Huh, an interesting concept. I wouldn't be surprised if, for certain products, HN hits are higher-quality hits than the average (higher conversion rate, possibly higher engagement rate after sign-up).
Of course, this is the sort of thing you need to be measuring. If that's not the case, you absolutely shouldn't be spending your money and, more importantly, your time on vanity upvotes and hits that don't result in a tangible benefit.
As an aside, I'd love to see a blog post from a generous individual willing to share how HN referrals as a cohort tend to perform compared to other traffic sources for their product/service.
HN does not generally result in a lot of targeted visitors who are going to be long term users of your product.
However, I find the feedback in the comments section to be hugely valuable. HN readers are inevitably pretty savvy about startups. While you can get a lot of criticism - it can be quite constructive, pointing out things everyone else you show the site too has missed. Getting onto the front page is vital to get any volume of comments.
Of course, this is the sort of thing you need to be measuring. If that's not the case, you absolutely shouldn't be spending your money and, more importantly, your time on vanity upvotes and hits that don't result in a tangible benefit.
As an aside, I'd love to see a blog post from a generous individual willing to share how HN referrals as a cohort tend to perform compared to other traffic sources for their product/service.