We encourage Techstars companies to perfect the way they introduce themselves. An introduction is the first sales touch point. Make it simple, clear and awesome.
To start with, master the etiquette of forwardable email. Make subject line clear and searchable.
Related:Â The Keys to Writing Reminder Emails That Work
Next, lets look at what goes inside the actual email. Whether you are asking for an investor introduction or business introduction, write clear two paragraphs including:
- Introduction: Your name and name of your company, including URL
- Business: Two or three sentences about your business and why its interesting
- Traction: One or two sentences about your traction / customers you have / progress you made
The last part is why you want to connect, and the ask. If this is an email to investor:
- Why: Looking for feedback, or connecting because you have background.
- Ask: Could we do a quick 15-minute call? or Could I get more feedback via email?
If you are looking for a business introduction:
- Why: Looking for feedback or think you might be interested in our product
- Ask: Could we do a quick 15-minute call? or Could I get more feedback via email?
Related:Â Alive and Kicking: Why Email Marketing Is Still a Huge Tool for Business
The result is just two paragraphs that are easy to understand and are actionable. For example, here is a business development email:
“My name is Romain, and I am a CEO of Gorgias (Techstars ’15). We are building automation software for help desk. With Gorgias, agents can save 50 percent of the time answering requests, cut down on manual tasks and businesses save money.
Our customers include ClassPass, Plated, Stripe and others. We’d love to show you our solution, get feedback and see if it might be a fit for your organization. Please let me know if you’d like to schedule a brief demo call next week.”
Or here is an example of angel investor introduction:
“My name is Sara, and I am CEO of Jewelbots (Techstars ’15). We’ve created programmable friendship bracelets that teach girls how to code. The bracelets form a mesh network and allow girls near by to send each other messages. As the girls interact with the bracelets, they unlock different patterns, can buy fun charms and branded bands.
We have 190,000 in pre-sales from Kickstarter and our own website and are expecting to launch in Q1 of 2016. Our investors include Homebrew, #angels, Matt Cutts and we have a few hundred thousand left in our current round. Because you invested in Hullabalu (Techstars ’14), we thought that you maybe interested in talking to us about our business. Please let us know if you’d like to connect next week.”
If you have to send a lot of intros, Gorgias actually has a very neat extension for Gmail that I use all the time. It allows you to create a template that you can insert into your email with a single key stoke. It saves you a ton of time and ensures that you always introduce your startup consistently.
