Run-of-the-mill startup seeks mediocre designer

I'd take that over "Run-of-the-mill megacorp seeks talentless IT hack to work on pointless death march projects" any day.

It's pretty telling that someone thought it was worthwhile to pay $400 just to deliver that message. Posting to Craigslist is free, but if they're posting to 37Signals Job board, they must be VERY frustrated.

Could it be a honeypot?

Consider placing two job ads, a real ad and this one. Throw away any resume sent to both.

The funny thing is that a lot of people would apply for this position, because it doesn't have a huge list of requirements that no person on earth can fulfill. You average designer will think "Hey, I can do better than what they expect me to do". They could even score someone who is very talented but suffers from the Impostor syndrome.

Bonus points on the link bait for the 37signals job board.

Who needs banners or AdWords when you can create clever content and get links & traffic from startup, design, and tech sites?

I'm a mediocre rock star ninja samurai guru, no jobs for me?

This is funny, but I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say clever. I guess at the very least, they aren't trying to get someone under false pretenses.

Really though, I can't help but think that the attitude is probably not especially conducive to success, even when viewed as a joke. Though if they are looking to ship something, anything, I guess they are already further ahead than most, even with crazy job ads.