Sharing my personal experience in reaching out to random people:
A few months back, after reading lots of posts on HN here of people sharing their experience in "cold emailing" people, I reached out to quite a few people on the web - people whom I thought would be able to offer valuable insights on some thing I'm building. And, I was surprised how many people actually diligently replied to my email, and spent a lot of time offering suggestions etc.
A few things I learned in the process:
* Making the email as short and as highly targeted as possible made a difference (anecdotal, not measured)
* When somebody replied saying that they will look into it in a day or so, I did not immediately reply back saying "Thank you" etc. Instead I waited for a day or two and then replied. The second email actually served as a gentle reminder and I got a response immediately after that.
* In many cases, I specifically looked for people looking at a specific problem which what I was building helped to alleviate. This naturally increased the response rates.
* Lastly, people are generally wary of people selling things. So, I suggest genuinely trying to seek people's insights and guidance rather than directly sell them your idea. If people liked your idea, they themselves will go out of their way to do that.
And for what it's worth, I am going to shamelessly use this opportunity to offer the same: if you are looking for design related feedback on what you are building, say hello (email in profile!)
This really, really works, and these are great tips.
A couple of other factors:
* Write when someone is less likely to be flooded with other emails.
This is obvious but non-trivial. We are most likely to want to email people when they are busiest, because they have recently done something to get everyone's attention.
* Do some research to figure out the best means of communication. For Patrick, and for most people, it's email.
On the other hand, Nassim Taleb, an author, despises email. He is very active on his Facebook page.
And, a good chunk of the work I did last year stemmed from a cold call to a company's receptionist. They are small, and so I was only one step away from the person who could instantly make a decision. If an email would have been better, she would have told me so rather than passing the phone over.
You probably already know who the 3-5 people are in your field who could make a difference to your work. It only takes 5-30 minutes to write a good email, and there's no downside.
So I wasn't expecting this to get on the front page of HN (which was, in hindsight, stupid): my mental model was just "I'll put this on my blog's navigation bar so that over the coming years people will know about it" rather than "Man, I totally don't know what I'm going to do on Thursday. I know, maybe I'll get folks to send me a lot of email."
My priority inbox is hovering at around 100 right now. I'm getting to them as time permits. n.b. I also have a busy schedule today so I don't think I will clear this queue.
This isn't a time-bounded offer from me, this is just a formalization of the policy that I've had for six years. If I don't get back to you, I'll still be in this industry tomorrow, in April, in 2013, etc, so feel free to send it to me again.
This all applies to me, except s/patrick@/cperciva@/, s/patio11/cperciva/, and s/Central Japan/Vancouver, Canada/.
I'll add another tip, though: Make sure that you say something which tells me why you're emailing me. I've been getting a lot of "I got your address off HN" email lately and most of it looks like it was probably spammed to every account they could find -- those emails go straight into the junk folder.
This all applies to me, except s/patrick@/cperciva@/, s/patio11/cperciva/, and s/Central Japan/Vancouver, Canada/.
Same here.. I'm always willing to talk to a fellow HN'er and share any advice / insights / thoughts that I might have. My contact info is in my profile, in the "about" field and I'm in the Research Triangle Park, NC region.
I'll add another tip, though: Make sure that you say something which tells me why you're emailing me. I've been getting a lot of "I got your address off HN" email lately and most of it looks like it was probably spammed to every account they could find -- those emails go straight into the junk folder.
Thank you Patrick. At present I run a niche email marketing company. It can be rather isolating and my social circle or friends find it challenging to offer support/insight/help.
Reading blog posts (and comments on HN) from open, insightful, and yes inspirational people such as yourself has been great. I've often thought how wonderful it would be to meet or otherwise meaningfully communicate with those I respect and admire - and have made an effort in the last year to get out to Meetups (such as the Hacker News one in London last week). I've considered setting up my own sort of 'pay it forward' network; generally it's easier to provide meaningful insight or analysis into others issues, than it is to move forward on ones own.
I just wanted to let you know that your offer is greatly appreciated. I sincerely look forward to speaking or meeting with you.
It's really nothing other than what I've done since forever.
(n.b. I won't say $PARTICULAR_PERSON would do this without their permission first, but there are very many people in our industry who have this policy or fairly close variants of it. They just don't spell it out in detail on their websites. Since I have recent experience in the land of "Essentially everyone who I'd like to talk to is too busy to talk to me" delusions I thought I'd make it explicit.)
I've emailed Patrick a few times asking for help. He's always super nice and helpful. I had the pleasure of meeting him last year and he is a really down to earth geek.
I'm starting to work on a platform for people to explicitly state who they want to connect with, and to handle the social flow from "hello stranger" to "let's talk".
Anyone interested in helping out, please message me (josh at tristara dot com).
"I’m easy to spot: tall geeky guy with glasses wearing (90%+ probability) a red Twilio jacket."
That's really funny. I got one of those same jackets for speaking at Twilio Conference (btw, your session was great!) and it barely leaves my back. My wife doesn't like it because I'm always wearing it when she does the laundry so it's difficult to schedule its laundering.
Patrick, I'm going to email you in a month when the initial flood of emails you're going to get dies down. I don't have much to offer except possibly interesting conversation about software and educational software in particular.
This comment is more a reminder for me than anything. :-)
Please upvote this comment if you'd like patio11 (Patrick McKenzie) to someday write a book on any topic he chooses. This is something I'd gladly pay for.
[+] [-] karterk|14 years ago|reply
A few months back, after reading lots of posts on HN here of people sharing their experience in "cold emailing" people, I reached out to quite a few people on the web - people whom I thought would be able to offer valuable insights on some thing I'm building. And, I was surprised how many people actually diligently replied to my email, and spent a lot of time offering suggestions etc.
A few things I learned in the process:
* Making the email as short and as highly targeted as possible made a difference (anecdotal, not measured)
* When somebody replied saying that they will look into it in a day or so, I did not immediately reply back saying "Thank you" etc. Instead I waited for a day or two and then replied. The second email actually served as a gentle reminder and I got a response immediately after that.
* In many cases, I specifically looked for people looking at a specific problem which what I was building helped to alleviate. This naturally increased the response rates.
* Lastly, people are generally wary of people selling things. So, I suggest genuinely trying to seek people's insights and guidance rather than directly sell them your idea. If people liked your idea, they themselves will go out of their way to do that.
And for what it's worth, I am going to shamelessly use this opportunity to offer the same: if you are looking for design related feedback on what you are building, say hello (email in profile!)
[+] [-] graeme|14 years ago|reply
A couple of other factors:
* Write when someone is less likely to be flooded with other emails.
This is obvious but non-trivial. We are most likely to want to email people when they are busiest, because they have recently done something to get everyone's attention.
* Do some research to figure out the best means of communication. For Patrick, and for most people, it's email.
On the other hand, Nassim Taleb, an author, despises email. He is very active on his Facebook page.
And, a good chunk of the work I did last year stemmed from a cold call to a company's receptionist. They are small, and so I was only one step away from the person who could instantly make a decision. If an email would have been better, she would have told me so rather than passing the phone over.
You probably already know who the 3-5 people are in your field who could make a difference to your work. It only takes 5-30 minutes to write a good email, and there's no downside.
So go say hi.
[+] [-] prawn|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patio11|14 years ago|reply
My priority inbox is hovering at around 100 right now. I'm getting to them as time permits. n.b. I also have a busy schedule today so I don't think I will clear this queue.
This isn't a time-bounded offer from me, this is just a formalization of the policy that I've had for six years. If I don't get back to you, I'll still be in this industry tomorrow, in April, in 2013, etc, so feel free to send it to me again.
[+] [-] cperciva|14 years ago|reply
I'll add another tip, though: Make sure that you say something which tells me why you're emailing me. I've been getting a lot of "I got your address off HN" email lately and most of it looks like it was probably spammed to every account they could find -- those emails go straight into the junk folder.
[+] [-] edwinnathaniel|14 years ago|reply
Thank you for your invitation Colin, questions coming up as soon as I have time to write them!
[+] [-] mindcrime|14 years ago|reply
Same here.. I'm always willing to talk to a fellow HN'er and share any advice / insights / thoughts that I might have. My contact info is in my profile, in the "about" field and I'm in the Research Triangle Park, NC region.
I'll add another tip, though: Make sure that you say something which tells me why you're emailing me. I've been getting a lot of "I got your address off HN" email lately and most of it looks like it was probably spammed to every account they could find -- those emails go straight into the junk folder.
This.
[+] [-] actualgoodguy|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] deepandmeaning|14 years ago|reply
Reading blog posts (and comments on HN) from open, insightful, and yes inspirational people such as yourself has been great. I've often thought how wonderful it would be to meet or otherwise meaningfully communicate with those I respect and admire - and have made an effort in the last year to get out to Meetups (such as the Hacker News one in London last week). I've considered setting up my own sort of 'pay it forward' network; generally it's easier to provide meaningful insight or analysis into others issues, than it is to move forward on ones own.
I just wanted to let you know that your offer is greatly appreciated. I sincerely look forward to speaking or meeting with you.
[+] [-] michael_dorfman|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patio11|14 years ago|reply
(n.b. I won't say $PARTICULAR_PERSON would do this without their permission first, but there are very many people in our industry who have this policy or fairly close variants of it. They just don't spell it out in detail on their websites. Since I have recent experience in the land of "Essentially everyone who I'd like to talk to is too busy to talk to me" delusions I thought I'd make it explicit.)
[+] [-] gacba|14 years ago|reply
- Geeky
- Friendly
- Approachable
- Very open to talking about software-y stuff
I look forward to seeing you again at MicroConf 2012, Patrick.
[+] [-] losethos|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] losethos|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] revorad|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jseims|14 years ago|reply
Anyone interested in helping out, please message me (josh at tristara dot com).
[+] [-] davewasthere|14 years ago|reply
Hoping to get to Nagoya someday in the not too distant future.
[+] [-] sjwalter|14 years ago|reply
That's really funny. I got one of those same jackets for speaking at Twilio Conference (btw, your session was great!) and it barely leaves my back. My wife doesn't like it because I'm always wearing it when she does the laundry so it's difficult to schedule its laundering.
[+] [-] drblast|14 years ago|reply
This comment is more a reminder for me than anything. :-)
[+] [-] Kaostricks|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] awt|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] awt|14 years ago|reply