Founder Email Finder
Find the verified email of any startup founder by company domain. Used by investors doing founder outreach, B2B teams selling into early-stage companies, and partnership teams looking to collaborate with startup builders.
Why founders are the right first contact
At companies with fewer than 50 people, the founder makes most purchasing decisions, evaluates new partnerships, and is usually still reachable by email. Investors looking for a warm intro path, accelerators looking for batch candidates, and early-stage B2B tools all benefit from direct founder contact.
Unlike enterprise executives who have assistants and multi-step approval processes, founders often respond personally and quickly to messages that are relevant to their current stage.
How it works
The Decision Maker endpoint identifies the founder at the target company, generates and tests candidate email patterns at that domain, and verifies each via live SMTP. Only a confirmed, deliverable address is returned — with full name, title, and LinkedIn URL when available.
No name required. If the founder cannot be identified or their email cannot be verified, you pay nothing.
API endpoint
Returns: verified email, full name, job title, LinkedIn URL. Cost: 5 credits per verified result.
Related lookups
- · CEO Email Finder — find the chief executive, who may be a later hire rather than the original founder.
- · CTO Email Finder — reach the technical co-founder for engineering-focused outreach.
- · Email Finder for Startups — pay-as-you-go email finding for startup teams.
- · Email Finder API — all endpoints in one REST API.
Founder email finder FAQ
How do I find a startup founder's email?
Pass the company domain and decision_maker_category=founder to the Decision Maker endpoint. emailfinder.dev identifies the founder or co-founder, verifies their email live via SMTP, and returns the confirmed address with name, title, and LinkedIn URL when available.
Is the founder the same as the CEO?
Often yes at early-stage startups — but not always. Some founders step back into CTO or CPO roles while a professional CEO runs operations. The founder endpoint specifically targets the person with a Founder or Co-Founder title, not just whoever holds the CEO seat.
What is the best way to reach a startup founder?
A direct, short, relevant cold email. Founders at early-stage companies read their own email, are fast to respond to interesting problems, and have short decision cycles. Keep the message under four sentences and lead with the value proposition.
Can I find co-founder emails too?
The endpoint returns the primary founder identified at the domain. If you need multiple founders, you can try a person lookup with each co-founder's name and the company domain — at 1 credit per lookup.
How accurate is founder email finding?
Every email is verified against the live mail server via SMTP before being returned. If the mailbox cannot be confirmed deliverable, the API returns not_found and you are not charged.
Find founder emails free
Free credits included. No credit card required. 1,000 requests per minute.