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(I'm an early stage VC.) I fully agree with this advice -- especially the part about weak warm intros being far inferior to good cold emails. I'd much rather s

(I'm an early stage VC.) I fully agree with this advice -- especially the part about weak warm intros being far inferior to good cold emails. I'd much rather see a good cold email than an intro through a mutual connection that barely knows me and the other party. One additional piece of advice that I'd add: make your emails personalized. People would be surprised (or maybe not) at how many cold emails I get that start with sentences like "Dear Sir or Madam, let me tell you about my company [which is in a space that you haven't shown any interest in]..." Adding in one or two sentences about why you emailed me specifically instead of the 500 other early-stage investors is very helpful. I'm not fishing for compliments, but instead some insight about whether I'm a good fit for some particular reason, or if you're just copy-and-pasting the same email template 500 times.

btrautsc 10y ago
Re: I fully agree with this advice -- especially the part about weak warm intros being far inferior to good cold emails. I'd much rather see a good cold email than an intro through a mutual connection that barely knows me and the other party PSA for startup founders reading: this is the type of investor you want. Seek out investors willing to do the work. So many VCs will publicly gripe about inbound messages, unsolicited pitches, etc. I have heard many VCs explicitly say they will not meet with someone who isn't warm intro'd. They will beg you to follow them on Snapchat or Quora to create brand for deal flow one minute then bemoan the people who want to actually have a conversation. Leo's POV is refreshing.
tlogan 10y ago
A question ... What is decision your decision process whether to answer or not? Do you answer honestly when opportunity is just too small?
- lpolovets 10y ago
  Initially I felt like I ought to reply to every cold email, but quickly realized that that wouldn't scale (replying to cold emails took 2 hours a week, then 3, then 4..) The litmus test I currently use is that if it seems like someone put more than 5 minutes of effort into an email, then I will reply. Sometimes emails fall through the cracks because I get swamped with work, but I'd say I reply to ~0% of "template" emails and ~75% of emails where the sender spent at least a few minutes thinking about the content and personalizing it. Replies vary from "let's meet up" to "this doesn't fit my fund's focus areas" to "I'm not sure if the current version of the company is big enough for a VC business." I try to be honest if I have something constructive to say.

btrautsc 10y ago

Re: I fully agree with this advice -- especially the part about weak warm intros being far inferior to good cold emails. I'd much rather see a good cold email than an intro through a mutual connection that barely knows me and the other party PSA for startup founders reading: this is the type of investor you want. Seek out investors willing to do the work. So many VCs will publicly gripe about inbound messages, unsolicited pitches, etc. I have heard many VCs explicitly say they will not meet with someone who isn't warm intro'd. They will beg you to follow them on Snapchat or Quora to create brand for deal flow one minute then bemoan the people who want to actually have a conversation. Leo's POV is refreshing.

tlogan 10y ago

A question ... What is decision your decision process whether to answer or not? Do you answer honestly when opportunity is just too small?

lpolovets 10y ago
Initially I felt like I ought to reply to every cold email, but quickly realized that that wouldn't scale (replying to cold emails took 2 hours a week, then 3, then 4..) The litmus test I currently use is that if it seems like someone put more than 5 minutes of effort into an email, then I will reply. Sometimes emails fall through the cracks because I get swamped with work, but I'd say I reply to ~0% of "template" emails and ~75% of emails where the sender spent at least a few minutes thinking about the content and personalizing it. Replies vary from "let's meet up" to "this doesn't fit my fund's focus areas" to "I'm not sure if the current version of the company is big enough for a VC business." I try to be honest if I have something constructive to say.