How to Cold Email Investors: A Video by Michael Seibel of YC
The video below was originally published in this post on the Y Combinator blog.
Michael Seibel, CEO of Y Combinators, shares his thoughts on how to successfully cold email investors. The 7 minute video is full of useful information for founders to make sure you’re making the most of your and the potential investors time. Below you can find a quick breakdown of what Michael looks for in a cold email:
- Make it short — Make it so the investor can read the email in 60 seconds or less
- What to include:
- The problem you’re trying to solve
- What your solution is
- Have you launched
- Do you have growth
- How big can the market be
- Do you have cofounders
- Are you technical
- What not to include:
- A long history of the idea
- Jargon — use simple language, an investor may not know the industry
- Send your email from a company email address — make sure it has your name in it
- It is fine to attach a deck but it is not required — make sure it is a standard format
- Track opens — make sure people are actually seeing your email