC batch Z” in a single query. The 6,876-person index covers enough of the YC ecosystem for most deal flow, networking, and research use cases.