u/kronos450

INSANE REPLY!!

Imagine going through the responses in a very serious google form, made for shortlisting and finding this. Should we consider hiring this guy?

I'm honestly frustrated with the startup ecosystem in India!!

Every investor meetup and incubator event has the same message:

"We want to support Indian founders."

"Let's build the startup ecosystem."

"We want more global companies from India."

Sounds great. But my recent experience has been very different.

A few months ago, our AWS credits expired. Like many early-stage startups, every dollar matters. I reached out to an investor I knew who often talks about supporting founders and asked if they could share their AWS Organization ID so we could apply for startup credits.

The answer was:

"We only provide it to our portfolio companies."

Fair enough—it's their policy. But here's what I don't understand.

They're not giving me cash.

They're not investing money.

AWS is providing those credits.

If helping a genuine startup doesn't cost you anything, why make such big claims about supporting the ecosystem?

The same thing happened with incubators.

Under Startup India, many incubators receive government support to help startups. But when I approached a few of them, the conversation quickly became:

\- Give us 2–6% equity if you want incubation.

\- Pay for office space.

\- Only then can you access funding opportunities.

\- AWS/Azure benefits are only for our portfolio companies.

Again, these cloud credits aren't coming out of their pocket!

As a founder trying to build a category-defining product from India for the global market, I ended up spending weeks worrying about cloud bills instead of building the product. Eventually, I paid AWS and Azure myself.

I'm not asking anyone to invest.

I'm not asking for free money.

I'm talking about support that costs almost nothing but can genuinely help an early-stage founder survive.

So here's my request.

If you're running an investment firm or an incubator, it's completely okay to run it as a business. Take equity. Invest only in companies you believe in. That's your choice.

But please don't stand on stage talking about "building the Indian startup ecosystem" if your definition of support begins only after someone becomes your portfolio company.

Just say you're running a business!!

There's nothing wrong with that.

The ecosystem doesn't need bigger speeches.

It needs more people willing to help when the cost of helping is almost zero.

Curious to hear from other founders—have you had similar experiences, or was mine an exception?

Founder rant.

I'm honestly frustrated with the startup ecosystem in India!!

Every investor meetup and incubator event has the same message:

"We want to support Indian founders."

"Let's build the startup ecosystem."

"We want more global companies from India."

Sounds great. But my recent experience has been very different.

A few months ago, our AWS credits expired. Like many early-stage startups, every dollar matters. I reached out to an investor I knew who often talks about supporting founders and asked if they could share their AWS Organization ID so we could apply for startup credits.

The answer was:

"We only provide it to our portfolio companies."

Fair enough—it's their policy. But here's what I don't understand.

They're not giving me cash.

They're not investing money.

AWS is providing those credits.

If helping a genuine startup doesn't cost you anything, why make such big claims about supporting the ecosystem?

The same thing happened with incubators.

Under Startup India, many incubators receive government support to help startups. But when I approached a few of them, the conversation quickly became:

- Give us 2–6% equity if you want incubation.

- Pay for office space.

- Only then can you access funding opportunities.

- AWS/Azure benefits are only for our portfolio companies.

Again, these cloud credits aren't coming out of their pocket.

As a founder trying to build a category-defining product from India for the global market, I ended up spending weeks worrying about cloud bills instead of building the product. Eventually, I paid AWS and Azure myself.

I'm not asking anyone to invest.

I'm not asking for free money.

I'm talking about support that costs almost nothing but can genuinely help an early-stage founder survive.

So here's my request.

If you're running an investment firm or an incubator, it's completely okay to run it as a business. Take equity. Invest only in companies you believe in. That's your choice.

But please don't stand on stage talking about "building the Indian startup ecosystem" if your definition of support begins only after someone becomes your portfolio company.

Just say you're running a business!!

There's nothing wrong with that.

The ecosystem doesn't need bigger speeches.

It needs more people willing to help when the cost of helping is almost zero.

Curious to hear from other founders—have you had similar experiences, or was mine an exception?

I'm honestly frustrated with the startup ecosystem in India!!

Every investor meetup and incubator event has the same message:

"We want to support Indian founders."

"Let's build the startup ecosystem."

"We want more global companies from India."

Sounds great. But my recent experience has been very different.

A few months ago, our AWS credits expired. Like many early-stage startups, every dollar matters. I reached out to an investor I knew who often talks about supporting founders and asked if they could share their AWS Organization ID so we could apply for startup credits.

The answer was:

"We only provide it to our portfolio companies."

Fair enough—it's their policy. But here's what I don't understand.

They're not giving me cash.

They're not investing money.

AWS is providing those credits.

If helping a genuine startup doesn't cost you anything, why make such big claims about supporting the ecosystem?

The same thing happened with incubators.

Under Startup India, many incubators receive government support to help startups. But when I approached a few of them, the conversation quickly became:

- Give us 2–6% equity if you want incubation.

- Pay for office space.

- Only then can you access funding opportunities.

- AWS/Azure benefits are only for our portfolio companies.

Again, these cloud credits aren't coming out of their pocket.

As a founder trying to build a category-defining product from India for the global market, I ended up spending weeks worrying about cloud bills instead of building the product. Eventually, I paid AWS and Azure myself.

I'm not asking anyone to invest.

I'm not asking for free money.

I'm talking about support that costs almost nothing but can genuinely help an early-stage founder survive.

So here's my request.

If you're running an investment firm or an incubator, it's completely okay to run it as a business. Take equity. Invest only in companies you believe in. That's your choice.

But please don't stand on stage talking about "building the Indian startup ecosystem" if your definition of support begins only after someone becomes your portfolio company.

Just say you're running a business!!

There's nothing wrong with that.

The ecosystem doesn't need bigger speeches.

It needs more people willing to help when the cost of helping is almost zero.

Curious to hear from other founders—have you had similar experiences, or was mine an exception?