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The Cold Email

zachholman.com

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11–20 of 133 posts

Re: The Cold Email

#11

Post by idbnstra »

areoform wrote: post #8

I read a dozen inbound cold emails every day. I used to love it. I don't anymore, because every other single email uses The Sentence. Or, The Paragraph. Whatever model these people use, it always always puts in The Sentence (I don't want to disclose it publicly! I'm running an experiment. I'll write it up when it concludes. :) ). Or, worse, The Paragraph. Please use models to research people and learn about them. But…

do you have a blog or newsletter to read about this experiment once it concludes?

Re: The Cold Email

#12

Post by andy99 »

areoform wrote: post #8

I read a dozen inbound cold emails every day. I used to love it. I don't anymore, because every other single email uses The Sentence. Or, The Paragraph. Whatever model these people use, it always always puts in The Sentence (I don't want to disclose it publicly! I'm running an experiment. I'll write it up when it concludes. :) ). Or, worse, The Paragraph. Please use models to research people and learn about them. But…

There’s such an opportunity, it has never been easier to differentiate oneself now, all you have to do is ignore whatever online advice or LLMs say and do your own thing, it’s sad that almost nobody does it.

Re: The Cold Email

#13

Post by gkoberger »

sudo_cowsay wrote: post #9

Is human-like cold emails (with stuff like :D) better or worse than professionally written formal emails? Im a student and would like some tips. I know it depends on the situation but what would you rather see? And based on your experience, what would you respond to more?

Definitely short and informal. You should have a legitimate reason to email (like, tell the person genuinely why you respect them or what about them you like), and a clear ask if there is one (asking for help, looking for a job, etc).

Don't talk about yourself, except if it's directly relevant to them.

I can easily tell when someone wrote 100 of them generically, vs when it's genuine, and I'll always respond to the genuine ones.

(And to be clear, I'm referring to the type of cold emails Zach is... people wanting a genuine connection. This doesn't apply to trying to sell something.)

Re: The Cold Email

#14

Post by justsomehnguy »

sudo_cowsay wrote: post #9

Is human-like cold emails (with stuff like :D) better or worse than professionally written formal emails? Im a student and would like some tips. I know it depends on the situation but what would you rather see? And based on your experience, what would you respond to more?

You need to provide the reason in the first sentence. Sure, once in a while a do read some cold emails but most of the time if the one-line snippet in the list of all other messages doesn't provide a reason - it goes to the trash.

Re: The Cold Email

#15

Post by jerriep »

In the late 90s I was a huge Michael Schumacher and Ferrari fan. I found Jean Todt’s (the Ferrari F1 team principal at the time) email address and wrote a passionate email asking if there was any way I could join their team - even if it was sweeping the floor. Never got a reply :(

Previously I worked at Auth0. I joined fairly early, just a couple of years after their founding so the company was still small. I remember one of my collegues who joined around the same time got his job by sending (multiple) cold emails to my manager at the time telling how much he admired the company and wanted to join. Eventually he gave in and gave him the job. The guys stayed on long after I left so it obviously work out well for both parties.

Re: The Cold Email

#16

Post by Swizec »

Zach is good people. I still can’t believe I met him at a random meetup in SF once and he walked up to me to say hi and I didn’t connect the dots until many hours later that he’s the Zach whose blog I’ve been reading on and off my whole career and is one of the inspirations that got me to Silicon Valley.

Zach if you’re reading this, thanks

Re: The Cold Email

#17

Post by assimpleaspossi »

I started to write my story here along the same lines. Perhaps more along the lines of don't be afraid to ask. Almost every job I got, and they've mostly been pretty fantastic, I got cause I called and ask for it. I was told some of those jobs just weren't available or impossible to get but I called and got them. One job the manager wasn't even thinking about it till I called but I got him thinking about it and he hired me. Two impossible to get jobs I got cause the secretary left her desk for a moment and the manager answered the phone instead. I got two half hour interviews in prime time for someone and his business cause I called someone and asked for it.

It never hurt to ask.

Re: The Cold Email

#18

Post by holman »

Swizec wrote: post #16

Zach is good people. I still can’t believe I met him at a random meetup in SF once and he walked up to me to say hi and I didn’t connect the dots until many hours later that he’s the Zach whose blog I’ve been reading on and off my whole career and is one of the inspirations that got me to Silicon Valley. Zach if you’re reading this, thanks

These little stories, though not my original intention with the post, are very lovely to read!

Re: The Cold Email

#19

Post by ralfhn »

I got my first job in the U.S by emailing the local PHP user group introducing myself. The CEO of a dev agency was on the list, and 2 weeks later I had a job offer.

Moving to a new country not knowing anyone and with barely any money, fair to say that one email changed my life.

Re: The Cold Email

#20

Post by hingler36 »

I think another aspect of this is that the author experienced positive feedback from this approach early on. Rejection is tough to deal with, but having an instance that turned out well in mind is a huge benefit.
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