First, as the other commenter said, FB had something between 150 and 450 employees in 2007 (depending on when in 2007 you did that). You can still do that with

First, as the other commenter said, FB had something between 150 and 450 employees in 2007 (depending on when in 2007 you did that). You can still do that with "smaller" startups today, of course. But you can also just email the CEO of a 150 person startup and they'll reply if you're not full of shit. Second, just because it worked for you doesn't mean it works in general. I'm sure if 1,000 people did it, a couple of them would be successful. But that's definitely not the best way to get peoples attention. Some YC partner says in one of their Investor Startup School lecture that they hate it when people stalk investors at their favorite coffee shop or whatever and that it leads to an adverse effect.