No, I don't mean prompting users. Typical ways to increase conversion rate are locking popular features behind the subscription (like you need premium account to comment), making some content available only to premium users or limiting the amount of content you can access as a free user (like only 2h per day). So far I'm still watching videos on youtube without even creating an account and without ads (ad-block).

That must have taken some diplomacy, but it would have been even more impressive to have convinced Stallman to come too

It is common in the military to give commissioned rank to certain positions for the higher pay grade. The fast tracking takes away from the belief everyone serving with you went through (roughly) the same basic training as you.

It's not just skills, it's also capital investment.