The Affordable Care Act definitely helped a lot of founders start their companies.

Judge as of 2016-01-12. True: empirical research or credible data (e.g., studies of entrepreneurship and 'job lock' after the ACA marketplaces opened in 2014) show the ACA measurably helped a substantial number of founders start companies, for example through access to individual health insurance. Mostly true: the evidence shows a real positive effect on starting businesses, but it is modest or limited to certain groups, and 'a lot' is a mild overstatement. Mixed: studies conflict, with some finding positive effects and others none. Mostly false: the effect is unproven or rests only on anecdotes or surveys, or is negligible, yet the claim states it as definite ('definitely'). False: rigorous evidence shows no effect, or a negative effect, on business formation.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Health Insurance and the Supply of Entrepreneurs: New Evidence from the Affordable Care Act's Dependent Coverage Mandate SSRN (author: James B. Bailey, Providence College / West Virginia University) · 22 March 2017

   “Using a difference-in-difference strategy, I find that the dependent coverage mandate did not increase self-employment among young adults overall, but increased self-employment among disabled young adults by 19-23%.”

2. E2 The Effect of the Affordable Care Act on Entrepreneurship among Older Adults - Eastern Economic Journal Eastern Economic Journal (Springer) · 22 September 2018

   “We find that the ACA led to a 3–4% increase in self-employment.”

E2, an Eastern Economic Journal article, finds that the ACA led to a 3–4% increase in self-employment among older adults. That is a real but modest positive effect within one group. E1 finds that the ACA's dependent coverage mandate did not raise self-employment among young adults overall, though it raised it by 19–23% among disabled young adults. Together these studies show positive effects that are modest or confined to particular groups, so the claim that the ACA "definitely" helped "a lot" of founders goes somewhat further than the evidence supports.