

How to get advice from powerful people  - fumar
http://matchist.com/blog/how-to-get-advice-from-powerful-people/

======
mcintyre1994
Somewhat related, some great tips for contacting busy people.
[http://www.kalzumeus.com/standing-
invitation/](http://www.kalzumeus.com/standing-invitation/)

~~~
mathattack
Great tips on this. Especially "People love to back underdogs but they hate
backing losers." and "Conciseness is a virtue."

A lot of people come to me for job advice. I'm happy to give people a chance,
but not self-defeatist people. I'm happy to help folks, but don't ask me to
read a 6 page resume.

------
jseliger
I wrote a similar essay called "How to get your Professors’ Attention — along
with Coaching or Mentoring" ([http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/how-to-
get-your-pro...](http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/how-to-get-your-
professors%E2%80%99-attention-or-how-to-get-the-coaching-and-mentorship-you-
need/)), which is also about the need to explain culture issues that are often
absorbed tacitly instead of articulated.

One point I make that's important and related to "specifity is king:" be ready
to prove yourself in some way. It might be large or small, but a lot of
powerful people get more requests for help or knowledge than they have time;
they use various proving methods to weed out time wasters.

I'm not a powerful person, but it took teaching for me to realize how useful
and pervasive that technique is among the powerful or knowledgeable.

~~~
coolsunglasses
According to some experimentation and anecdote, the most effective way to get
your professor's attention is to have a female name with a corresponding email
address.

------
gromy
Similar to Jimmy Wales’ advice on Quora — be concise.

[http://www.quora.com/Jimmy-Wales-1/What-are-the-things-we-
ca...](http://www.quora.com/Jimmy-Wales-1/What-are-the-things-we-can-do-to-
get-Jimmy-Wales-to-talk-to-us-and-work-on-a-startup-with-us-if-we-have-
awesome-startup-ideas)

------
gohrt
You don't need to get _advice_ from _powerful_ people, you need to get
_connections_ from powerful people.

~~~
jeffclark
Connections should eventually lead to money (directly or indirectly). If you
want money, ask for advice. If you want advice, ask for money.

