I don’t have any connections
ninjasandrobots.com
I don’t have any connections
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Re: I don’t have any connections
#2Some of my best personal & business relationships started with a cold email and a random coffee meeting.
Re: I don’t have any connections
#3Some of my best personal & business relationships started with a cold email and a random coffee meeting.
One thing I'll probably cover in the future is one of the things that have made these cold emails and random meetings successful is simply being clear about what I want.
I've made the mistake many times of simply saying "I'd love to chat for 15 minutes". Even "I'd love to get your feedback" isn't enough usually.
Specific questions like "I'd love to hear how you'd design this" or "What would you do next here to get more traffic" or "Would you try this with a collaborator and see if it makes your life easier" generates better hits and more useful conversations.
Re: I don’t have any connections
#4I'm pretty sure that for many people even such cold email can be intimidating. On rational level they know it's the necessary thing to do, but the fear of rejection drags them toward "I'm not ready yet. I'll mail them a week later when I build/write/learn more".
Re: I don’t have any connections
#5Making contact with people isn't the hard part, I don't think. Motivating them to help you is the hard part.
Re: I don’t have any connections
#6Making contact with people isn't the hard part, I don't think. Motivating them to help you is the hard part.
Thanks a ton for the comment on this and reading the article!
But see, I don't think motivating someone to help you is really that hard. As I mentioned in there, there are so many places where there's oodles of people who'd love to help. Want to ask Alexis Ohanian something? Pay attention to when he hosts another AMA on Reddit. Or use Clarity or Public Beta. Or really just email them. I answer a ton of questions I get over email.
There are a couple reasons though sometimes I don't reply to an email "looking for help":
1. The email is thousands of words long. I don't have time to read that. Very few people do. Keep these intros and notes and questions to 5 sentences or 500 characters, or try your hardest to get close.
2. Ask something. I get too many emails looking for help, but when you read the email, there's isn't actually a question inside. What do you need help with? Be specific. "Feedback" is way too open. You want Feedback on design, or features or marketing or what? It's best to focus me on something so I can save time figuring out how I can actually help you.
And if you really want to use some extra encouragement to get people to help you, flattery gets you everywhere. Mention what you've been reading of theirs. Quote their stuff on Twitter.
Re: I don’t have any connections
#7I'm pretty sure that for many people even such cold email can be intimidating. On rational level they know it's the necessary thing to do, but the fear of rejection drags them toward "I'm not ready yet. I'll mail them a week later when I build/write/learn more".
I hear you. And you are definitely right. It can be intimidating. Those cold calls, I still can't get the nerves out when I've done those. But emails, you don't actually have to feel any rejection :)
I have never gotten someone to reply negatively to an email I've sent them. The worst ever, and it's rare, is someone simply saying "Thanks, but no." Of course there's lots of ignores. But even ignores, I've followed up on and gotten replies like "Thank you so much for reminding me about this! I meant to reply but got busy when I received your note."
Re: I don’t have any connections
#8I'm pretty sure that for many people even such cold email can be intimidating. On rational level they know it's the necessary thing to do, but the fear of rejection drags them toward "I'm not ready yet. I'll mail them a week later when I build/write/learn more".
For self-founded entrepreneur procrastination is the worst enemy.
Re: I don’t have any connections
#9I think a lot of the problem when it comes to making new connections is unwarranted shyness. If you know the other party is open to new messages/meeting requests from strangers (which they sometimes are!), it becomes less intimidating to reach out. Online dating sites like OkCupid have dealt with this problem really well by creating a community of people open to receiving messages of a particular kind from strangers. It's totally appropriate to ask a stranger out on OkCupid. It isn't so appropriate on Facebook.
I'd really appreciate people checking out my first web application, called Treatings (treatings.co). It's a community of professionals open to meeting strangers over coffee to discuss their work. No one is guaranteeing meetings with anyone, but everyone is open to meeting requests and the possibility of being treated to coffee/a drink by a stranger interested in their background.
treatings.co/activity
Re: I don’t have any connections
#10[deleted]