So yes, this is gimmicky - that said, it may work for them anyways. It certainly gets their name out there - it got them to the front page of HN, and it got me

So yes, this is gimmicky - that said, it may work for them anyways. It certainly gets their name out there - it got them to the front page of HN, and it got me to read their jobs page (and be tempted by their perks) - which I probably would've never done under other circumstances. Anecdote - my significant other found his current job when he heard a startup was raffling off a netbook at their info session. He had no interest in the company - he just showed up to try and win the netbook (which, as it happens, he did) - next thing he knew, they sold him on their pitch, he became engineer #4, and four years later, he's still there.