
How to Email Early Stage Investors - craigcannon
http://themacro.com/articles/2016/07/how-to-email-early-stage-investors/
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lpolovets
(I'm an early stage VC.)

I fully agree with this advice -- especially the part about weak warm intros
being far inferior to good cold emails. I'd much rather see a good cold email
than an intro through a mutual connection that barely knows me and the other
party.

One additional piece of advice that I'd add: make your emails personalized.
People would be surprised (or maybe not) at how many cold emails I get that
start with sentences like "Dear Sir or Madam, let me tell you about my company
[which is in a space that you haven't shown any interest in]..."

Adding in one or two sentences about why you emailed me specifically instead
of the 500 other early-stage investors is very helpful. I'm not fishing for
compliments, but instead some insight about whether I'm a good fit for some
particular reason, or if you're just copy-and-pasting the same email template
500 times.

~~~
tlogan
A question ...

What is decision your decision process whether to answer or not? Do you answer
honestly when opportunity is just too small?

~~~
lpolovets
Initially I felt like I ought to reply to every cold email, but quickly
realized that that wouldn't scale (replying to cold emails took 2 hours a
week, then 3, then 4..)

The litmus test I currently use is that if it seems like someone put more than
5 minutes of effort into an email, then I will reply. Sometimes emails fall
through the cracks because I get swamped with work, but I'd say I reply to ~0%
of "template" emails and ~75% of emails where the sender spent at least a few
minutes thinking about the content and personalizing it.

Replies vary from "let's meet up" to "this doesn't fit my fund's focus areas"
to "I'm not sure if the current version of the company is big enough for a VC
business." I try to be honest if I have something constructive to say.

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ejcx
Just want to say to those of you who don't have great communication skills,
and know it. This recipe pretty much applies to all cold emails, or any email
with a party that you want something from and don't know well.

Job interviews, consulting cold emails, VC, someone who has the keys to your
destiny and does not know it yet.

The most important things are, in my mind:

1\. If possible, make the email actionable for the other party.

2\. Don't waste the other party's time.

3\. The more you write, the more opportunity you can shoot yourself in the
foot. Remove sentences you don't need.

This has been my ticket to opening new doors so many times. Make it easy for
people to help you.

~~~
erikb
Don't waste people's time is the kind of advice that is hard to follow,
though. How would you know? If you spend two days writing a 2000 word essay to
someone you obviously think that it's important.

~~~
beat
"Hi, I'm ${ME}. I'm the founder of ${COMPANY}, and we make ${STUFF} that
${IMPRESSIVE}. Would you mind if I sent you a 2000 word essay, or would you
just delete it after five seconds?"

Don't waste two days writing a 2000 word essay if there's a significant chance
it will simply be ignored. Establish the relationship first. Heck, I'd have a
hard time getting my _wife_ to read a 2000 word essay, no matter how important
I thought it was personally.

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walden42
The list of common mistakes includes "Spending a lot of time trying to get a
warm intro. You’re better off just following these rules and emailing me
directly."

That goes contrary to a lot of advice other VCs say, which is that getting
introduced to a VC is the most common way to get funded. Supposedly most cold
emails don't turn into VC funding. Is this no longer the case?

~~~
pbreit
Maybe the point is, IF you have to spend a lot of time trying to find a warm
intro, then you might be as well or better off just going ahead and cold
emailing.

But realistically, there are very few situations where a cold email is better
or even as good as a warm email.

A corollary is: if you're not resourceful enough to get a few warm intros, you
are going to struggle mightily to found a company.

~~~
ci5er
I hear you, but recently I was doing a thing where I need $5M on a $15M pre-
money raise. I called the front desk and was told by the secretary that "we
only do introductions".

Fine, good enough, but I was on a clock and I knew who I was and I knew who
they were and they could have been a great part.

About the time I am signing the paperwork (2.5 weeks later?), I get a call
from one of their partners: they heard about it and want in.

No can do. Unfortunate, because I still think two of their partners
could/would add value.

But I always wondered: why do VCs make founders jump through hoops that don't
matter? Are they to prove the founder can sell? I remain baffled.

~~~
morgante
> why do VCs make founders jump through hoops that don't matter?

Depending on the celebrity of the VC, I can imagine a truly massive deluge of
cold emails mostly from supremely unqualified companies.

I can understand their desire to be insulated from that.

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payne92
Also: email from a founder, don't use a "investment banker", or other
intermediary.

Don't insist on a phone call or in-person meeting as the next step. If you
can't explain it with email, video, etc. to an investor, you'll have a hard
time explaining it to customers.

Use bios, Angellist, Crunchbase, etc. to profile investor prospects. Don't
email a tech investor a movie pitch, unless you have a very unique connection
to that investor.

Don't insist on an NDA (yes, it still happens)

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gogopuppygogo
Most importantly you should research your investors before you just email
them. It's better to reach 20 interested investors than 200 people with money
who won't invest in your company.

~~~
erikb
Huge point, I think. Instead of crafting a huge email, spend a lot of time
finding the right investors to approach first.

"This is the only guy with money I know of" is not really a successful
starting point to write someone.

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DelaneyM
The first sentence should always be the ask.

Give the recipient enough information in their [iOS alert | Gmail excerpt] to
read it when they're in the right frame of mind to think it over.

Professional email is not flirting. Guys flirt by first trying to get your
attention and interest, then follow up with an invitation. I assume this gives
him an opportunity to bail if he's not getting a welcome vibe, but that
doesn't apply here.

See how much information you can pack into the first few words, so they can
open it when they're ready. Follow that with the context and data they need to
keep reading when they're ready to consider it. End with your own
introduction, because you're the least interesting part of your letter (except
insofar as you're a part of the venture).

~~~
HappyTypist
Applies equally to all forms of communication. I pay a conscious effort to put
the most important point in the excerpt.

"Hi $name, interested in grabbing coffee? Bla bla bla I met you bla bla, bla
bla talk about bla bla."

~~~
philsnow
Except in some very particular situations (maybe you're looking for investors
in your coffee roastery tech startup), getting coffee is a means to an end,
the "end" being the same thing as the "ask" that DelaneyM is referring to.

"Hi $name, interested in grabbing coffee?" buries the "ask" until during the
coffee chat.

It can be tough to do, but I think a lot of very busy people would actually
appreciate you just coming out and asking for what you want, even in the first
sentence.

~~~
Mz
I think he meant: Even if you are flirting, tell her what you want in the
first few words.

Makes sense to me.

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3pt14159
> Not using your @company.com email.

Really? Who the fuck cares? If I reach out on twitter nobody bats an eye - but
use zachaysan@gmail.com and everyone loses their minds. I used to use my
@company email for my startup that was acquired. Now I can't find any email
exchanges I know I remember having. I'll use zach@venn.lc for stuffy clients,
but I thought YC partners were kinda above this kind of outdated thinking.

~~~
tlb
You can make your @company.com email forward to your personal gmail, you know.

Like Michael, I find it convenient, when receiving a lot of email from people
I don't know well, to have the domain name of their company right in their
email address. For example, if I later remember something I want to tell them
or someone to connect them to, having their email address autocomplete is
nice.

~~~
3pt14159
Yeah I do it, but then when I search I'm missing emails I sent.

~~~
abrichr
[https://support.google.com/mail/answer/22370?hl=en](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/22370?hl=en)

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the_economist
I suggest emailing up-and-coming VCs who are more eager for any kind of
dealflow.

Look for people/funds who just raised their first fund. They are hustling,
likely not drowning in leads like Michael Siebel is, and willing to do just
about anything to make their LPs happy including spending countless hours
evaluating investment opportunities from complete strangers.

~~~
erikb
I would disagree. Yes, this way you get "easy money", but what you actually
want is "smart money". It's like with building your unfair advantage. It
shouldn't be too easy, otherwise it won't have the required value.

~~~
someear
I think Michael Seibel says it himself somewhere else - yes you do want smart
money. But the reality for 95% of the time you just need money. The founders
make or break the company, and optimizing for just the best investors is
optimizing for the 5%.

The other reality is that majority of startups will fail to raise money. So
unless you're truly hot s __*, raise from anyone including so-called "dumb
money" as long as they dont add negative value by pestering you or doing
something similar.

Startups die cuz they can't raise or run out of money. Usually a symptom of
something else, but don't die cuz you only chased smart money.

~~~
erikb
I would assume that if you need money you don't want to take it. Starting a
company is also investing, but something more than money: your health, your
time, your personal relationships. I wouldn't do that if the money I need
wouldn't come to me easily enough. Really, if you can't focus on finding the
smart money, better have a main job and treat the business as your side
project, at least for now.

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DTrejo
I wrote up these tips on emailing to help my friends and relatives email
better: [http://dtrejo.com/how-to-email](http://dtrejo.com/how-to-email)

Summary:

    
    
        - Keep it under 250 words.
        - Ask only one question, directly before your signature.
        - Ask a single yes/no question.
        - Extra Credit: Show you did your research
        - If you really want a reply: follow up in a useful way.  
          NOT: "Did you get my email?"

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mbm
Aside from subjective or "trust me, this works!" commentary, what does the
data say about getting replies from investors? A better title for this would
be "How to Email An Early Stage Investor."

It would be interesting to mine emails from well-known investors and see what
the data shows for first emails from individuals who were ultimately funded.

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Muted
Michael has also talked about how to pitch investors in a similar, clear way.
[0] It's part of the "how to start a startup" series.

[0] [https://youtu.be/SHAh6WKBgiE?t=1227](https://youtu.be/SHAh6WKBgiE?t=1227)

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skapadia
If the recipient only sees the subject line, what increases chances of having
your email opened? For people that habitually open and read email OR use a
preview mode for efficient scanning, subject lines may not be as important.

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faizshah
Anybody have similar advice for cold emailing professors/researchers?

I never had any luck emailing professors whose lectures are on youtube for
book recommendations or researchers in a field where I'm looking for something
similar to what they study.

~~~
kriro
The best advice for very busy professors is to find the correct researcher
working on their team (scan papers for the one that seems to be coauthor in
the field you want to ask about). Most of the time it'll get delegated to them
either way and if it's interesting enough it'll eventually reach the
professors.

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liveshops_
This is awesome. I love quick, succinct communication.

I have thought of early state funding as more "who you know," and it's good
know I can email people!

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erikb
There are many articles like this, but I think it's often hard to follow the
guidelines. This one is really clear though.

