Introductions and the "Forward Intro Email"

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Introductions and the “forward intro email”

Roy Bahat

6 min read·

Oct 26, 2016

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Making introductions is one of the most rewarding things we do as backers and builders of startups — it’s the fastest way to share one of our most important sources of power, our relationships, with promising startups and friends.

If you ask me for an introduction, I’ll introduce you to literally anyone I know if I believe it’s likely to be in their interest. (And I’m a fan of the opt-in intro*, where I ask the receiver if they’re willing before I introduce you.)

“Please write me an email I can forward to them.”

You’d be shocked how often I get back something unusable (or, put differently, something unlikely to achieve your goal of connecting with the receiver of the intro).

To save us both time, here’s what I mean when I ask for a forward intro email.

First, why do I ask for this, specifically? (Compared to, say, “please send me a blurb about your company,” or “draft me an email I can send” or some other way to get things going?) This method lets you do the things you’re best at — describing who you are, what your organization does, why you want to talk to the receiver, speaking in your own voice, etc. And I do only the things I’m best at — knowing the receiver, and sharing my opinion of you. It also allows me to spend as little time as possible, so I can make your introduction as quickly as possible.

When you send me this kind of forward intro email, I’ll literally hit “forward” and write something like “Hey Karin, I just met this founder and thought she was onto something — take a look at the below, do you want to talk?”

When the receiver replies, usually with a “sounds great,” I’ll just add you to the chain and it’s done (vs. having to write yet another email introducing you both).

Here’s an example for one I just got that works well (I only have one suggestion, see after you read the email)…

From: Alyssa Ravasio Date: Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 9:35 AM Subject: Intro to Hunter Walk To: Roy Bahat

I think Hunter Walk / Homebrew would be an amazing investor for Hipcamp. I love their emphasis on the bottom up economy. This resonates deeply with our mission and personal goals as well, since parks are engines of local economies.

Hipcamp helps people discover and book campsites and cabins, a $3B market that has remained stagnant and fragmented since the 90’s. They are bringing the world’s public campgrounds online, unlocking access to private lands for camping, and ultimately, getting more people outside.

(What’s the one fix? The subject line. When that lands in Hunter’s inbox, it turns into something meaningless to him. “Hipcamp intro to Hunter” might be better. Otherwise, it’s letter perfect and, Alyssa, good luck with your raise.)

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Also note that Alyssa avoided implying I’d already promised I could make the introduction — because that takes choice out of the recipient’s hands, as the on-it investor-and-more Ashley Mayer points out.

These days, her email might also have included an investor deck (now the norm to include in first emails), and these emails generally should include some way to get more information (a link to the writer’s bio, or an attachment, etc.).

Please avoid confusing a forward intro email with similar-sounding things I believe are worse:

One extra advantage of this method, which Alex Lassar pointed out to me, is that the email you send me asking for the intro could just be a forward intro email — see, you saved a step.

And now, when I ask for a forward intro email, you know what I mean. Too much hoopla for a simple intro? I want us all to shave complexity off the process of knowing each other. And when you make introductions 5–10 times a day, you could be making thousands of intros per year. It adds up, and it’s important to get right. People are the currency of the realm.

[I got a request to move this oldie-but-goodie from my personal blog to Medium and, separately, James asked me to share more detail about the different cases of introductions, which I did on Quora.]

• Fred Wilson popularized the double opt-in intro where both sides agree to take the introduction. In principle, I agree with him 100%. In practice, it’s rare that I proactively decide to introduce two people without already being in conversation with one of them — so one side has almost always already opted in.

** I am, repeatedly, surprised by the different work cultures on the East and West Coasts, and in technology vs. other industries; it even extends to introductions. California intros, and intros in technology everywhere, tend to be shorter, less formal. New York intros, or intros in other industries (or non-profits) tend to be more professional.