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HOW TO COLD DM INVESTORS [4 tips]
Recently I have been receiving a ton of cold DM on X and Linkedin, pitching me their startups for investments.
I responded to maybe less than 5% of them.
Don't get me wrong, I cold DM-ed my way to where I am today and I'm a big fan of a good cold DM. But most of the time, these DMs are so bad, it hurts to read them.
Here are 4 mistakes people make:
1. Research your investors
I got so many DMs pitching me incremental B2B SaaS ideas. If you read my website @join_savant for even 3 seconds, you can tell that entire creation of Savant is built on top of the idea of anti B2B Slop. The time you spend DM-ing me could have been spent on other investors who invest in incremental / safe bets that most likely won't yield venture returns. There are plenty of them, especially in the valley. Don't waste time on me.
2. Don't ask for permission
I often get people DM-ing me asking "can I get your expert opinion for my startup?" or "can I get some advice for what I'm working on?". First of all, you probably know more than I do in terms of the problem space you're tackling, I'm most probably not the best person to give you that advice. It also makes me feel that you're not the expert in the space you're operating. And second of all, It creates a ton of friction, I have to respond saying yes (without much context) before i even get to know what you're doing and if it's even relevant to me. As a founder, you should just lead with your best foot forward, start your conversation with something strong that if I don't respond, it will make me look like a dumbass.
3.Lead with your team
In pre-seed investing, we back the team more than anything else. Everyone is working on somewhat similar ideas, with maybe 1-3 core differentiators in tackling the same problems. The best way to know who will win in that space early on is to back the team who has the most expertise & move the fastest. If you have the right team to win, always start the pitch with your team, not the idea or progress. Once we are convinced that you're the right team, the idea and progress will sell itself.
4. Keep it short and crisp
Some cold DMs are like 4 paragraphs long as if they send the entire memo off one message. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of memo (I raised my entire seed round for my prev startup off a one-pager, no deck), so I like reading those. But it's much preferable to at least get a strong short pitch first, something like 5 sentences max to get a sense of the company, before digging in more. That way it also creates a back and forth as well, deepening the relationship.
hope this helps!
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