$6 for free; no joke

At Jelly last Thursday a cash-strapped Adam introduced everyone to pay-by-text service Obopay by texting me a $4 reimbursement for covering his gyro. It was pretty neat — I could actually see myself using the service occasionally. But the best part is that they give you $5 for signing up, and Adam got $5 for referring me… so Obopay paid for both our lunches. Two cheers for insane promotional campaigns!

This would be too easy to automate, we thought, and so we did it. -> 6bucksforfree.com

Punch in your cell phone number and we send you a buck. When you sign up Obopay gives you another $5. We walk away with $4 for referring you — actually $3.90 after the 10c service charge — which will be paying for future Jelly lunches and possibly a viewing of 300.

A collaboration with Adam Varga and Tony Bacigalupo.