Startups & Y Combinator

We run two special programs for early-stage teams.

1. PostHog for Startups is our program to support early stage companies.
2. PostHog for Y Combinator is our program to support companies in the Y Combinator accelerator.

Both programs give users some exclusive perks, as well as credit to use across any mix of PostHog products.

PostHog for Startups

Any company that is <2 years old and has raised less than $5m in funding is eligible for PostHog for Startups.

What happens after companies apply

1. Company applies by signing up to PostHog, completing onboarding, and then adding their billing details and applying on our startups page.
2. If these criteria are fulfilled and the form gets submitted, we automatically apply a $50k Stripe credit to their account that expires in 12 months.
3. The user receives an automated email, via Zapier, which provides them with a confirmation about acceptance to the program (comes from Scott).
4. Shortly after, they get a separate email from Brilliant about claiming their merch (sent via Zapier, comes from Scott).
5. ~12h later, they get a welcome email with the details about the program and additional perks (sent via https://fly.customer.io/workspaces/127208/journeys/composer/actions/2185, comes from Joe).

Following the welcome email teams will get an additional email when they use 50%, 75%, and 100% of their credit, or when their credits fully expire - whichever comes first.

Once the credits have expired or been used up teams will be moved to a standard, paid plan and be billed as usual. We encourage teams to speak with us about available discounts or long-term contracts before this happens, and provide a one-off $500 credit bonus when startup credits expire to help avoid sticker shock from moving to a paid plan.

The PostHog for Startups deal is also posted on our profile at various accelerator portfolios, such as F6S. These all follow the same process as above.

Reviewing approved applications

While the applications get approved automatically if the basic requirements are fulfilled, we review and validate them after the fact. We do this manually and using enriched data from Clearbit and Clay.

If there's a mismatch in data submitted by the founder and the external data sources (e.g. regarding founding date or funding raised), we're going to contact the founder to clarify this. If we don't hear from them for more than a week, or if we confirm that they don't qualify for the program, we'll remove the credit from their account.

Welcome merch

This is handled via Brilliant. The automated email users receive contains a single Brilliant link, connected to a preferred item campaign, which contains a pack of welcome merch. Responsibility for ensuring merch stock levels and quality is owned by the People & Ops team and can be coordinated in the Merch channel on Slack.

Occasionally teams will reach out to request more merch for their co-founders. We use our discretion here, but generally offer more merch for co-founders.

In case of any issues with merch, founders can reach out to merch@posthog.com.

Amplifying announcements

We encourage members of the PostHog for Startups program to inform us when they have an upcoming launch, or other announcement. We may then share that announcement with other members of the program (via the newsletter), or share it more widely on our socials and other channels. We don't make guarantees about how we'll or if we'll share announcements, and do so only at our own discretion.

Monthly newsletter

Once a month, we send a short newsletter to all users in the program. We send the email as a Customer.io broadcast and there is a template set up in Customer.io. This email is covered on the email comms page.

Credit usage

Teams in the startup plan can use their credit for any PostHog product or add-on, including the Teams plan. Teams within PostHog for Startups cannot use credits toward a BAA however due to the legal risk to PostHog. If a startup requires a BAA, they should speak to the CS & Sales team to find a solution.

Unused credits do not carry over past 12 months and cannot be converted into cash or other rewards. If credits are used up then the team will automatically trigger email warnings and move to a standard, paid plan.

Partnership perks

We maintain a partnership with Mintlify and Speakeasy to help our users build better documentation and APIs. Once a team is accepted into PostHog for Startups, we'll automatically send them the voucher code they need in their welcome email. The code gives them 50% for six months. This applies for both products.

If users have issues with the code, or accessing the benefit, we'll raise this directly with Mintlify and Speakeasy, but can't give any guarantees as all discounts are at their discretion. Our contacts at each company (in case Joe, who handles this usually, is away) are Tiffany Chen (Mintlify) and Nolan Di Mare Sullivan (Speakeasy).

We previously partnered with DigitalOcean to offer users an additional $25,000 of infrastructure credit, but retired this partnership in Q2 2025.

Program extensions

Extensions aren't something we usually do because we set the initial terms to keep things fair and consistent for everyone. We recommend using your credits within the deal period to make the most of the program. If you've had some unusual circumstances, we're open to hearing about them. Please make sure your request clearly explains why you couldn't use the credits as planned and shows recent growth or a change in direction that makes the extension necessary. Our Customer Success team reviews each request on a case-by-case basis.

PostHog for Y Combinator

In addition to our startups program, we also run a similar program for teams in Y Combinator. This is roughly the same as the startups program, but differs in a few ways:

• We offer teams in YC an enhanced package of merch, including their co-founders
• We offer teams in YC a variable amount of credit based on which batch they are in ($50,000 for 12 months for the current/upcoming and previous 4 batches, $25,000 for 12 months for older batches)
• We invite founders for these teams into our private Founder community
• Teams in YC can use credits toward a BAA via the Teams add-on

Teams in the YC program also have a different application process. They must apply via our secret YC page and provide a screenshot of Bookface to prove they are part of the YC community.

Similarly to our startups program, approvals are granted automatically and are then reviewed manually after the fact to confirm eligibility.

Other than this, PostHog for YC runs similarly to PostHog for Startups.

Reporting

We have a dashboard for this.