Today, I reached out to Slack for a startup discount. Since I’m part of the District 3 Innovation, I was given a Slack contact to discuss the offer.
💬 Me: Hi, I’m looking for a startup discount.
👩💼 Slack Rep: How many licenses do you need?
💬 Me: 19 licenses
👩💼 Slack Rep: Okay, I can offer you $0.25 off per license.
💬 Me: Wait… that’s just a $4/month discount for 19 licenses? How does that help a startup?
👩💼 Slack Rep: We can’t offer discounts for small teams.
💬 Me: Well, isn’t that the whole point of a startup? We’re a small team now, but we’re scaling!
This got me thinking—big companies love to say they support startups. But when it comes down to it, their “discounts” are sometimes pointless.
Honestly, I would have preferred a straight-up NO rather than a $0.25 discount.
On the flip side, I’m using SaaS tools like Intercom, which actually provide real support for startups (not promoting, just sharing my experience).
What do you think? Should big companies be more transparent with their startup programs?
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