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You're generally one email away from great, successful people. You know what's great with successful people? They're always open to opportunities. If you do it

You're generally one email away from great, successful people. You know what's great with successful people? They're always open to opportunities. If you do it right, you'd be surprised how accessible busy people can become. By saying "He was in Berklee, not me, that's why he did it", you're adopting a mental mindset that will not lead you to success. In imagining failure before it happens, you fail twice. It's been easy for none to climb the ladder.

deleted 14y ago
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downandout 14y ago
>You're generally one email away from great, successful people. You know what's great with successful people? They're always open to opportunities. That is theoretically true, but lets not get carried away with the power of being able to reach out to people directly. They also have to listen to you. I have the emails of several millionaires and two billionaires, yet I am having trouble finding funding for a startup even though everyone that sees what I'm doing claims to love it and many believe it could be huge. Here's Mark Cuban's email - mark@hd.net (he has given this away publicly at times and claims to have an open door policy, so I'm not breaking any confidences putting it here). Now you have the email address of a billionaire. Not many people will get anywhere with it, however.
- shin_lao 14y ago
  The difficulty is to realize when you have something interesting to offer to a specific person, and when you have not. Funding is hard, best of luck.
  - slurgfest 14y ago
    This somewhat undercuts your point. If I know someone I am not nearly as likely to ignore their email, evaluate their idea superficially or assume the worst. What is the use of having contact information when you can't actually get heard? It does matter a great deal who you know.
    - shin_lao 14y ago
      Yes but the point is who you know is up... to you.
- ahoyhere 14y ago
  What you view as "an opportunity" and what they view as an opportunity are probably very different. Speaking as a minor, non-millionaire "web celebrity," it's very off-putting to receive emails from people who want me to do something for them. People who want me to read their life story and then give them some kind of "answer." People who, when I've taken the time to do so, never bother to implement my advice or even update me later. I don't know you or what you've been doing or saying to these people, but from my first glance, what you wrote here on HN sounds frustrated… and more than a little bit entitled. Just because they're millionaires or billionaires doesn't mean they want to be seen as or treated like a cash dispenser. Even if they "believe" in what you're doing. People who have something other people want develop, very quickly, a "user" radar. It's not the email address, it's what you do with it.
  - downandout 14y ago
    >what you wrote here on HN sounds frustrated… and more than a little bit entitled Given that you dont know what I am doing or saying, that seems like an unfair and unfounded criticism. I was responding to the comment of someone saying that merely having emails of successful people can open the door to your own success. My point was that this is the exception, not the rule, and not to get too excited just because you may have a direct line to them. Regardless of the reason you are ultimately turned down or simply ignored, the odds are that contacting these people will yield few if any results. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it; it simply means that you should understand the odds and plan accordingly. Your comment seems to agree with the spirit of mine, while somehow lambasting it as being rooted in frustration and entitlement. You may have a future in politics.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

downandout 14y ago

>You're generally one email away from great, successful people. You know what's great with successful people? They're always open to opportunities. That is theoretically true, but lets not get carried away with the power of being able to reach out to people directly. They also have to listen to you. I have the emails of several millionaires and two billionaires, yet I am having trouble finding funding for a startup even though everyone that sees what I'm doing claims to love it and many believe it could be huge. Here's Mark Cuban's email - mark@hd.net (he has given this away publicly at times and claims to have an open door policy, so I'm not breaking any confidences putting it here). Now you have the email address of a billionaire. Not many people will get anywhere with it, however.

shin_lao 14y ago
The difficulty is to realize when you have something interesting to offer to a specific person, and when you have not. Funding is hard, best of luck.
- slurgfest 14y ago
  This somewhat undercuts your point. If I know someone I am not nearly as likely to ignore their email, evaluate their idea superficially or assume the worst. What is the use of having contact information when you can't actually get heard? It does matter a great deal who you know.
  - shin_lao 14y ago
    Yes but the point is who you know is up... to you.
ahoyhere 14y ago
What you view as "an opportunity" and what they view as an opportunity are probably very different. Speaking as a minor, non-millionaire "web celebrity," it's very off-putting to receive emails from people who want me to do something for them. People who want me to read their life story and then give them some kind of "answer." People who, when I've taken the time to do so, never bother to implement my advice or even update me later. I don't know you or what you've been doing or saying to these people, but from my first glance, what you wrote here on HN sounds frustrated… and more than a little bit entitled. Just because they're millionaires or billionaires doesn't mean they want to be seen as or treated like a cash dispenser. Even if they "believe" in what you're doing. People who have something other people want develop, very quickly, a "user" radar. It's not the email address, it's what you do with it.
- downandout 14y ago
  >what you wrote here on HN sounds frustrated… and more than a little bit entitled Given that you dont know what I am doing or saying, that seems like an unfair and unfounded criticism. I was responding to the comment of someone saying that merely having emails of successful people can open the door to your own success. My point was that this is the exception, not the rule, and not to get too excited just because you may have a direct line to them. Regardless of the reason you are ultimately turned down or simply ignored, the odds are that contacting these people will yield few if any results. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it; it simply means that you should understand the odds and plan accordingly. Your comment seems to agree with the spirit of mine, while somehow lambasting it as being rooted in frustration and entitlement. You may have a future in politics.