anon_founder_04
demoed to a VC. shared the wrong screen. he watched me ask Claude "is my idea actually good be honest"
♺ 214 · ♥ 1,902
- ▸ 0–2 min: refresh Stripe. Still $0.00.
- ▸ 2–5 min: rename the company again.
- ▸ 5–10 min: buy the domain for the rename.
- ▸ 10–20 min: read a competitor's changelog, spiral.
- ▸ 20–40 min: go outside. It's right there.
- ▸ 40+ min: it's stuck. It's been stuck for 25 minutes.
*** FREE CREDITS DIRECTORY ***
real programs, real numbers, verify terms yourself — they change monthly · last checked Jul 2026
self-serve needs a referral AI credits cloud credits
| PROGRAM | UP TO | THE CATCH | VERIFIED |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic for Startups | $500k (YC batch offer) | VC-partner or accelerator referral; no equity taken | Jul 2026 |
| OpenAI for Startups | $5k (self-serve) | the $2M YC batch offer came via an uncapped SAFE | Jul 2026 |
| AWS Activate | $100k | the $1M tier is accelerator-cohort only; Founders tier ($1k–5k) is self-serve | Jul 2026 |
| Google Cloud for Startups | $200k+ | top tiers are not self-serve | Jul 2026 |
| Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub | $150k | $1k entry tier needs nothing; includes 20 GitHub Enterprise seats + Azure OpenAI | Jul 2026 |
| Cloudflare for Startups | $1k–5k | small tiers self-serve; larger needs VC/accelerator backing | Jul 2026 |
| ElevenLabs Grants | 12 months Scale tier | voice-first / AI-audio products only | Jul 2026 |
| Databricks for Startups | varies | venture-backed only; one consolidated application since the 2026 relaunch | Jul 2026 |
sorted by desperation ↓
free API tiers, no card:
Anthropic $5 trial · OpenAI $5 trial · Google Gemini · xAI · Mistral · DeepSeek
The Starter Kit *updated weekly*
1. Ship the thing
Claude Code · a repo · Vercel · one Postgres you will outgrow never
2. Get paid
Stripe · Stripe Atlas or Mercury · a pricing page with three tiers you invented
3. Be findable
the .ai domain · one landing page · a Discord with you and four bots
4. Don't die
Plausible · a spreadsheet named runway_FINAL_v6.xlsx · one paying customer
the_second_cofounder
we raised on "AI for X". X was spreadsheets. it is still spreadsheets. we are doing great actually
♺ 88 · ♥ 640
lost_in_the_repo
day 41 of not launching because the onboarding animation isn't right yet. the product has one button.
♺ 502 · ♥ 3,118
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> marc: cool site. what's the moat
> ???: is this a real company
> dana: i felt seen and attacked
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