my 4 apps cost $250 a month. I pay $0.
that's me · ahmed mansy
founder, nexar labs (uk) · tech manager, grinda ai
Startup credits pay my whole AWS bill: $1,000 from AWS Activate, then $9,000 more through NVIDIA Inception. Three short books show how I got them, how Claude deploys for me (I approve every step), and how I run AI on the same credits.Startup credits pay my whole AWS bill. Three short books show you the exact route.
by ahmed mansy · founder, nexar labs (uk) · grinda ai
pdf + starter kit · 14-day refund · credits aren't guaranteed
free until
it matters.
Every free plan has an asterisk. Turn the tags over: each catch is quoted from the company's own pricing or docs page.
AWS has 200+
services.
you need six.
- EC2
- the computer your app runs on
- S3
- where files and backups live
- IAM
- who is allowed to do what
- Budgets
- the alarm before any surprise bill
- CloudWatch
- logs that tell you what broke
- Bedrock
- Claude and other models, on your credits
claude knows the other 194. you don't have to.
make it ask first.
every time.
Claude checks the account first and drafts every change for you to read. You say yes or no. A guard policy stops it deleting databases, snapshots or backups, even if you say yes.Claude drafts every change. You say yes or no. A guard policy denies deleting your AWS databases, disks and backups, even after a yes.
create one small server
about $19 a month · one EC2 server
yes.set a $1 alert on the credits
so they can't run out silently
yes.delete the old database
rds · no final snapshot
yes. blocked.
Check our local AWS connection before we talk about architecture. Use the AWS CLI with the founder-project profile. Run aws sts get-caller-identity and report the account and ARN. Confirm AWS_PROFILE and the Region in use, without showing any credential values.
Compare them with what I expect: account ending in [last 4 digits], user founder-deploy, Region [us-east-1]. Stop if anything differs, the login has expired, the identity is root, or you can't run the CLI here. Don't create resources, edit IAM, read secret values or change project files.
Report: project folder, profile, account, identity, Region, then PASS or the exact problem to fix.
run Claude Code
on your credits.
Claude Code works with Amazon Bedrock. Your coding sessions bill to AWS, and your credits pay for them. Same for the AI features inside your app.
- check what your credits cover page 8
- new account? expect tiny quotas page 16
- run Claude Code on your credits page 24
- do the math once page 39
read page 35
before you pay.
- Why free gets expensivepage 5
- Four apps, one billpage 6
- Free until it matterspage 8
- The same app, five wayspage 10
- A small app: $5 or $20page 13
- The whole route on one pagepage 18
- Company, domain and work emailpage 19
- Two budgets on day onepage 31
- NVIDIA Inceptionpage 34
- I applied with a landing pagepage 35
- The $9,000 offerpage 39
- Two clocks, not onepage 46
+ 55 more pages in vol. 1
+ 80 more pages in vol. 2
I applied with
a landing page.
“being early is fine. pretending isn't.”
When I applied to NVIDIA Inception, my product didn't work yet. I had a landing page and an early demo. That was enough to apply. Today I run 4 apps on AWS, about $250 of cloud a month, and startup credits pay all of it.
I wrote these books for builders stacking “free” tools, or scared of a cloud bill. You don't have to be either.
- founder
- Nexar Labs (NEXARLABS LTD), UK. member of NVIDIA Inception
- day job
- full-stack engineer and global team tech manager, Grinda AI
- client work
- projects of $60k–$100k+, architecture to AWS production
- my own apps
- 4 on AWS. credits pay the bill.
when the route
doesn't fit.
this is for you if
- Your app works locally or on a free tier, and you want it live without paying for AWS yourself.
- You can register a company, in any country. NVIDIA Inception needs one.
- You'd rather approve what Claude drafts than type AWS commands yourself.
- You want AI features in your app, paid by credits while they last.
skip it if
- You need credits guaranteed. AWS and NVIDIA decide, not me.
- A free plan already covers your app for good. Keep it.
- You already have a DevOps team and a big AWS bill.
- You won't register a company.
| the free way | the credits way | |
|---|---|---|
| cash today | $0 | $0 for AWS usage while credits last. domain and company costs are yours. |
| when you grow | a paid tier for each service | same setup, credits pay it |
| the limits | pauses, deletions, no commercial use | small quotas on new accounts. you ask for more. |
| backups | often none on free plans | yours, scripted (the vol. 2 kit) |
| who changes things | you, by hand | Claude drafts, you approve |
| the catch | it stops being free the week it matters | approval isn't guaranteed. credits expire. you need a company. AWS takes learning. |
all 3 books, $60.
or just the one you need.
vol. 1 + 2 + 3
all three.
+ the starter kit
instead of $97 bought one by onesave $37
3 PDFs · 211 pages · starter kit · 27 prompts · free updates
- books
- 3 PDFs · 211 pages (67 + 85 + 59)
- starter kit
- AGENTS.md.claude/settings.json.claude/hooks/guard.shcompose.yamlCaddyfileiam/guard-policy.jsonops/backup.shops/restore-test.sh
- prompts
- 27 paste-into-Claude prompts, from first login to a live app
- updates
- free, when AWS or NVIDIA change their screens
- refund
- 14 days. email me. no forms.
14 days. email me and I refund you. no forms.
After you pay: instant download of the 3 PDFs and the starter kit, also emailed to you.
checkout by stripe · cards and wallets · tax included · receipt by email
or one volume: $29 / $39 / $29 →or one volume
the $0 hosting playbook
$29
deploy your app with ai
$39
the $0 ai api playbook
$29
edition 2026.09 · prices checked 28 sep 2026
questions.
Anything else? ahmed@nexarlabs.co.uk
Will I get approved?
I can't promise that. AWS and NVIDIA decide. I show you exactly what I prepared, and how to avoid the mismatched details behind most rejections.
Do I need a registered company?
For NVIDIA Inception, yes, registered in any country. AWS doesn't publicly list it for the first $1,000, but reviewers can ask. Vol. 1 compares the cheapest ways to register and what they cost each year.
I'm not in the US. Does this work where I live?
Yes. NVIDIA Inception accepts a company incorporated in any country, and one registered where you live counts. You don't need a US or UK company. Vol. 1 compares registering locally, a UK Ltd and a US company, with what each costs every year.
What happens when my credits run out or expire?
You pay AWS in cash, or you move. Credits have two limits, the amount and the date, and whichever runs out first ends your $0. Vol. 1 does the math for my four apps and for a $20 app, and gives three ways out: keep paying if the app earns enough, shrink it, or move to a fixed-price server. Plan it before the date.
Do I need to know AWS already?
No. You don't need to know all 200 services. You need to know what you're approving. In vol. 2, Claude drafts every command and file, and you read and approve each step, from your first login to a live app.
Do I have to leave Supabase and Vercel?
No. They're good tools, but their free plans aren't built to run a business: Vercel Hobby is for non-commercial use only, and Supabase Free pauses after about a week of low activity, with no backups. If you do move, vol. 2 moves one piece at a time: compute first, then data, then login. Your API on AWS can keep talking to your Supabase database.
Who processes the payment?
Stripe. You pay on Stripe’s checkout page with a card or a wallet, so your card details never touch this site. Prices include tax, and the receipt comes by email.
What do I get after I pay?
An instant download of the PDFs you bought, plus the starter kit with vol. 2 or the bundle. The same links come by email. Updates are free when AWS or NVIDIA change their screens. If it's not for you, email me within 14 days for a refund.
Are you sponsored by AWS, NVIDIA or Anthropic?
No. These are independent guides. AWS, NVIDIA and Anthropic don't sponsor or endorse them, and their names belong to them. My company, Nexar Labs, is a member of NVIDIA Inception, the program vol. 1 walks you through.