Blocked from startup credits by brief 8-year old signup

Question

Hello,

I'm working on a project that I hope to develop into a business and went to sign up for the initial tier of Azure startup credits for the first stages of development.

However, after logging into my Microsoft account it took me to the Azure for Startups portal with one activity listed, last viewed 8 years ago. I must have signed up for Azure briefly in the past, but did nothing significant with it and certainly didn't receive any credits.

I did try signing up for a new account, but was told that I wasn't eligible for credits (probably because my LinkedIn is connected to my existing account).

How can I get access to the initial tier of credits? I'd like to try developing with Azure and certainly don't think I breach the spirit of the criteria, I just happened to take a brief look 8 years ago...

Thank you,

Bernie

Answer 1

It sounds like your personal Microsoft Account (MSA) is tied to an old, inactive Azure subscription from 8 years ago. The “Get $1,000 in Azure credits” startup offer requires you to be a new Azure customer with no prior Azure subscriptions. Because your MSA is already linked, the portal won’t let you redeem the credits again.

Here’s what you can try:

Use a truly “clean” MSA

• Sign up for a new Microsoft account (with a different email address that’s never been used in Azure)
• Go to https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/signups/overview and click “Get $1,000 to build on Azure.”
• Your credits will automatically apply to the new sponsorship subscription.

OR remove/unblock your old subscription In the Azure portal, browse to Subscriptions, find the stale subscription, and choose Cancel (if available). If there’s no cancel option or it still shows as “inactive,” open a support ticket asking Azure Support to delete or unblock your unused subscription.

Once that subscription is fully removed, sign in again at the startups portal and you should see the $1,000 credit option.

Bonus: If you end up forming a registered startup and want more than $1K, consider the Microsoft for Startups Investor Offer—which, after business verification, can give you up to $5K right away and scale up to $100K as you grow.

References

• Get $1,000 in Azure credits (Azure for Startups) https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/signups/overview
• Avoid unused subscriptions (to close or delete old ones) https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/avoid-unused-subscriptions
• Microsoft for Startups Investor Offer (up to $100K) https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-for-startups/application?source=recommendations 

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