Opt in intros are the new new standard
I often get asked by fellow entrepreneurs, friends and business associates to intro them to someone I know. Given our attention span and considerable time constraints a request-for-intro needs to have in its DNA the basic characteristics to make it immediately actionable or else it risks of never seeing the light of day and gets trapped in our inbox.
Linkedin and AngelList make it so easy to figure out how you are connected to someone and what is your degree of separation. We should be able to leverage this data by being smart about how we reach out and ask for introductions but you might be surprised to know that most people don’t.
Many request-for-intros I see read something like this:
‘’Hey Xxx,
Hope you are well.
I’d love it if you could intro me to Yyy’’.
Since I do care about the people in my network a request like this is poorly formulated. It lacks the fundamental DNA to make it actionable:
1) Lack of Clear Narrative You are forcing me to think about WHY I should intro you and THEN do YOUR work of writing a Narrative that would make the person on the other end interested enough to meet you
2) Not made for opt-in request Even if your narrative is great and I make the intro, the person on the other end of the line might not want to talk to you. For no other reason that they are busy and can’t afford to take an unlimited number of coffees or skype calls.
Instead here is what I suggest you do.
- Research the folks you’d like to contact and identify your closest connection(s) to them
- Send an email to your ‘closest link(s)’ using a 30-sec elevator pitch format
- Make your 30 sec Pitch. Make It memorable and put it in a format that can be easily forwarded.
I learned this 6 Years ago from Jared Kopf when I asked him to intro me to Reid Hoffman (yes the founder of Linkedin in the pic ☺)
Write something like this:
‘’Hi Sal,
I have noticed that you are connected to Frank.
(Make clear why you want the intro)
I recently read his piece on Wired regarding the disruption of the Energy industry. Frank strikes me as someone who understands the problems and stakes in the industry and I’d love to have him as an advisor.
(Your elevator pitch goes here)
We @ BIGEnergy (put the link) have thought long and hard about this problem and have come out with a solution that we think will revolutionize the way Energy is produced and consumed today. By harnessing photosynthesis — the plant transformation of light energy into chemical energy we are able to generate 2X the energy it would take a solar panel to do in the same time at 1/5 of the cost. We have been developing this technology for the past 1 year and recently commercialized our first product generating our first 10 sales.
Here is some blog post we wrote on the topic (put the link) and some stats re: our progress to date (link and or image).
(opt in request)
I’d love it if you could forward this message to Frank and ask him if he’d be willing to use 15 min of his time to take a call.
thanks,
Mark’’
This gives me the opportunity to do an opt-in intro and ask Frank whether he’d like me to make the introduction.
Result:
both parties have manifested interest, no time has been wasted, a more genuine interest and quality conversation will follow.
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I write about entrepreneurship, exponential technology and things in between.
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