Playbook / Lessons / LinkedIn: outreach and content
StartupsMake your first message about their goals
In a post on derisking common workplace scenarios, Kao covers pitching and cold outreach as the situation where you are sending a cold email. Her advice is to mention why you are reaching out to this lead specifically and to focus on their goals rather than your mission, vision or product, because they do not care yet. She says to cut anything about yourself.
“Trim anything me-focused, and be as you-focused as possible.”— Wes Kao, Derisking 12 common workplace scenarios, Aug 2024
Do this
Reread your next outreach draft today, mark every sentence about you or your product, and replace each with a line about the reader's goal or why you picked them.