

A gift to HNers working on a startup - Giving back to the community - g0atbutt
http://codesketch.com/2010/05/giving-back-to-the-hn-community/

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slapshot
I like this as brilliant guerrilla marketing for CodeSketch. I had honestly
never heard of it before this offer. Brilliant move for CodeSketch to
effectively advertise free on HN (Compete.com says ~250,000 unique monthly
visitors) in order to build new loyalty for CodeSketch (Compete.com says
~10,000 unique monthly visitors).

I'd love a follow-up report in a couple months, in the style of Bingo Card
Creator.

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InfinityX0
Yes - and it's the perfect match of a just-big-enough blog, and a community
that supports these kinds of gestures. Either way, it's a good gesture, nobody
gets hurt, and we get exposed to a cool blog like CodeSketch.

~~~
g0atbutt
Quick update: 13 companies already submitted Apps for review. Some absolutely
stunning work is sitting in my inbox right now, and I can't wait to dig in
deeper.

Thanks for the kind words and I'll be sure to keep HN updated!

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g0atbutt
The "Too long, didn't read" version: Thanks for sharing your experiences while
you build your startup. We want to help you by allowing you to advertise your
startup on our site for free for the rest of the summer (end of August).

~~~
spicyj
I'm not so sure you want people who are too lazy to read your four-paragraph
post to advertise.

~~~
johnswamps
Maybe, but it's useful for the 95% of us for whom this doesn't apply (because
we don't have a startup). I don't have time to read every story on HN, so I'll
often check the comments first to determine whether it's worth reading the
article. His post told me everything I needed to know about the article
without me having to read the details that don't apply to me.

(But yes, in this case it only saved me a whopping 30 seconds because it was
only 4 paragraphs)

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g0atbutt
Quick update: I've been contacted by 24 Companies in the last 6 hours and I've
been impressed with the quality of services. HNers are working on some really
cool projects! I'm working on personally getting back with each company, so
don't feel bad if I haven't gotten to yours yet (I will by tomorrow at the
latest).

Thanks for the encouraging responses, and keep up the great work HNers!

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AlexBlom
Great idea. Great marketing. I'll withdraw because I have no personal need
that is great, others need it more right now.

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twidlit
Wish more blogs do this.

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Concours
Great Idea, great offer, I'll send my pitch email. do you have any limitations
?(something like the first 20, only x peoples, since you have 2 to 3 adspaces
to offer or it just needs to be interesting for your audience?).

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ronnier
This is a great idea. If I was only finished with my project. Couple months
off.

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g0atbutt
Everyone has been contacted. I will have the 3 selected by the end of the
week. Thanks for all of your submissions (around 35)! Lots of really quality
services!

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thaumaturgy
This is great! Thanks for the offer.

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staunch
This seems like a nice gesture to be sure. The cynic in me can't help but
wondering whether you're going to get more traffic from this offer than the
selected startups will get from the free advertising. Does codesketch.com have
traffic?

~~~
g0atbutt
Yes, codesketch has traffic (not massive, but respectable). It's relatively
new (launched in December), and has been averaging 10,000+ hits a week. More
importantly, we've found a strong niche that loves technology and design.
Based on analytics, our readers are tech savvy and have some cash. I know
already that some of the startup submissions will be a perfect fit.

This is just a sincere thank you to the community for helping me grow.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
10k hits, really? I'm getting only a little less than that per day on a very
small time personal blog... traffic profile and engagement are, of course,
more important than raw numbers however.

I'm sure your next months hits will be higher!

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emehrkay
Just saying thanks, every little bit counts.

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milofelipe
Thanks for this! I already sent my pitch.

