

The Power of 5 Sentences - bmcmanus

This just happened.<p>I sent a cold email to a key large organization. The subject line was “Re: [Organization Name] &#38; [My Company Name]” because people are more likely to open an email that looks like an existing thread about their company.<p>The email itself was 5 sentences long:<p>One sentence to introduce myself and my company
One sentence to show traction/social proof
One sentence to outline one specific way for us to work together
One sentence to give a snapshot of potential results
One to suggest a time for us to meet in person<p>5 sentences. That’s it.<p>24 hours later, I received an email introducing me to the higher-up in the organization who could help my company most.<p>72 hours later, my co-founder and I were across the country and meeting face-to-face with him. After hammering out some details, he invited us to Dubai to attend a global summit for entrepreneurial leaders and make connections that will be crucial to the expansion of our business.<p>We are on the plane to Dubai now.<p>The moral of the story: send a simple, straightforward cold email to the 5 organizations you know would help your company most.<p>You have absolutely no idea where it could take you.
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edw519
Glad to hear that it worked out well for you.

This time.

If you did that to me, I would blacklist you permanently (electronically and
otherwise).

Why? Because it's dishonest. You're trying to trick someone into believing
that something (a thread continuation) is something other that what it really
is (unsolicited email). I learned this line of reasoning from business people
far smarter than me: "If they'll stoop to a dishonest trick just to make an
introduction, who knows what they'll do when the stakes get higher."

Make the most of this opportunity now that you have it, but I'd seriously
reconsider ever doing it again.

Other HN readers, just because OP is sharing something that worked out well
doesn't mean you should too. Please don't do this. The world has enough people
taking shortcuts instead of doing the right thing. There's plenty of
opportunity for smart hard-working people to succeed on the up and up. That's
what you should be focusing on.

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petercooper
_If they'll stoop to a dishonest trick just to make an introduction, who knows
what they'll do when the stakes get higher._

It's good that the people Richard Branson and Bill Gates dealt with early in
their careers didn't feel that way.

Branson pretended to be a big magazine company from a phone box (using the
operator to appear to be a switchboard operator of sorts) and claimed to have
sold lots of ads when he had sold none. The magazine was a success. Gates
pretended he had a BASIC. This "lie" was the start of the accumulation of the
world's biggest fortune.

Blagging and telling white lies is a big part of starting out, _especially_ if
you're an entrepreneur. Looking bigger than you are, looking more established,
making your deals look bigger than they are, portraying a better image than
your checkbook can support.. all deceptions.

Sure, there are many totally honest and straight talking folks who've made it
big, but look at the stories behind most of the well known entrepreneurs and
there was plenty of blagging and exaggeration going on at the start of their
journeys. (Not to mention most of our dating careers..)

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edw519
_Gates pretended he had an OS ready to go._

False. Gates made it quite clear that Microsoft made comilers and didn't have
an OS. He sent IBM to Gary Kildall at Digital Research because they had CP/M.
When that didn't work out, IBM came back to Microsoft and that's when Paul
Allen purchased Seattle DOS for $50K. Nobody "tricked" IBM.

There's a fundamental difference between putting on your best face (nice
website, big company image) and intentionally deceiving (putting "Re:" in an
email subject line.) If you can't tell the difference, remind me never to
conduct business with you.

~~~
petercooper
You're right on the OS/Gates thing. I'll switch out "OS" for "BASIC."

 _If you can't tell the difference, remind me never to conduct business with
you._

Thankfully it's possible to elucidate both a point of view without agreeing
with it and an action without doing it :-)

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ig1
How did you pick who to email at that organization ?

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jdee
Congrats! What do you mean traction/social proof?

~~~
bumbledraven
I would assume he is referring to something like
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Proof>

