Distribution and consensus are separate problems that mining lumps into one.  With Tenderment (or PoV, I like that) the distribution is left to the implementer while it solves the consensus aspect.  You could tack on an initial mining distribution phase that fades out quickly, or require a proof of burn with SPV built into the protocol as a one way peg, or handle it manually.

I think in general you want to curate the initial seed set of validators.  Otherwise you get the kind of problem that Stellar had where somebody figures out a way to game the system with mechanical Turk or other.  Get a list of people who want to participate in bootstrapping, let them prove somewhat that they're real unique people by ideally posting their pseudonymous online identity (eg bitcointalk identities with minimum number of posts), challenge them to run a node reliably with good uptime, and then they can be part of the bootstrapping team.