Cloudflare's Expanded Startup Program

blog.cloudflare.com

2 pointsmhamann2 comments

I love what they're doing in expanding the program and such, but the one problem that all "startup tiers" seem to have is that they only last one year.

Most startups are not profitable after just one year and paying cloud bills is a drag on growth.

A graduated drop-off would be better maybe 100% off for year one, then 75% year two, 50% year three, 25% year four, and full price year five. All subject to some sort of annual or total cap, of course.

That's a more realistic picture of what it takes to get off the ground.

Google does this: 100% discount for upto 100K of usage the first year, and 25% discount upto 100K for the second year.

But I disagree: I think what AWS does is a LOT better: credits last two years, which is a lot more practical (if i migrate to AWS for the credits, I have two years during which I don't have to consider migrating again), plus with the upfront payment plans, I can even stretch the credits to a third year. I like that a LOT better.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com