That cold emails to investors can be effective, despite common beliefs. Watch the full video — free, no account needed.
That cold emails to investors can be effective, despite common beliefs. The key is to target investors whose investment thesis aligns with your company, even if you don't have a warm introduction.
Investor emails are essential. You’re going to have to send them out if you really want to get that money in. Why are they called cold emails? Essentially, what you want to do is get the introduction, someone in common that you have with investors, someone that perhaps could make that warm introduction so that you have that social proof. Most investors say that cold emails don’t work. But I actually find that that’s not true because investors, for a living, need to meet with entrepreneurs. Whenever they can see a good opportunity, it doesn’t matter where they are or who introduced them. That’s why if you know that investor has an investment thesis that they’ve created where they would be excited about the potential opportunity in investing in a company like yours, you should reach out directly if you don’t have anyone in common. So, in my opinion, I believe that cold emails actually work
because those investors invest for a living. Having that introduction from someone helps them to get more trust as social proof and knowing that there are people in common that you guys share. But, ultimately, it’s not necessary. How do you make it work for you? At the end of the day, what you want to do is go after people that are going to be very inclined to invest in your business. How do you find those? You can use tools like Crunchbase, PitchBook, Mattermark. The first thing is choosing the right subject line. Without a good subject line, they’re not even going to open your email. Those investors, for the most part, are extremely busy individuals. They’re receiving hundreds of emails a day, and you need to make sure that you’re standing out. Once you’ve come up with the actual subject line, then it’s time to come up with the body of the email that you’re going to be drafting. In the
second one, you are giving some background on yourself and the business in a very clear and concise way. The third one could be the call to action, perhaps suggesting to get on a call or to have a meeting. Then you say, “Your best,” and that’s pretty much it. You also need to make sure that it is personalized. The last thing that you want is to grab a template that you’re using to mass email to everyone and use the same one. You want to use things that you have in common. The next thing is to tell a story. You want to leave those investors in a way that you’re touching them, you’re moving them, and you’re inspiring them with whatever you’re sharing about your business, especially when you’re giving some background as to what you’re doing. When you’re thinking about the storytelling side of it. You can also add other things in there where you’re telling the story. You can talk about why,
in the first place, you got really involved in this business. Like, what was the sequence of events that led you to actually start this business, and why you’re so passionate about this business? Then, the how. You can talk about the team that you assembled, some of the accomplishments that you’ve done, some of those metrics, and close that story with a bang so that they are captivated—also, a story that is relatable to them on the problem or the solution that you’re bringing to market given some of the past experiences that investor may have. From a psychology perspective, you also want to throw a lot of validation in there. You should do some name-dropping, especially if you have people in common. You can go on LinkedIn and see who you share in common with that specific investor. It’s always nice to throw in some names and last names because that’s going to be familiar to that
investor. They’re going to feel at home when you’re sharing some of those names and last names. That’s critical, as well, for the social proof component and aspect of it. Drafting a cold email is not easy. That’s the truth. But there are always great templates out there that you can use. But again, you want to personalize those, so that it comes across in a way that is strong and powerful.