I understand the need to spread the word, etc... and you are giving out free stuff.. but forcing people to follow and retweet your message, without even giving the option to edit the text.. I don't like it.

The act of forcing someone to retweet a message could be reasonably construed to violate the consideration clause in Federal and State sweepstakes laws.

http://contests.about.com/od/c/g/consideration.htm

Any sweepstakes that requires consideration from an entrant is illegal.

In addition tweeting a message that appears to be an endorsement without disclosing that you received something of value in return might technically put you in violation of FTC rules.

http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus71-ftcs-revised-end...

what happens when non marketers market--see we know this kind of stuff. :) Also, just because a company is in the "pack" doesn't mean it's right for your startup. Many of these products are way too expensive to keep for more than 90 days; and the switching costs of taking them out are inappropriate for the value given.

I don't know about where they are based, but it is certainly against relevant legislation in the UK (that is why you always see "no purchase necessary" text and an alternate participation method ("send a stamped, addressed envelope...") listed on "competitions" like this.

I'm curious what happens if you use the Inspector to modify the text.

It's a pack for hackers, after all. It's not a bug, it's a secret test of character!

I agree with this. I should have changed it to talk about my startup trying to get the startup pack, instead of a blatant form tweet for them.

Changing the content of the textarea with the inspector doesn't affect the final tweet text sadly. Just tested.

I'm not surprised, although I wonder if that's a violation of Twitter's API guidelines.

Keep in mind it's not actually a "tweet" box. The textarea is shown as a courtesy. You are authorizing their app to access your account.

Not really interested in signing in with Twitter.

Also not happy that they Tweet from your account without making it explicitly obvious that they're going to do it.

I always assume that if something wants me to sign-in via something like facebook then it is going to at least try to use me to push the word to my contacts.

The choices at that point are:

1. Back away and live without what-ever they are offering.

2. Create a temporary account and sign in via that.

If a product impresses me I'll let my friends know myself - the product is not in charge of what I do/don't say about it.

To be fair with them you can see this line below the registration form.

"Therefore, by applying you will automatically follow @startuppack and tweet the above pre-formatted tweet."

True - I went back and checked, but I would prefer if they didn't do it at all. When a brand tweets on my behalf in this way, it always makes me feel less favourable towards that brand.

I wish some of these bundle sites would reach out to me. I'd gladly offer free months or discounts for Improvely to startups! By the time I hear about the bundle, it's too late to be included in the offer.

There's a link on the bottom to submit your own startup. Improvely looks awesome btw.

yes and they could maybe make a "second Tier" pack for 500 more users

Forcing to tweet AND not making clear it's a sweepstake?

That some two dark patterns.

Great pack and even I read all your comments on forcing to tweet etc. It is still a non profit initiative that gives away to startups really great pack worth a lot of money !

Impressive list of some of the best tools / SaaS out there. If they add Heroku and New Relic next year that's basically all I need :)

This pack contains a lot of valuable tools, well done to who ever put it together.

But please, indicate clearly that it is a lottery where 500 people will win.

My favorite combo: Unbounce + Optimizely + Kontest + mention can already do a lot of things only with these 4 :-)

Has anyone on HN been successful in a previous startuppack round?

Had no idea what you meant until I saw:

We check applications then draw lots for 500 winners

To put it mildly, it's very misleading to submit a story that states, "Startup Pack gives away $5,000 worth of tools" when the reality is "Startup Pack holds sweepstakes for $5,000 worth of tools".

+1. I was about to recommend it to a startup I'm friendly with until I saw that. No one likes to be deceived.

Yes indeed it is. after reading that I wanted to withdraw my application.

Isn't this a bait tactic for them to scrape data on startups?

I Got the Dev Pack which was pretty good. Just started using the New Relic coupon on my Rails app actually.

I want the developer one :)

Filed.

Will be contacted before Nov 28th.

Cool though.

Thanks Mat!

Glad you like it! Would not have been possible without all partners!