I've kept thinking about this because I feel like I'm being overly critical of your idea - but I equally don't think skepticism toward the claims of startup fou

I've kept thinking about this because I feel like I'm being overly critical of your idea - but I equally don't think skepticism toward the claims of startup founders is particularly unhealthy. I suspect it's a case of messaging - and as you said trust. If I were looking at a startup of yours, knowing you were OP here, and saw those pledges I feel like I'd take them seriously. If I saw them on a typical landing page I'd probably dismiss them. That said I guess a founder who can hope to follow through on these should probably be able to control their messaging and convince me. On another note though I'm not convinced it'd really affect future ventures - I don't think that outside the SV/HN bubble people really know or care who founders of startups/companies are. I suspect if you took a typical Series A startup most of its users would probably have as much chance of knowing its investors as its founders. That definitely doesn't make it pointless though - I think it was a mistake for me to call it that. It's a case of messaging and trust and I suspect most startups would fail the litmus test of convincing me they mean anything.