I totally hear ya. But then would you sign up if it had a huge list of permissions to begin with? I'm really curious, not just rhetorical.
For example: Option 1: sign up with all permisions Option 2: sign up with 5-6 most common permission, request additional for least common Option 3: sign up without permissions, request every permission as needed.
Then check what matches your conversion goals.
Asking for advice in a startup forum from someone who was clearly opinionated and this is what you come up with?
Answer the question and then, -for extra credit, recommend A/B-testing.
@shaharsol: not every piece of advice is good advice. That said A/B testing can do wonders but don't waste too much time. Deploy it well in advance of next marketing move. (e.g hn link submission etc)
Random dude in startup forum isn't smarter than your users, and can't anticipate how your users really would behave.