How to respond to email intros
I really enjoy introducing people in my network to one another. This is especially rewarding for me because I love connecting people. In fact, creating meaningful connections is one of the driving principles behind my startup, Social Tables.
My intro emails usually look like this:
Foo, meet Bar. Bar, meet Foo.
Foo, Bar is blah blah blah. I know her through blah blah blah. She’s awesome.
Bar, Foo is blah blah blah. I know him through blah blah blah. He’s amazing. He needs help with X.
I’ll let you two take it from here.
Happy connecting,
Dan
Even though most of my introductions usually take off, my batting average isn’t perfect. Here are several intro “best practices” I have identified through the many I’ve made:
- When you’re the person who needs the help/favor, try to respond as soon as you can (unless you’re a service provider - then you should respond fast so that they take you seriously).
- If you’re trying to schedule a meeting with the other person, offer several times to connect. If you know the other person is very busy, try to be considerate.
- Update the introducer (me!) about how the introduction went. It will make them feel warm and fuzzy inside (and make them want to introduce you to other people they know).
- It is customary for the person who responds to the intro first to move the introducer to BCC.
I am thinking of including a link to this post in all of my introductions going forward. Do you have any tips for making good intros?
DC is awesome for startups. Here’s proof.
So DC Week just wrapped up last friday (BYT’s photos here) and DC Entrepreneurship Week has arrived. I didn’t even get a chance to breathe!
Apart from being informative and fun-filled, these two weeks are illustrating why DC is [again] becoming a technology hub.
In his October 2011 essay, Paul Ghraham says tech hubs work because within them startups are seen as cool and chance meetings with people who can help you are more likely. The more startups in one area, the more potent this formula becomes, he says.
Well, the YCombinator godfather must have been thinking about DC when he was writing his post. Events such as these are helping put DC on the map by making startups cooler and people more connected.
TechCocktail and iStrategyLabs deserve a huge amount of props for producing DC Week. Let’s follow their lead and produce more community-building/inspiring events. DC Startup Weekend is another good example. This is why I help organize monthly DC Founder Dinners and Study Hall DC. And it’s why Social Tables works out of District I/O.
What are you doing to make this hub stronger?
