FounderTrace is a platform that visualizes the genealogy of Y Combinator startups by mapping connections between companies founded by employees of previous YC-backed companies. It was inspired by Paul Graham's tweet asking about founder generation chains and aims to provide a comprehensive view of how successful startups spawn new ventures.

The platform tracks over 6,000 YC companies and identifies 277 companies that have founder trees. It shows multi-generation chains, with examples including a 4-generation chain of Auctomatic (w07), GoCardless (s11), Duffel (s18), and Vizzly (s22). The system identifies "founder factories" - companies that have spawned multiple YC startups, with Stripe alone having spawned 50+ YC companies.

FounderTrace provides data visualization through interactive genealogy trees and infographics. Users can search through 5,983 YC companies and explore specific company profiles to see their founder lineage. The platform includes metrics about founder backgrounds, showing that 46% of founders were engineers.

The service offers insights into startup ecosystem patterns by tracking which companies produce the most founders and how quickly they spawn new ventures. It highlights top founder factories like Twitch (18 spawned companies), Zenefits (15), Cruise (14), Brex (13), and Stripe (11). The platform also tracks acceleration rates showing founders per year since company founding.

FounderTrace serves investors, researchers, and entrepreneurs interested in understanding startup lineage patterns and ecosystem dynamics. The platform is built using Crustdata APIs and provides free access without requiring user signup.