guides
Who to Email About Startup Credits
Who to contact for startup credits, when to follow up, and which referrals, account details and replies AWS, Google, Microsoft and others actually need.
Datadog can approve your startup and then let the acceptance expire because you didn’t answer its email. Its instructions say “you must respond to confirm your credit activation”. After 30 days without that reply, “your acceptance will expire”. You have to reapply, if you’re still eligible.
We’d spend less time hunting for executives and more time reading what the programme actually needs from us. An email has a job when someone else must supply a referral, an application is overdue, the form can’t accommodate your circumstances, or there was never a form.
Our catalogue data, checked on 5 November 2026, contains 651 offers across 589 companies. You apply for 542 of them through a form. Another 53 ask you to get in touch, 47 use some other method, five use a code and four are automatic. As for who can apply, 563 are public, 77 require membership, eight need a referral, two need an invitation and one is automatic. We read the programme pages below on the same date.
Who to contact and how long to wait
These are application-review times, not promises about support replies.
| Programme | Who to write to or where to ask | Published review time |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Activate | Apply through the form. Your Activate Provider supplies the Portfolio Org ID. “If you need additional support, contact us” leads to an assistant chat about credits and support. | “You’ll hear back within 5–10 business days.” |
| Google for Startups Cloud Program | First applications use the form. For reapplying after unused credits, “What can I do if I get rejected?” or “How to proceed if I am a stealth startup?”, Google says: “Email your Account Manager or cloudstartupsupport@google.com to get more information.” Billing mismatches go to “your cloud rep”. | “In most cases, you can expect to be informed within a few business days after your submission.” Manual review can take 10 days or more. |
| Microsoft for Startups | Its 23 October support guide says “All startups must submit requests through the Azure Portal”. Open Program Overview, then the Overview tab’s “Your Microsoft Team” box, then “Get program support”. | Within three business days. |
| Cloudflare for Startups | startups@cloudflare.com. Confirmation goes to “the address provided in your application form”. “Please check your spam folder or, if it has been longer than a week reach out to us at startups@cloudflare.com”. | “Our review process typically takes up to 48 hours.” Write after more than a week. |
| Datadog for Startups | Referral first; questions to startups@datadoghq.com. Unsure who can refer you? “please reach out to your investor, accelerator, or startup community contact”. | “The approval process typically takes 3 to 5 business days.” |
| MongoDB for Startups | startups@mongodb.com. “Please ask your VC or accelerator partner to refer you.” A direct application is available without that affiliation. | “If you haven’t heard back from us after five business days please contact us”. |
| Vercel for Startups | Apply with proof of an approved partnership. Ask your partner for portal access; the application page lists no follow-up email. | “Please allow 5 to 7 business days for a response.” |
| GitHub for Startups | “Apply through a GitHub for Startups partner”. Help goes through a support ticket under “Credit Offers - GitHub for Startups”. | “The primary email of the user that applied will receive an email from us within 2-3 business days.” |
Ask your investor for the referral
AWS advertises up to $200,000 for pre-Series B Portfolio applicants, then specifies: “You must have an Organization ID (Org ID) from your Activate Provider”. Microsoft’s 30 October application guide says it “doesn’t publicly share the list of participating investors”. It tells you who to ask: “To request an investor referral code, contact your accelerator or VC directly.”
At a larger fund, we’d ask portfolio support or the platform team. At a small fund, ask the partner who led your round; at an accelerator, the programme manager. They can collect several referrals in one reply.
For a hypothetical self-funded accelerator member:
Subject: Startup programme referrals for Example Ltd
Hi,
Example Ltd, example.com, joined your accelerator on 12 October. We're self-funded. Could you send us the application links, codes and partner-portal access available to us for AWS Activate, Microsoft for Startups, MongoDB and Vercel?
JaneConsider a hypothetical Vercel application. You upload your accelerator acceptance email and wait. Vercel says: “A screenshot of your acceptance email or profile is not valid and will delay the approval process.” What it wants is a screenshot of the entire browser window showing its offer in the partner’s “dashboard, hub, wiki, or console”. You ask your programme manager for access, find the Vercel offer and submit that screenshot. Until then, chasing Vercel leaves the same missing proof in your application. A senior contact at Vercel would be a fairly elaborate way to ask for access to somebody else’s website.
An investor missing from a partner list needn’t stay missing. AWS says: “We welcome applications from venture capital firms, seed investors, and accelerators who are actively investing in startups.” MongoDB says: “If your VC or accelerator partner is not part of the MongoDB for Startups program, please ask them to apply”. Its contact is startups@mongodb.com. GitHub says “any investor, incubator, or accelerator is eligible” and supplies a partner application. Datadog takes partner enquiries at ddfspartners@datadoghq.com.
We’d ask the firm to join because the resulting access helps its whole portfolio. Remote even rewards the introduction: “If your investor is not a Remote for Startups partner, we’d love to chat with them! Introduce us, and you’ll get an additional 5% off (up to a 20% discount).”
What’s open without an investor
AWS Founders says “Apply directly if you’re bootstrapped or self-funded”. It starts at $1,000, with selected participants qualifying for up to $5,000. Cloudflare’s $10,000 Tier 3 covers bootstrapped or self-funded companies with under $1M raised. Its $350,000 Tier 1 and $100,000 Tier 2 require an affiliated partner.
These programmes give their biggest breaks to founders who already have backing. If you’re bootstrapped, stop treating the top tier as money you’re failing to claim.
Microsoft’s optional investor code has 10 characters. With one, you start with $1,000; “Approved startups unlock expanded credits (up to $150,000)”. Choose “Continue without a code” and the starting amount is $200. Microsoft says “you might become eligible for additional Startup credits (up to $150,000) based on factors such as business verification, service adoption, usage patterns, and overall program eligibility.” That ceiling isn’t your opening balance.
MongoDB is explicit: “If you are not involved with a VC, accelerator, or incubator, please apply above on this page.” Postmark offers something smaller and wonderfully concrete. If you’ve launched, charge for your product and haven’t taken outside investment, “contact our support team and we’ll give you $75 account credit”. We’d take $75 off a bill we have to pay over an afternoon spent pursuing a larger offer we couldn’t use.
Which email address to apply from
Should you use your company email? Google insists on it. Microsoft’s sign-up won’t accept it.
Google requires that “your company website domain must match your email domain and the email domain associated with your billing account”. Microsoft says “Use a personal consumer email address for the sign-up steps.” Company-domain accounts “aren’t accepted”. Applying to both requires both kinds of address. AWS asks you to create your Builder ID with “your professional email”; Vercel requires “an email address that matches the company website”.
Keep a note of which address you used for each application. Cloudflare sends its confirmation to the address on the form and GitHub replies to the applicant’s primary email, so checking the company inbox is no help if you applied from another account.
Google’s form can prefill the wrong linked email or billing ID. Correct it before submitting, or ask your cloud rep. Google needs your “18-character Google Cloud billing account ID”. And to “Can I send my pitch deck and funding documents to verify funding?”, its answer is: “Please provide links to publicly available, online sources detailing the equity investments made in your company.” For stealth companies: “If you’re in stealth mode, please work with your investor to verify your funding.”
Following up on an application
Cloudflare’s 48 hours is how long a review usually takes, and its instruction to chase comes much later: once it has been longer than a week. We’d wait the week. If you applied yesterday, there is nothing yet for a support team to fix.
A useful follow-up names the company and website, the programme and tier, the date you applied and the address you applied from, and gives the account or application ID that programme recognises. Your investor’s referral code won’t help the team find you: it says who referred you, not which application is yours. Then ask one question.
This fictional message goes to startups@cloudflare.com on 5 November 2026:
Subject: Example Ltd: Cloudflare Tier 3 application, 26 October
Hi Cloudflare team,
I applied to Cloudflare for Startups Tier 3 for Example Ltd, example.com, on 26 October 2026 using jane@example.com. We're self-funded. It's been 10 calendar days, and I've checked spam without finding a decision.
Our account ID is 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef.
Is anything missing from our application?
JaneA rejection deserves a reply when you can correct the reason. Cloudflare says: “Our team will always provide a reason for the decision. If you believe you qualify and can provide supporting information, we’re happy to re-evaluate your application.” Google names its Account Manager or cloudstartupsupport@google.com for rejection questions.
For a tier-increase evaluation, Cloudflare asks members to email startups@cloudflare.com “with your account ID and a brief summary of how you are utilizing Cloudflare products.” The same address handles the Enterprise add-ons its page lists for email requests.
When the programme says to get in touch
Crisp’s 26 October instructions say: “Contact Crisp through the live chat and share the information needed for review.” It wants your website, a short description of your business and services, and your business registration certificate. Vast.ai’s 6 February announcement asks you to “get in touch with our team to share a bit about your project and compute needs.” Use the channel the company names.
If a general sales form goes quiet, we’d find the founder or partnerships lead at a small company. At a larger one, look on LinkedIn for someone whose current role covers startups. A person who ran the programme three jobs ago isn’t a useful result just because the search engine still knows their name.
Once you’ve found the person, Sourcey’s email finder looks for an address from their name and company: three free lookups a day, no sign-up. Company pages in our catalogue link to it with the domain filled in. Send one short message mentioning the form, with at most one polite follow-up.
When not to write
Claude Startups says: “Our current cohort is now full, and we’re not accepting new applications right now.” Its newsletter announces the next cohort. AWS’s $200,000+ AI credits are invite-only, for startups ready to scale after Activate Portfolio: “Talk with your Account Manager”. Datadog answers “Can I apply directly without a referral?” with “No. All applicants must come through one of our referral partners.” We wouldn’t turn any of those into a cold-email campaign.
Addresses and terms change. Recheck the provider’s page through our startup catalogue, whose records show how to apply, and work through Before You Apply for Startup Credits before budgeting against an offer.