It's weird that HN is now a thing to be gamed (in this case, poorly). I remember when this was just a forum for people to post links and talk about stuff, and wasn't nearly influential enough to be worth astroturfing and manipulating.
It's not just this post either - I've seen first-hand other startups try to manipulate HN. It can be as mild as getting your colleagues to upvote a story, and it can be pretty loathsome like astroturfed comments.
Re: the list though, I see a lot of FNACs here (Feature, Not A Company). I love a useful product as much as the next person, but are products that have no visible revenue potential really startups?
It's not just this post either - I've seen first-hand other startups try to manipulate HN. It can be as mild as getting your colleagues to upvote a story, and it can be pretty loathsome like astroturfed comments.
Re: the list though, I see a lot of FNACs here (Feature, Not A Company). I love a useful product as much as the next person, but are products that have no visible revenue potential really startups?