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Ahmad Muhyidin
Ahmad Muhyidin

Posted on Originally published at ahmadmuhyidin.my.id on

Five startup programs said yes in one October

#startup #aws #cloudflare #ai

I run Idin Studio, a small software studio, and Inviboo, a digital invitation product. Neither has outside funding. In October 2026 I applied to a handful of startup programs to find out which ones a bootstrapped team can actually get into. Five said yes.

Each one has a full guide in my Playbook, with the receipts and the steps I took. This is the short version.

The five

  • AWS Activate, Founders tier. I applied for Inviboo on 22 Oct and AWS approved it the next day: USD 1,000 in credits until October 2028.
  • Claude for Startups. Anthropic accepted Idin Studio on 9 Oct: USD 1,000 in API credits and a year of Claude Team. Applications are closed for now.
  • Cloudflare for Startups. I applied on 10 Oct and the credits went live on 17 Oct: USD 10,000 for a year.
  • PostHog for Startups. Accepted on 10 Oct, the day I applied: USD 50,000 in credits for twelve months.
  • Sentry for Startups. Applied and accepted on 10 Oct: USD 5,000 in credits for twelve months.

What I would tell another bootstrapped founder

  1. Lead with the product. Cloudflare's page lists service agencies as not a fit, and I applied to AWS for Inviboo rather than for the studio. Describe what you are building.
  2. Use an email on your own domain. PostHog rejects free addresses the moment you submit, and Cloudflare asks for an email that matches your website.
  3. Check the billing page as well as your inbox. My Cloudflare welcome email sat unread for three days while the credits were already in Billing.
  4. Write every end date down on the day you get in. Four of mine end in October 2027; AWS runs to October 2028.
  5. Credits end; the card on file stays. Sentry needs a card before you pick a plan, Cloudflare bills it when the credits run out, PostHog moves you to its paid plan, and AWS bills anything above the credit. Set a reminder a month before each end date.
  6. Read what is excluded. PostHog's credits skip its AI tools, Cloudflare's skip domain registration, and AWS credits skip Marketplace, taxes and upfront fees.

What it changes

None of this replaces paying customers. It buys time to build, as long as I respect the end dates.

Program rules change. Each guide links the vendor page it relies on and the date I checked it, 24 October 2026.

If you are building something and want a second pair of hands, let's talk.

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