Making an amazing introduction via email (via John Exley)
John Exley takes relationships seriously. We have been friends for a number of years and after his latest email intro I wanted to share how he does it.
With the permission of Mike Falb and John, I wanted to share the following exchange that recently took place. I have never seen someone as thorough or thoughtful about an intro and John does this *EVERY* time. He abides by the double opt-in on both sides and then follows up with a masterpiece like this.
After checking with myself and Mike first John made the following intro and WOW, what an email! (the double opt-in #respect)
Let’s break down why this is a qualify email introduction. For clarity, below is the play-by-play;
Hi Mike:
I can imagine you’re racing a bit in between meetings in LA right now, so I’ll get straight to the intro:
Diving right in and saving everyone’s time — appreciated!
MIKE:
Mike, please meet Eric Friedman (AngelList: https://angel.co/ericfriedman; Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricFriedman ; LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericgfriedman ; Blog: http://www.ericgfriedman.com/). Eric is the General Manager of Expa Labs, an incubator in Soho backed by $100MM that is investing $500k each in its first six companies (TechCrunch story here). Previously, Eric was the Global Senior Director of Sales and Revenue Operations for Foursquare. Eric graduated from George Washington University in 2004 with a degree in Marketing.I was introduced to Eric by my former roommate, Brian Watson, four years ago at a USV holiday party (Eric was actually the first Analyst for USV). Eric is a great guy and I like to think of him as the “Chief Domain Officer”, given his unique gift of acquiring rare domain names. I trust Eric deeply and vouch for him with everything I have.
CONTEXT. IS. KING. Where to even begin?!?!
First of all, John took the time to link up all of my profiles and made Mike’s job super easy to click around and learn more. He gave great context on what I am up to now and my background (he even got the details right!). Going so far as to include jobs and education its a great summary intro.
Second, John gives great context on how we know each other. Well beyond the typical intro, he cites our mutual connection and gives props for my side business doing domain consulting (ha!). Then he is explicit with his trust and vouching — rare! (PS John I feel the same)
ERIC:
Eric, please meet Mike Falb (AngelList: https://angel.co/mikefalb; Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeFalb; LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikefalb). Mike is an Associate at KEC Ventures, an early stage venture firm here in NYC. Previously, Mike was the Co-Founder & COO of Tunetap, a crowdfunding platform for musicians to raise money for their concerts. Mike graduated from Cornell University in 2014 with a degree in Hotel Administration.I was introduced to Mike by Julian Moncada from Lerer Ventures a few weeks ago (April 30th). Mike and I have spent considerable time together since, connecting across our mutual obsessions for consumer Internet, culture, and working with emerging artists. I trust Mike and am happy to vouch for him.
John does the same thing for Mike’s background, providing deep context and links to back up where I can find out more info. Previous job history and what Mike was doing and studying help complete my picture of him before we even meet in person.
PURPOSE OF INTRO:
Mike, Eric is gearing up to help Kit (an Expa Studio company) raise their next round. Given your focus on consumer investing at KEC, I recommended you and KEC as a potential strong fit. Eric was psyched to discuss Kit and its momentum with you. Eric, I caught up with Mike about the company and he was immediately excited at the prospect of meeting with you and the team there.
Saving us both SO MUCH TIME, John explains the reason for the intro — Kit.com — an Expa Studio company that could benefit from a jam session with someone like Mike. The links here are not just company home pages, but thats actually a link to the latest TechCrunch article explaining what Expa is all about.
We basically saved ourselves a ton of time and energy getting to the meat and potatoes of a meeting from all the heavy lifting John did for us.
Being able to parse all this material on the go, via mobile, prior to even responding was incredibly valuable. I am very thankful that John does this and I have never seen anything close to it before in my life.
Thanks gentlemen, let me know if I can be helpful further here….
Best,
John
Finally, he means it. You know that after an email like this if either of us reach out you have a trust bridge that has been built that things are going to get done. A lot of people use this phrase — but in Johns case I actually believe it.
Not everyone can make intros like this and not everyone should, but after getting this note I am thankful he took the time and wanted to share with the world.
Now back to your regularly schedule one line emails 🙂
Originally published at www.ericgfriedman.com on July 12, 2016.
