Last week I noticed that I had received several cold emails from entrepreneurs that started in exactly the same fashion:

Apologies for the cold email, I usually get an introduction, but my network in New York area isn’t so strong. I found Union Square Ventures while I was looking for top class Venture Capital looking to invest in the tech industry.

So I decided to tweet about it because it appeared as if people had just copied a template. Sure enough the source for this is a blog post titled “How to Cold Email an Investor” by an outfit called Venturefocus that also sells access to a VC database (thanks to Mark Webster for locating it).

Let me start by stating what should be obvious: investors receive hundreds if not thousands of cold emails per year. Copying an exact phrase, and an awkward one at that, as your very first sentence is a terrible idea as it will stick out like a sore thumb. So if you want to succeed, please don’t do that. Do not start with a generic opening.

What should you do instead? You should spend just a bit of time figuring out something specific about the investor you are emailing. This could reference a blog post or a tweet. It could point to another investment. When you point to another investment and it is in a different space you should point out how it relates to wha you are doing. If the investment is in the same space and successful you should maybe explain why you are not competitive. And if it is a failed investment you should be quick to write why your approach is different or what has changed in the environment.

Whatever you do, it has to be clear from the first few sentences that you took the time to think about why you are writing me. If you cannot be bothered to take that time, why should I take the time to think about your pitch? After all, the goal of all of this is to enter into a longterm relationship.

With that out of the way I would be remiss to say that you should try to avoid cold emailing altogether. I fully understand that sometimes you can’t but your very first step should be to look for other people you could reach out to first. For instance, maybe you can meet someone who has or had a leadership position at one of our portfolio companies. For any fund that’s been around for a while, that’s likely to be a universe of > 500 people or more! Other than getting a referral, you can also try to reach us in context. By that I mean replying to a tweet or commenting on a blog post.

Back to cold emails though. There is more bad advice in the Venturefocus post. In particular they suggest attaching your deck to the initial email. Don’t do that! The goal of your email, as the post correctly points out, is to get a conversation going. Including your entire deck doesn’t do that. Who starts a conversation by talking by themselves for one hour?

Instead, you should write just one or two paragraphs. But these have to be so compelling that I will want to reply with a question to find out more. I often spend time with first time entrepreneurs helping them craft such an email. It is not something that can just be dashed off. You need to trim all filler words to make it tight. And you need to be clear about the status of your venture. If you have launched that needs to come out immediately and you need to include some numbers about usage or customers. Write your short email carefully and then edit it repeatedly until it is really compelling.

I am looking forward to receiving better cold emails in the future. I do read them and will reply to any that are well written, even if it is just to say that it is an area that we don’t invest in.