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I made these same points below. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10440046 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10440046 It's all about knowing the reporte

• austenallred 11y ago
  While I agree, not everyone knows reporters. That's like saying "knowing VCs is the best." If you are Jack Dorsey and know a bunch of VCs then great, but the vast majority of people have to pound the pavement and hustle.
  • deleted 11y ago
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  • vonnik 11y ago
    Right. And I'm not saying you need to know them personally because they partied on your yacht. I'm saying you should do your research. Study them. Know who they write for and what they like. Anyone can do that. Based on that knowledge, you can give them something they care about, and that gift may move them from their default setting of indifference toward a willingness to engage. You build relationships with them over time, even if it starts with a cold email. But this conversation is about what should be in that cold email. I'm arguing that it shouldn't be a form pitch. Personalized at scale, for me, sounds like an oxymoron.
    • austenallred 11y ago
      I don't know, I get the sentiment but at the end of the day you're pitching your company. It will vary a little, but not that much. When you pitch VCs 95% of the pitch is the same VC to VC. When they ask questions it becomes different, of course, but you don't have to recreate your pitch from the ground up going from person to person. This process works. You may have a better one with no scale, but I've used this dozens of times and it works every time, even at big publications, and have developed many relationships using it.