Yes, very interesting indeed! Either there is a big conspiracy to uncover or said CEO reads HN and if something is number 1 and is related to his product he pays close attention. We will maybe never find out the truth...
Yes would actually be perfect for it, but never had the time to set something like that up. Maybe someday in the future. For now, I only have a simple Google Alert set and regularly check HN and Google Analytics which is a good indicator when it got mentioned somewhere.
I don't think so.