How to write a cold pitch that outperforms warm intros

📥 Reviewing all inbound pitches Not all investors require warm intros. 💷 Last year I made investments into a material science and a medtech startup, both originating from cold inbound emails. The latter used the following text (copied with permission but with details redacted): "Dear Avonmore Developments I hope you are well. I have been following your investments and compiled a list approximately 4 months ago of who I believe would add huge value for the Medtech [....] start up that I have co-founded with Dr [….] I believe Avonmore Developments would bring immense value beyond just potential investment and would love to pitch our venture (pitchdeck attached). I was a huge fan of OC Robotics that you have invested in previously. Since starting 8 months ago, we have had significant traction with 4/5 grants won, defensible platform IP filing and numerous other prizes. We started our funding round last week and already have £200k committed. We have a deep understanding of our market and expect a 250 million dollar exit in 3 years. To be completely honest, it would be great to just meet Mr Simon Blakey [....]! Best wishes” 💡Why this email stood out: ✔️ Reference to both me and my portfolio (specific reference to Avonmore and a past investment, OC Robotics) ✔️ Evidence of traction (e.g., grant success, IP filing, funding momentum). ✔️ Clear market understanding and a compelling vision for the startup’s future. ✔️ Genuine and personalized outreach, showing they’d taken time to craft their approach. I feel too many pitch emails fail to check even a few of these boxes. Alongside a concise pitch deck, there was enough here to arrange an intro call and the rest is history… 📖 Best of luck to entrepreneurs embarking on their fundraising journeys 🚀 And to fellow investors, especially those at the pre-seed stage: please keep an open mind about those cold inbound pitches! 🙏

After writing cold emails for 2000+ businesses and booking 1000s of sales calls, I'm sharing my best copy tips to help you book more meetings: 1. Keep it short Your emails shouldn't require any work or over-thinking from the prospect. Keep it to 50 words or less - if they can't read it in ~5 seconds, you've already lost them. 2. Relevancy and specificity "I help watch brands in the UK" will always outperform "I help brands." The market needs to see real value, not generic statements. 3. Switch up your CTAs Skip the boring "hop on a call" pitch. Instead: "Mind if I send a 2-minute Loom explaining how we do this?" "Worth a chat to go over how you can achieve something similar?" 4. The 2:1 rule For every 1 thing you say about yourself, say 2 things about your prospect. People are naturally selfish - they care more about what you can do for them. 5. Focus on getting replies first Cold email is NOT for closing deals.  Your goal is to kick start a conversation and take your prospect from cold to warm then book a call. 6. Benefits over services Don't pitch Facebook ads - pitch the 55% increase in website conversions you delivered for your last client. 7. Stand out from competitors If everyone's pitching "more sales" with influencer marketing, position yourself as "making you go viral." 8. Keep your sequence flowing Your follow-ups should build on previous emails. Keep your offer and messaging consistent throughout.

‘VCs only take calls and invest into businesses where there’s been a warm intro’.   I see this rhetoric all the time and it’s fundamentally not true.   I meet so many people that reach out directly on here and I’ve invested into multiple businesses where the initial contact was not a warm introduction.   However, to get maximum impact, a cold email should not be a generic copy and paste that you’ve sent to 100+ investors.   It sounds simple but the best cold approaches I get all follow the same rule book: ➖ They’re personal. There’s a common hook. It might be a previous investment, it might be something I’ve posted about, it might be something in my profile or background. ➖ They’re personable. There’s some element of human touch that comes through in the message, it’s not just a faceless business exchange. ➖ They’re patient, it’s not just a connection request followed up instantly by a deck. The best founders will interact on a couple of posts before reaching out to start a conversation. They also don’t lead with the deck. ➖ They’re short. No investor wants to read a 10-paragraph message about the business before you’ve even said hello.   Within the industry, I’m sure there are still a small pocket of people that won’t respond unless they’ve had an introduction but, in my experience, it’s a very small percentage now.   I don’t think you can blame people for not getting too excited from receiving spam messages though.   ________________________________________ Founders, what’s your take? What’s been your experiences when reaching out ‘cold’? Fellow investors, what’s your view about direct outreach? Any advice to share?   #vc #venturecapital #founders #founderstories #raisingequity