So rather then keep debating, here it is.  I removed the company’s name as well as the individual (actually the CEO) who sent it.

“All,

Thank you for submitting your resume for Company product manager position.  We’ve had an overwhelming response to the posting and have a number of very promising candidates.  You are one of these promising candidates.

We’ve got so many good candidates in fact that I can’t narrow down the list based on resumes alone.  Given we are a startup and run incredibly lean, we don’t have the luxury of an HR group or recruiting department to help us vet potential new hires, so we’ll have to go with an alternative approach.

If you are still interested in this position, please put together a 1 page customer facing marketing piece that promotes our value proposition and key selling points to our core audience.  Please send me your document by Monday, August 3^rd by COB.  I’ll follow up with everyone with next steps within a day or two of receiving your submission.  I promise you that the next steps will be a lot more personal, but I need to get down to a more manageable number of candidates before I can engage at that level.

Thanks again for your interest.  I’m excited to meet you to discuss how you can help us take Company to the next level!”

So there it is.  Do some free consulting for us and we’ll consider talking to you.  Of course that assumes we don’t use all the ideas and implement them ourselves without you.

Nice.

Somebody better warn SETI, I’d hate to see them accused of baiting E.T. just for Russian target practice.