First time founders lose a lot of fundraising intros and sales deals because they don't know about basic Silicon Valley intro etiquette. # Default intros are stupid and rude Unless: a) you have a very good relationship with the introducer, b) they proposed to make the intro, and c) they have a very good relationship with the intro target, then asking "can you please intro me to X" is both stupid and rude. It's stupid because it's exceedingly unlikely the introducer can sell your company as well as you could, which will decrease intro acceptance rates. And this approach pushes all the work on the shoulders of the introducer, who tend to be busy people, which will lower introduction rates. It's also rude because the target might not want to meet you, so opening a thread before they could confirm their interest puts them target in an awkward position. # Self contained forwadable emails The solution is go for a "double opt-in" intro, meaning both sides have to agree before they find themselves in a common thread, which is typically done by sending a "self contained forwardable email", aka an email that has all the info needed for the target to know if they should accept the intro, and is easily forwardable by the introducer. It can looks like this for a fund: ``` Intro to Corentin for Acme seed Hi Alice, Would you intro me to Corentin Trebaol at Bastiat Capital? He seems to like unfair distribution advantages and our OSS downloads crossed 200M/y. And I am personally a huge fan of his work on scala compilers. Company one/two liner - fact 1 - fact 2 - fact 3 Thank you Alice! Bob CEO @ Acme ``` And this, for an angel: ``` Intro to Corentin for Acme seed Hi Alice, I would love an introduction to Corentin Trebaol before we close the seed round because he'd be a dream angel to work with for future fundraisings! Plus he made investments in our space like dryft.ai. And I’ve been a huge fan of his blog since his tent post went viral on HN! Company intro in 1-2 sentences - fact 1 - fact 2 - fact 3 Thank you Alice! Bob CEO @ Acme ``` All the introducer has to do next is to press "forward". And maybe add some context ``` Strong founder I met at the Neo reunion. I'm personally investing. Lmk if you want the intro. ``` The target will typically reply "Thank you so much! Reaching out directly" and open a new thread with you. # Nuances **Writing the intro** - Consider updating the format if you're in Europe - Hi - could you forward this email to X? - Name the target. - Don't ask for an intro to "someone at Bastiat Capital". Remove as much work as you can from the introducer's shoulders and you'll get more intros from them. - Don't Cc your cofounders. - Fundraising is the CEO's job, Ccs get lost when the email gets forwarded, and it adds confusion for the target. - Be concise. - People are busy. Don't make it longer than the above examples unless you have a good reason to. Bear in mind the goal is usually to get a meeting, not lecture people about your company, so you should share the smallest amount of information that lands you the meeting. - Bullets are easier to parse than prose. - Ideally, mention both what's in it for them and why you're interested in working with them specifically. - If you raise a (pre)seed, mention it early as most investors pride themselves on finding deals early. **After the intro is made** - Reply instantly. Silicon Valley standard is ideally within 1 hour, and for sure before end of day. - Make it easy for your target. Send the calendar invite, add the location, travel to them if face to face, pay if you meet at a restaurant, etc. - Circle back to the introducer to let them know how it went.