Let's think through this conversation: "Bob, let me introduce you to footwear.me." "Are you an investor?" "No, I invested in shoes.tv because I thought they wer

Let's think through this conversation: "Bob, let me introduce you to footwear.me." "Are you an investor?" "No, I invested in shoes.tv because I thought they were the best company in this space." It's going to be a really lame intro, probably worse than if you cold-called the person. So unless you're desperate, I wouldn't ask. A better plan would be to pump them for competitive information. "Oh, shoes.tv! They're really neat. What was it about them that made you pull the trigger on the investment? Do you think that footwear companies are hot right now? What other companies did you look at? What do you think of their product so far?" If you're friendly and open, you might get some useful (non-confidential) information about the space, and how investors in the space think about it.