HN actually use replies, rather than @tags. Below olalonde's comment, you'll observe theres a small "reply" link. I can understand how it'd be easy to miss though.

Paul Graham often advises people to "do things that don't scale" in order to get to a large scale. Doing a talk sounds like a cool idea, and if it get onboard your first few customers (or additional customers if you already have some), its a win.