How Earlyfollow finds new AI startups
Earlyfollow turns public X follows from tracked investors into a list of new AI startups. Here is exactly how, and where it falls short.
Who we track
537 accounts on X: 480 VC investors, a few angels, and a smaller group of founders, researchers and operators, from about 200 firms. Pro members can add up to 100 more accounts for their own dashboard; those don't change the public list.
How we spot a new follow
Once a day we read each tracked account's newest follows. An account counts as a new follow only when it appears ahead of the ones they already followed, so unfollows and reshuffles don't create false signals. X doesn't publish when a follow happened, so the date we show is the day we spotted it.
Baseline follows
When we start tracking an account, its most recent follows become its baseline. We can't date those, so they show as Baseline, and we never present them as new.
Which accounts become startups on the list
Each newly followed account is sorted into company, person or other. Only AI companies are listed. When a founder's profile names their company, the signal goes to the company. Personal accounts appear only in Pro.
What we leave out
We don't list weapons and defense, gambling and prediction markets, adult content, or illegal businesses. Companies or people who ask to be removed come off public pages, exports and the API.
Ranking
The list is ordered by how many tracked accounts follow each company. Newest sorts by the day we first spotted it.
Delays and freshness
Pro shows signals as soon as we spot them. Public pages and the free list run 14 days behind. Every page shows when it was last updated; if an update runs more than 36 hours late, the page says so.
Funding information
Funding details are gathered from public sources and checked by a person before they appear. Each one links to its source.
Limits
A follow is attention, not a prediction. Many new follows are of people rather than companies. Our view is only as wide as the accounts we track. Nothing here is investment advice.