Badge becomes startup benefits network

In 2017, I scribbled a simple idea: turn the “Made with Love in India” badge into a benefits network for Indian startups. Public signal on your footer, partner credits behind the curtain. Pride that also pays the bills. 🇮🇳👇

Context. I was looking at F6S Alpha card and other perk bundles. Could MWLI be a lightweight membership. You add the badge. We verify you. You unlock cloud credits and tools. Think Microsoft, Google, Notion. Yes, really.

Why it makes sense. Vendors seed usage early and cap risk with credit limits and expiry. Startups lower burn, test tools, and borrow credibility. Aggregator wins on curation, verification, and negotiation. Everyone gets a clear path to try then buy.

How it would run. Eligibility via domain or DNS check or trusted community. Simple KYC. Credit ceilings and expirations. Anti abuse checks. Co marketing with logos and case studies. Renewal playbooks so real users can extend and abusers churn out.

2017 to 2025. Scope grew beyond cloud to analytics, security, design, and AI. Fraud controls got stricter. Geo billing and GST got better but still messy across borders. India’s DPI rails made onboarding faster. The moat now is trusted eligibility and renewals.

What aged well. Badge as distribution and purchasing coalition. What I underestimated. Ops load across verification, fraud, renewals, and support. If I rebuilt today, what gets automated first. Eligibility APIs, renewal scoring, or vendor ROI dashboards?

Here’s the original note from 2017: https://github.com/AnandChowdhary/notes/blob/main/notes/2017/made-with-love.md