Essay · 5 min read

How to write a cold-email

Elizabeth Yin Free Beginner

A Hustle Fund investor who reads hundreds of cold emails walks through, line by line, what makes her actually reply versus delete. It is unusually candid about the tells that mark a message as mass-sent, which is the exact failure mode our answer warns against.

  • A generic opening line is the single biggest reason a cold email gets ignored
  • Short wins: get to the point in the first two sentences
  • State clearly why you are reaching out to this person specifically, not a category of people

It answers 2 questions

  1. Is cold outreach even worth it, or is it just spam that hurts my brand?
  2. How do I write cold emails and LinkedIn messages that founders actually get replies to?

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