Why is it you focus specifically on accelerators? It seems to me that this both fails to help the start-ups that could most use the help and misses many of the very best start-ups that eschew accelerators altogether.

that is true of most of these programs.

I guess it's to avoid having to vet each request individually.

Accepting them without any check means I'd create a new "startup" for each random page I put on the internet just to get free stuff, but having to verify each request may become a pain point quickly. Being part of an accelerator means that the work has been done by someone else.

That's true.. but Amazon and BizSpark do not have the accelerator requirement* . Considering that those are Google Cloud's direct competitors, it's a fair question why they have that requirement when their competitors don't.

* (both programs give addtl resources if you're in an accelerator though - amazon portfolio package and bizspark plus respectively)

I agree this seems too be missing the largest percentage of startups who are no less deserving for this kind of help. Many good startups could use this help. It's not hard to figure out if it's a legitimate startup. Just make sure they're registered to do business (i.e., FEIN, tax ID, state license, etc.).