Post Written by Vasily Alekseenko

Mark Cuban has revealed that he has invested more than $100m in companies through cold outreach alone. Most famously, Tim Ellis, founder of Relativity Space, cold emailed him at the age of 23 asking to invest in his project. The Subject Line said, 'Space is sexy 3D Printing an entire Rocket', and Mark Cuban replied minutes later, with an investment offer five times bigger than what Ellis asked for. Today, Relativity Space is worth ~ $5.2b and is one of the most important names in SpaceTech.

Personally I'm a huge fan of Cold Outreach for one simple reason: cold outreach, done properly, works. The methodology I share in my Fundraising Playbooks Course is nested at the intersection of a number of strategic playbooks:

1. build a relationship with the individual first,

2. don't play all your cards at once, and

3. do the right research to avoid spraying & praying.

I've seen these strategies used by professionals who landed investment with a16z, raised from the likes of Sequoia, True Ventures, and Lakestar, and in one of my Masterclasses, a Founder who cold emailed a VC with an email built on this methodology received a reply just 20 minutes after he hit 'send' and went into successful fundraising discussions.

Whilst a warm introduction to an investor can go a long way, I like the cold outreach approach as it presents an opportunity to build a more egalitarian access to capital. Some of my favourite Cold Email openers include:

1. “I read your article on X, and I’m seriously impressed with the numbers”

2. “Great panel talk yesterday - you said X and this made me think of Y”

3. “My advisor, [Name], who you worked with at ABC Ventures, mentioned that you're the best person to talk to about X”

4. “Know this is a bit of a long shot, but figured I might as well give it a shot” (this is taken from an email that landed at job at a16z)

How you reach out cold to Angel Investors differs from how to reach VCs. There is a different playbook to reaching both of them. Angels typically invest in what they know (based on their past experience, background, skillset) and often syndicate a bunch of small cheques to spread the risk. Angels would see a potential early exit (within 5-7 years) as an incentive to invest as well.

VCs follow a specific investment thesis usually delimitated by geography, stage of growth, sector/vertical, revenue criteria, amongst other requirements. They prioritise long-term scalability potential behind your business as they seek outsized returns, typically Seed to Series A: 100x return, Series B to C: 10x return, and Pre-IPO: at least a 3x return.

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