Recipes that work the first time.

Three tiers with very different gates: $1,000 self-serve for bootstrapped founders, $100,000 for portfolio companies with an Activate Provider Org ID, and up to $300,000 for AI/foundation-model companies.

First-try successnot yet measured

Up to $25,000 of dedicated deployment/training credits plus $2,500 of Model API credits, for VC-funded AI-first companies at seed to Series A that are new to Baseten.

First-try successnot yet measured

A genuinely free plan for cap-table management, SAFE and equity issuance — until you cross 25 stakeholders or $1M raised, at which point you graduate to paid.

First-try successnot yet measured

Three tiers on a funding ladder — $10,000 bootstrapped, $100,000 under $5M raised, $350,000 above it — with credits valid for a year and review typically inside 48 hours.

First-try successnot yet measured

A 25% discount on all Cohere models for up to 12 months, plus technical support and co-marketing. A discount, not credits — there is no dollar ceiling.

First-try successnot yet measured

Two hand-selected programs with no published amounts: an accelerator (credits + discounts + engineering support) and CoreWeave Ventures, which can pay in compute for equity.

First-try successnot yet measured

Up to a year free on the full Datadog platform and up to $100k of credits — but only through an official partner, and the credits evaporate if you do not activate within 30 days.

First-try successnot yet measured

A steep multi-year software discount — 90/50/25% for VC-funded companies, 30/15% for accelerator-affiliated ones — on net-new Pro or Enterprise seats only.

First-try successnot yet measured

There is no Lambda founder credits program. The only real program is the Lambda Research Grant, which is academic-only and which founders do not qualify for. This entry exists so nobody chases the mirage.

First-try successnot yet measured

Up to six months free on a paid Linear plan, for teams under 50 that come through one of Linear's 900+ accelerator and VC partners.

First-try successnot yet measured

NOT a credits program, and labelled that way on purpose. Raise is Mercury's fundraising and community program: warm investor introductions through Investor Connect, plus a vetted founder community. Free and self-serve. Mercury's dollar credits live in a different program — see the traps.

First-try successnot yet measured

Up to $150,000 of Nebius cloud credits, open at any stage — but only to existing NVIDIA Inception members. The realistic Nebius route for a pre-$5M startup.

First-try successnot yet measured

Intro GPU credits plus production compute discounts for VC-backed AI-native startups that have raised $5M+ and can reach Nebius through one of its venture partners.

First-try successnot yet measured

Free months on the Business plan including Notion AI — six with a partner code, three for tech startups, one for small businesses. New non-paying customers only.

First-try successnot yet measured

Free membership with no funding floor and no stage gate. The graph's root: holding it is what makes Nebius AI Lift reachable, and it is claimed to unlock elevated AWS Activate tiers.

First-try successnot yet measured

Charge cards with 1.5% cashback and a large bundle of partner perks — including the OpenAI credits — with no VC referral required. US entity and roughly $75k of cash needed.

First-try successnot yet measured

A year at 100% off a monthly Team or Business plan — a published ceiling of $60,000 — then 25% off year two, for new customers under $10M raised.

First-try successnot yet measured

Incorporation as a service (Delaware C-corp/LLC, EIN, 83(b), Cooley docs) with $2,500 of first-year Stripe credits and a bundle of other vendors' discounts. There is a real fee.

First-try successnot yet measured

Three funding-banded credit tiers from $15K to $50K, plus engineering hours, GTM co-sell and VC network access. No equity, no company-age cap.

First-try successnot yet measured

There is no standing credit program. The only route is the annual AI Startup Searchlight competition, which closes 11 September 2026 and names honorees in mid-to-late November.

First-try successnot yet measured