â
If you work in any relationship-driven business function, youâll be exposed to the idea of the âforwardable email.â Sales, BD, and fundraising all rely on it.
But being exposed to the idea, does not mean deeply understanding it. In fact, messing up the forwardable email is one of the most common mistakes I see founders make in fundraising and something that will crush your chances of getting that high-impact introduction
But first, some background on introsâŚÂ
Introductions are a crucial part of fundraising. They are the lifeblood that keeps quality deal flow pumping for investors.Â
The operative term here is âqualityâ because there are far more efficient ways to get general deal flow. Post on Twitter that you invest and take cold outreach via an online form, and youâll start reaping the benefits of easy-to-access, GENERAL deal flow.
This is where the bottleneck of investing comes in. How does an investor process deal flow efficiently enough to have the patience to wait for outlier opportunities? The answer is trusting the credibility of their network to provide a quality filter and shorten their time to evaluate deals.
As a founder, you may be frustrated by the need to jump through hoops to meet with investors. You might wonder if you should just ditch the 3-5 emails youâll need to send to get an intro in favor of the 1 cold email that will take no time to send. If youâre actually wondering, the answer is âno.â Go get that warm intro. It might take 10x as long to do but itâll be 100x more effective than your cold email.
Remember that intros are the lifeblood of successful fundraisesâŚÂ
Now that youâre squarely on Team Intros, letâs break through the misconceptions surrounding them. Many people assume that asking for an intro is just a matter of sending a quick email. Doesnât that only take a few minutes to write? And because it is so easy, there shouldn't be anything holding the person back from making an amazing introduction for you⌠immediately.Â
I so wish these fantasies were reality. Unfortunately, these assumptions are off. So far off.
Hereâs the reality.
A quality introduction comes from a quality relationship. The person who developed that quality relationship didnât get there by treating the relationship recklessly. Whether it was from a personal or professional starting point, they got there by providing value and respecting time.Â
SO, when asking someone to make a quality introduction, you have to make sure they can easily communicate the value of the intro and not waste anyoneâs time. This requires care and thoughtfulnessâŚand takes time.Â
BTW - a great intro request is not just 1-2 emails. Itâs at least 5âŚ
Once founders hear these details about intros, they get better at making introductions.Â
A few great bits of progress I usually see:
The last point is the right idea, but sometimes the right idea executed poorly can lead to failureâŚ
One of the most common mistakes they make is not understanding the concept of a forwardable email.
What is a Forwardable Email?
A forwardable email is an email that can be sent to a connector to make it easier to do a double opt-in check. In other words, it makes it easy to ask someone if it's okay to make an introduction.Â
It's called a âforwardable emailâ because the email is designed to be "forwarded." However, this is where founders mess up. They hear "make it easy for the connector" and "do as much work as possible for the connector" and glaze over the actual term "forwardable." What comes out the other side is an email that is not forwardable.
Hereâs an example of this mistake in the form of what one founder thought was the perfect âforwardable emailâ:
Subject: Tiny favor for my fundraise
I really appreciate your offer to connect me with John Doe, Julia Donald, and Jordan James. I pulled together a brief forwardable note (with specifics for each contact) that can be used for a quick intro. Let me know if there is other information I can send along with each contact to make the introductions smoother.
" . . . I would like to introduce Geronimo Smith. He's a founder who recently left Google as a Software Engineer to start AmazeballsAI with his co-founder Amy Love (ex-Stripe). His focus is on fintech and AI and I thought he would be a good fit for a conversation. Specifically, he's interested in connecting around [investing in AmazeballAIâs seed round (John Doe) | investing in AmazeballAIâs seed round and partnering (Julia) | partnering (Jordan)]."
Best Regards,
Geronimo
That is a real life attempt at a forwardable email with details changed to protect the identity of everyone involved đ
You can see that the founderâs heart was in the right place. They wanted to be nice to the connector first and then provide some copy for them to make the double-opt in check easier.
The problem with this version of a forwardable email is they didnât save the connector any time AT ALL.
Before the connector can even use parts of the pre-written copy, they must:
1. Rewrite everything in their voice
2. Choose a subject line
3. Craft opening small talk
All this extra work plummets the chances of making this introduction quickly, if at all. Even if they want to do the work, they will prioritize more important and EASIER tasks before they get to it.
To increase your chances of a successful introduction, use a forwardable email format that requires zero effort for the connector to use for a double opt-in check. And by zero effort, I mean the connector should be able to hit FORWARD with a short message that essentially just says âsee belowâ:
Do you see how JJâs forwardable email allows Paige to just easily click âforwardâ and a short message that requires no thought to check in? If Paige wanted to, she could add tons more words of support around how awesome JJ is, but she doesnât have to. The right forwardable email makes it easy to be quick or spend time if they want to.
Itâs important to understand what they represent and how to request them in the most effective ways. Founders who get this right are more likely to be successful in fundraising. I want you to be that type of founder.Â
Sweet.
â