Why incentivize spamming my friends with links before I've even seen the app, only to refer them to a waiting line? Sure, launch day momentum and all that, but I wish that as an entity that wants to be "the good guys", they can find a way to gain a broader audience for their app based on the app itself, not the buzz around it.
On a sidenote, does anyone know who funds their full-timers? https://whispersystems.org/workworkwork/ says they're not VC funded. But then who pays them?