How to Ask for an Investor Intro

0:00 If you are a founder actively fundraising or trying to ask for an introduction to an investor, you need to stop sending those high friction massive emails right now. This paragraph is all you need. I've gotten introductions to investors you've heard of. People who in less than 30 seconds decide, is this worth my time or not? And most people fail because they put extra work on the person they're asking for the introduction. I'm going to give you a wordbyword template you can use to maximize the chances of getting a yes. I have used this exact script to raise over $13 million for doula. We're a YCback startup. Let's get into it. First is the PC formula. This is making it easy for the connector with praise and the connection. The single biggest rule you have to follow is you have to make it one click easy for the person you are asking to introduce you to someone to hit forward add context and boom. That's literally all you have to do. Now PC stands for praise. You should praise the person that you're actually asking for the intro. You should also probably praise the person you're asking to get connected with and then have a concise ask. So let's look through an actual example here. This is how I design every one of my forable blurs in the subject line. Intro to the person you're trying to get an intro to from your name. And then I do some social proof. I do YCS20, which stands for Y Combinator Summer 20, which is the batch that we went through.

1:24 The goal of the subject line is simple. When the connector gets this in their inbox, they know exactly what they need to do. Make the intro to Ryan Clog for me. So stupid simple. Okay. Next up, the P, the praise. You'll see in the email here, I praise Brooke and I praise Riyot. Here's what I say. I watched the pod you did with him. Appreciate the doula shout out 8 minutes in and immediately thought he could add a ton of value to our audience of founders globally. Then I had the concise ask.

1:51 This is literally one sentence. Would love to chat with Ryan and have him as a guest on the 15-minute founder podcast where he could share his story plus inspire our 100k plus global audience of founders to launch or level up their dream business. That's it. Not an essay, one sentence. Thanks again, Arjent. And then a little hack I like is in the PS because everyone reads the PS, you can share a bit more information. In this case, I shared our overview deck because some people are visual, some people like written text. That is it. If you literally follow these best practices, I guarantee you your odds of getting someone to write an introduction for you and the odds of the person on the other end saying, "Yes, I'd like to be introduced will skyrocket." Next up is the PEC formula, which I like to use for partnership intro asks. This stands for personalization, expertise, and call to action. Let me show you an actual example. In this case here, I was looking to get an introduction to this company called Circle. So, you can see I start with the subject line. Same setup each time. Intro to company name for Argin, CEO ofdoula.com. This case, I didn't add YCS20, but so clear from when I sent this to Adam, he knows, oh, I need to introduce Argin to circle. It says it right in the subject line. Then from there, you'll see the personalization. I start off with, "Adam, thank you for offering to pass this note to circle. It's a reminder again of what you're asking them to do."

3:10 Then the expertise. I said, "I'd love to see how we can partner to help founders in their ecosystem." Expertise time. Start a business, get a bank account, handle their bookkeeping and US tax filings by using doula.com. Now, I added a bit more social proof here. I added in how many founders we've helped, how much capital we've raised, who our investors are. But then I finish off with a call to action. This is the key to this email. Looking forward to chatting further to discuss ways in which we could partner, sharing a few options here in advance as well. What I did when I hyperl to here is I linked to our partner page. So I gave them the option to actually click and go learn more, but I didn't throw it into the email. And then I always did my PS statement at the end. Again, PEC here is so powerful because I personalize, I flash some expertise, and I have a call to action all in an email that can be read from someone's phone. Okay, the third type of intro ask is for an investor. But let me tell you the brutal truth. You should not be asking for an introduction to an investor if you don't even have a business yet. US investors will require a CC Corp. And if you're trying to take on any money, you should at least have an LLC. Don't worry, this is what Doula specializes in. Head down below. You can schedule a demo today. we can help you get your business set up.

4:21 Okay, now here's how to ask for an introduction to an investor. This is the most crucial ask because it determines whether or not you might get money from someone. And I like to use the PPC framework, which is pain, partial solution, call to action. Let me again show you an actual example. Now, for the highest stakes introduction of all, an introduction ask to an investor or a top tier VC partner. Your blurb cannot be about you. It has to be about the problem that they are interested in solving now or the space they are looking to invest in. Now this is the founder market signal and it must follow the PPC formula which is pain. What problem does your startup solve? Partial solution, a tiny hint as to how you do it and then call to action, a specific ask to pass along your message. This structure is engineered to fit into a single easyto- read scannable mobile optimized email that demonstrates you understand the friction in the industry to a problem the investor knows well and you have the concise solution to that problem. Let me go through the actual email here that actually got me an introduction. This was to MX Ventures intro to Elizabeth MX for Origin CEO of Doula. Same structure. When I sent this email to Shane, he knows exactly from the subject line, oh yes, I offered Arjent to make an introduction. This is actually an important call out here. You shouldn't just send someone a forable blur like this without getting their opt-in first. So before this, on a separate thread, Shane actually offered to me because I asked in an investor update if I could get an intro. Hey, would you like an introduction? I said, yes, please let me send you this forwardable blurb to make it as easy as possible to help facilitate. That is my advice. Do not just start firing these blurbs off without getting optin from someone via text message or via email.

6:10 Ask if you can get an intro and then tell them, I will send you the PPC blurb or I will send you the portable blurb you can send in this video to make it as easy as possible for you. Let me break down how this email follows the PPC structure. First off, I thank them for passing the note along. The second paragraph talks about the pain. They actually work across payments, rewards, and strategic partnerships. And the pain here is actually seeing if we can put together a founder focused offer within the AMX ecosystem. AMX wants to serve founders. I've highlighted that pain.

6:39 It's hard to find offers. The partial solution here is I said a potential reward or perks partnership with AMX could be a strong channel to support more founders at launch. And then the concise call to action. Thanks again. Would love to connect with Elizabeth if they're open. That's another way to ask for them to pass the note along. PC it's money. It got me the intro. For the partial solution, I first flash some social proof. I say how many founders you've worked with, how much we've raised. But then I say a potential rewards or parks partnership with AMX could be a strong channel to support more founders at launch. I tease the potential solution here just to wet their appetite. And then as always, I dropped a PF statement in. I've really found these work. Now that you know how to craft a high lever, easy to scan and forward blurb to get an investor intro, you need to make sure the rest of your business singles strength, which means you need to have the com. I learned this the hard way. Check out this video from Paul Graham on why you need the com.

7:33 P.S. 100% of the top Y combinator companies share this trait. Watch this video next.