{"rid":"compute/aws-activate-founders","card":{"rid":"compute/aws-activate-founders","eid":"amazon","topic":"compute","slug":"aws-activate-founders","provider":"AWS Activate, Founders","url":"https://aws.amazon.com/aws-startups/learn/applying-for-aws-activate-credits-a-step-by-step-guide/","domain":"amazon.com","category":"cloud VM","tier":null,"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","vorder":1,"grp":"usable","confidence":"documented","binding":"write-gated","identity_kind":"email","identity_basis":"stated","needs_card":0,"needs_phone":0,"needs_id":0,"needs_institution":0,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":"s3-compatible","egress_metered":null,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":null,"verified_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00.000Z","verified_basis":"live","checked_on":"2026-10-22","stale_on":"2026-11-21","n_evidence":4,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"The Activate Founders tier offers USD 1,000 in AWS Activate Credits, plus USD 350 in AWS Developer Support credits, valid for two years. Eligibility: new to ...","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":8},"record":{"topic":"compute","slug":"aws-activate-founders","provider":"AWS Activate, Founders","url":"https://aws.amazon.com/aws-startups/learn/applying-for-aws-activate-credits-a-step-by-step-guide/","category":"cloud VM","free_tier":{"stated":"The Activate Founders tier offers USD 1,000 in AWS Activate Credits, plus USD 350 in AWS Developer Support credits, valid for two years. Eligibility: new to AWS Activate Credits, self-funded, a fully functioning company website, founded in the past 10 years, and a business email matching the startup domain. AWS states: 'If you do not have an Org ID, you are initially eligible for the Founders Package.'","unit":"none","metered_on":"wall-clock","source_url":"https://aws.amazon.com/aws-startups/learn/applying-for-aws-activate-credits-a-step-by-step-guide/","read_on":"2026-10-22","notes":"one-shot-credit"},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"not applicable","bytes":null,"source_url":"https://aws.amazon.com/aws-startups/learn/applying-for-aws-activate-credits-a-step-by-step-guide/","notes":null},"retention":{"stated":"not applicable","days":null,"source_url":"https://aws.amazon.com/aws-startups/learn/applying-for-aws-activate-credits-a-step-by-step-guide/","notes":null},"egress":{"terms":"not stated","metered":false,"free_allowance":null,"price_per_tb":null,"source_url":"https://aws.amazon.com/aws-startups/learn/applying-for-aws-activate-credits-a-step-by-step-guide/"},"interface":["s3-compatible"],"interface_detail":"inferred from the tooling the provider documents; not probed","tooling":"not stated","chaining":"USD 1,000 of EC2 and S3 plus USD 350 of Developer Support is the cheapest entry point at AWS and it does not disqualify a later Portfolio application, so the chain is Founders now, Portfolio after any accelerator affiliation. It composes with the Kiro Startup Credits promotion, which excludes applicants who already hold Activate credits.","limits":[{"kind":"write-gated","value":"The review fails first: AWS has unpublished internal requirements, applications go unedited once submitted, and reports of repeated rejection for legitimate applicants are common. After approval the two-year expiry and the USD 1,000 size are what bind.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/aws-startups/learn/applying-for-aws-activate-credits-a-step-by-step-guide/"}],"limits_note":"The review fails first: AWS has unpublished internal requirements, applications go unedited once submitted, and reports of repeated rejection for legitimate applicants are common. After approval the two-year expiry and the USD 1,000 size are what bind.","binding":"write-gated","binding_note":"The review fails first: AWS has unpublished internal requirements, applications go unedited once submitted, and reports of repeated rejection for legitimate applicants are common. After approval the two-year expiry and the USD 1,000 size are what bind.","identity_cost":{"kind":"email","detail":"No incorporation requirement appears in the English eligibility list or the seven-step application guide. The gates are an AWS Builder ID, a business email matching a startup domain (the guide says to use the business email for the Builder ID and the Activate profile), a live company website, and a linked AWS account.","country":null},"reliability_note":"no reliability event recorded","confidence":"documented","evidence":[{"url":"https://aws.amazon.com/aws-startups/learn/applying-for-aws-activate-credits-a-step-by-step-guide/","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"the Founders eligibility list is new to Activate, self-funded, a fully functioning company website and founded in the past 10 years, with no incorporation term, quoted"},{"url":"https://aws.amazon.com/aws-startups/learn/applying-for-aws-activate-credits-a-step-by-step-guide/","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"'If you do not have an Org ID, you are initially eligible for the Founders Package', and the guide requires a business email matching the startup domain, quoted"},{"url":"https://aws.amazon.com/jp/activate/gettingstarted/","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"the Japanese AWS page lists the required fields for Founders as an AWS account ID, a company website or web profile, and the applicant's LinkedIn profile, and states crowdfunding and friends-and-family funded startups remain eligible, quoted and translated"},{"url":"https://repost.aws/questions/QUq-hqNzjaTq-9-IBFvxdhlg/repeated-rejections-for-aws-activate-founders-credits-need-guidance","date":"2026-10-22","proved":"an AWS re:Post answer states that meeting the published criteria does not guarantee approval and that AWS has internal requirements beyond the public list, reported"}],"verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","verified_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00.000Z","notes":"the evidence reversed that verdict in the same session. AWS's seven-step application guide and its Japanese getting-started page both name a website, a domain business email and a LinkedIn profile rather than a legal entity, and one third-party tracker records solo-founder eligibility as yes. The residual risk is the unpublished internal review, which is where rejections actually happen. The corpus record dossier/storage/aws-activate.json merges both tiers and marks it qualifies-with-caveat with a garbled derived identity_cost; its numbers stand, its identity field does not.","extras":{"wave2":{"class":"startup-credit","free_tier_kind":"one-shot-credit","shape":null}}},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:write-gated","num":null,"unit":null,"per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"unparsed"}],"unknown":[["$.egress.metered","egress-unknown"],["$.egress.terms","not-stated"],["$.per_object_cap.notes","process"],["$.per_object_cap.stated","not-applicable"],["$.reliability_note","none-observed"],["$.retention.notes","process"],["$.retention.stated","not-applicable"],["$.tooling","not-stated"]],"history":[],"drift":[{"kind":"duplicate-disagrees","subject":"compute/aws-activate-founders","other":"compute/aws-activate-portfolio","field":"verdict","a":"qualifies-with-caveat","b":"fails-identity","detail":null},{"kind":"duplicate-disagrees","subject":"compute/aws-activate-founders","other":"compute/aws-activate-portfolio","field":"identity_kind","a":"email","b":"institution","detail":null}]}