How to verify a founder's claims
Which public registers can settle what a founder says about themselves, which cannot, and why the honest ceiling is partially verified rather than verified.
What is not checked — stated first, not buried
- Identity itself cannot be settled by a register. A filing names a person; it does not prove the person in front of you is that person. This is the ceiling, and no amount of register work moves it.
- Job titles at private companies are recorded nowhere. "Founder", "CEO", "CTO" at a company that does not file are claims no public register holds.
- Funding rounds, valuations and headcount are not settled here. A private raise leaves no public record you can check by name.
- Nothing here speaks to competence, to who actually built the product, or to whether the company is any good.
- Absence is not a finding. A founder missing from every register below has told you nothing except that they are not in those registers. For the full diligence process, see how to run due diligence on a founder before you invest.
The registers that can settle a founder claim
These are the ones with something to say about a founder. Each is named because naming the register is the whole product — a claim you cannot trace to a source is not verified, it is just repeated.
| Register | What it can settle |
|---|---|
| SEC EDGAR | Whether the person appears in filings of record, and in what capacity. Insider filings (Forms 3, 4 and 5) tie a named individual to a named issuer as an officer, director or major holder. |
| CourtListener | Whether the name appears in federal and state dockets of record. A docket appearance says nothing about the outcome or which side they were on. |
| PACER Case Locator | Federal case records where a deeper search is warranted than the free docket index supports. |
| FEC campaign finance filings | Whether a federal campaign finance record exists under the name. |
| FINRA BrokerCheck | Only if a brokerage role is claimed — whether an individual record exists and at which firm. |
| SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure | Only if an adviser role is claimed — whether a filed adviser record exists. |
| ORCID | Only if a research identity is claimed — whether it resolves to a registered researcher record. |
| NPI Registry (CMS NPPES) | Only if a clinical credential is claimed — whether the identifier is active, and its specialty and state. |
| OIG List of Excluded Individuals and Entities | Only alongside a clinical claim — whether the name appears on the federal exclusions register. |
| General Medical Council register | Only for a doctor practising in the United Kingdom. |
That is the entire list. If a check is not in it, it did not happen.
A real one, worked through
Take the claim "Brian Armstrong is an officer of Coinbase". That is the shape of claim SEC EDGAR can settle, because a US-listed issuer must file when an insider transacts, and the filing names both parties.
Claim: Brian Armstrong is an officer of Coinbase Global, Inc.
Register: SEC EDGAR, insider filings (Forms 3, 4 and 5), issuer restricted to Coinbase Global, Inc.
127 insider filings on record name "Brian Armstrong"
most recent Form 4 filed 2025-06-27
reporting person: Armstrong Brian — CIK 0001851492
issuer: Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN) — CIK 0001679788
Verdict: partially verified. The register ties the name to the issuer in an insider capacity, on a dated filing anyone can pull. It does not establish that the person you are speaking to is that individual, so the claim is supported in part and never in full.
You can repeat that search by hand: Coinbase insider filings on EDGAR. That is the test of a real check — if you cannot repeat it, it was not one.
Why the ceiling is "partially verified"
Every register above answers a question about a name. None of them answers a question about the person. A filing that says "Armstrong Brian, CIK 0001851492" is a fact about a record, and tying that record to a human being in a meeting is a step no public register performs.
So the strongest honest verdict is partially verified. Anything that reads as a clean bill of health is claiming a link the evidence does not carry — and a check that clears the wrong person is worse than no check at all.
How to do this yourself
- Ask for the claim in a settleable form. "Officer of a listed company" can be checked. "Founder of a startup" cannot.
- Search the issuer, not just the person. Insider filings are indexed under the company, and a name search alone pulls in everybody who shares it.
- Check the forename, not just the surname. A surname match is a name collision waiting to happen, and common surnames collide constantly.
- Write down what you could not check. A list of open questions is a result. A silent gap reads as a pass.
Where this sits
This is what a Source Check does: it extracts the claims, settles each against the register that can settle it, and returns the verdict with the exact search and a list of what was not checked. Prices are on the pricing page.