Intros are the lifeblood of entrepreneurship. Whether it’s getting connected to a venture capitalist, a potential employee, or a customer, if you’re an entrepreneur you will need to give and get intros.
There’s a right way and a wrong way to go about this. If you’re asking for an intro, you must:
- Ensure that the person you’re asking to intro you (the “intro-er”) knows the “intro-ee” well enough. An intro from someone the intro-ee barely knows isn’t going to help you.
- Give the intro-ee a short blurb they can forward on to the intro-ee. (“Blabulator is a new startup helping developers build chatbots. We would love to speak to
because we know he blogs about bots a lot”). Don’t make your intro-er work too hard. - The intro-er will likely send an email to the intro-ee with a copy to you. Follow up immediately with a reply all, BUT: move the intro-ee to BCC. That way their inbox isn’t bombarded with 30,000 email where you schedule a time to meet. (“Hi
, blah blah blah. , moving you to BCC to avoid cluttering your inbox”). - After you meet/chat/whatever with the intro-ee, follow up with the intro-er. This can be as simple as a thank you note, or even a phone call if it warrants. There’s two reasons for this: a) it’s basic politeness, and b) your intro-er and intro-ee may well have spoken about you and you might get back door feedback from the intro-er. (“She said she liked what you were doing but would never invest”).
- Return the favor. Ask the intro-er if you can help with any intros.
When I intro you, I’m putting my reputation on the line (albeit in a small way). Treat that with respect, and I’ll do it again. Don’t, and you might find I’m too busy to help next time.
