Tools Every YC Batch Founder Should Claim First (2026)

Y Combinator gives every batch founder access to a deal sheet worth $1M+ in startup credits and discounts. But most YC founders only claim 5-10 of the available deals — leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table.

This guide is the exact list of tools every YC batch founder should claim in their first week — ranked by value and importance. It also covers tools available to non-YC founders through verified deals on SaaSOffers.

Why Claim Tools in Your First Week

Most YC founders are heads-down on product during the batch. They tell themselves they will "claim deals later." Then later never comes — they burn out, the batch ends, and they realize they spent $20,000 on tools that were sitting in their YC deal sheet for free.

The right move: spend Saturday of Week 1 claiming everything you might need. It takes 4-6 hours and saves 6 months of money pressure later.

The Essential YC Stack (Claim Week 1)

Infrastructure (Save $50K+)

1. AWS Activate Portfolio — $5,000-$100,000 in credits

• YC partnership unlocks the highest tier
• Apply via your YC dashboard
• Non-YC founders: AWS Activate via SaaSOffers (Founders tier)

2. Google Cloud for Startups — Up to $100,000 in credits

• YC tier: Scale ($100K)
• Non-YC tier: Start ($2K)
• Google Cloud via SaaSOffers

3. Microsoft Founders Hub — Up to $150,000 in Azure credits

• Available to YC founders + bootstrapped
• Includes GitHub Enterprise + ChatGPT Enterprise credits

4. Vercel Pro — Free upgrade

• Native Next.js platform
• Vercel deal via SaaSOffers

5. Supabase — Free Pro tier for startups

• Best Postgres + Auth + Storage in one
• Supabase deal via SaaSOffers

CRM and Sales (Save $20K+)

6. HubSpot for Startups — 90% off Year 1

• YC partner program
• 50% off Year 2
• HubSpot via SaaSOffers

7. Apollo.io — $1,000 in credits

• Lead generation and outreach
• Apollo via SaaSOffers

8. Clearbit — $5,000 in credits

• B2B data enrichment
• Clearbit via SaaSOffers

Productivity (Save $5K+)

9. Notion for Startups — 6 months free Plus

• Workspace, docs, wiki
• Notion via SaaSOffers

10. Linear — 6 months free

• Project management for engineering
• Linear via SaaSOffers

11. Figma for Startups — 1 year free Pro

• Design and prototyping
• Figma via SaaSOffers

12. Slack — Free upgrade for YC startups

• Team communication
• Slack via SaaSOffers

Analytics (Save $50K+)

13. Mixpanel — $50,000 in credits

• Product analytics
• Mixpanel via SaaSOffers

14. Segment — $25,000 in credits

• Customer data infrastructure
• Segment via SaaSOffers

15. Amplitude — Discount on Plus tier

• Behavioral analytics

16. PostHog — Free + credits

• Open source analytics
• PostHog via SaaSOffers

Email and Marketing (Save $5K+)

17. SendGrid — Free credits

• Transactional email
• SendGrid via SaaSOffers

18. Resend — $300 in credits

• Modern transactional email API
• Resend via SaaSOffers

19. Customer.io — Free trial + startup discount

• Lifecycle marketing
• Customer.io via SaaSOffers

HR and Operations (Save $10K+)

20. Deel — $1,500 in credits

• Global hiring and contractors
• Deel via SaaSOffers

21. Carta — Free cap table for early-stage

• Equity management
• Issue 409A valuations later

22. Stripe Atlas — $500 (one-time)

• Incorporation in Delaware
• Mercury bank account included
• Stripe Atlas via SaaSOffers

23. Mercury — Free banking

• US business banking, no minimums
• Mercury via SaaSOffers

24. Brex — Free corporate card

• Higher limits for startups
• Brex via SaaSOffers

Developer Tools (Save $20K+)

25. Datadog — $2,000 in credits

• Monitoring and observability
• Datadog via SaaSOffers

26. Sentry — $500 in credits

• Error tracking
• Sentry via SaaSOffers

27. Algolia — $10,000 in credits

• Search-as-a-service
• Algolia via SaaSOffers

28. MongoDB Atlas — $5,000 in credits

• NoSQL database
• MongoDB via SaaSOffers

29. Twilio — $2,500 in credits

• SMS, voice, video APIs
• Twilio via SaaSOffers

30. GitHub — Free upgrade for startups

• Code hosting and CI/CD
• GitHub via SaaSOffers

AI and ML (Save $10K+)

31. OpenAI — $2,500 in API credits

• GPT-4 and ChatGPT API
• OpenAI via SaaSOffers

32. Anthropic — $2,000 in API credits

• Claude API
• Anthropic via SaaSOffers

33. Cohere — $2,000 in API credits

• Enterprise NLP and embeddings
• Cohere via SaaSOffers

34. Pinecone — Free + credits

• Vector database for RAG
• Pinecone via SaaSOffers

Total Value: $1,000,000+

If a YC founder claims every tool above, the total credit value is over $1 million. Even claiming half conservatively saves $200,000-$500,000 in Year 1.

For non-YC founders, the same tools are available through SaaSOffers with slightly different tiers — totaling $300K-$500K in Year 1 savings.

How Non-YC Founders Can Claim Similar Deals

Most of the deals above are available to non-YC startups through SaaSOffers — sometimes at the same tier, sometimes at slightly lower amounts.

The key difference: YC founders get auto-approved through the YC partnership. Non-YC founders need to apply through approved partner channels like SaaSOffers.

For most tools, the application is the same — but having a verified partner endorsement (which SaaSOffers provides) dramatically increases approval rates.

YC Week 1 Action Plan

Saturday morning (4 hours):

1. 1Open your YC dashboard deal sheet
2. 2Open SaaSOffers in another tab
3. 3Sign up for SaaSOffers (free)
4. 4Work through the list above in order
5. 5Claim infrastructure first (highest value)
6. 6Claim CRM second (most expensive at retail)
7. 7Claim everything else

Saturday afternoon (2 hours):

1. 1Set calendar reminders for credit expiration (typically 12 months out)
2. 2Create a Notion page tracking which credits you claimed and when
3. 3Forward all approval emails to a "credits" email folder

Result: $200K-$1M in credits claimed, your stack funded for the entire batch.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake 1: Waiting until "after the batch." You forget. Credits expire. You miss the deals. Claim everything Week 1.

Mistake 2: Skipping deals you "do not need yet." Credits expire. If you might need it in the next 12 months, claim it now.

Mistake 3: Not setting expiration reminders. Most credits expire 12 months from claim. Set alarms.

Mistake 4: Using personal email. Use your company email for all applications. Mixing makes credit recovery impossible later.

Mistake 5: Forgetting to track which credits you claimed. Six months in, you will have no idea which deals are active. Track everything in a spreadsheet from day one.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

YC founders sit on a goldmine of startup credits — but only if they actually claim them. Spend Saturday of Week 1 claiming everything in this list. The 4-6 hour investment will save your startup $200K-$500K and months of cash flow stress.

Non-YC founders can claim similar deals through verified partners like SaaSOffers. The total value is slightly lower but still in the $300K-$500K range.

Browse All Startup Deals →