How to Write a Forwardable Email

For a dozen years now, I’ve been sending founders a link to an excellent article on how to write a “forwardable email” from Alex Iskold, a fellow venture capitalist and Managing Partner at 2048 Ventures in New York City. While Alex and I haven’t co-invested yet, we share a number of syndicate partners, as well as some portfolio funds from my time at Cintrifuse, the fund of funds in Cincinnati.

The best way to get an introduction to someone in your network that you have a second-order connection to comes down to three highlights: (1) make it frictionless for the connector, (2) ensure your value to the connection is specific and direct, and (3) ensure there is some type of call to action, contact, sign up, provide insight, and so on.

Introductions from trusted network professionals, especially established, successful founders, funders, and customers who understand your problem, your solution, and your space, add real validity to your offering. As a startup founder, getting an introduction is something you’ll do frequently. Today we’ll discuss forwardable emails, which we want our portfolio companies to practice and be diligent about to lead to the best and fastest possible outcomes.

Why Use a Forwardable Email?

According to Fred Wilson, a long-time VC and partner at Union Square Ventures, double-opt-in is the typical way people expect to be introduced. Even if you know the person on the other end of the introduction, best practice is to ask if they’re interested and have time to connect. So you’ll need to send an email to inquire, and writing this email from scratch can be time-consuming. You’ll need to explain the business, why the connection makes sense, and add a few bits about the founder. Typically this takes a good 20 minutes.

Sending a forwardable email from the founder reduces the friction, and frankly the work, for the connector, because the founder explains the business and the reason for the introduction. All the connector has to do is click Forward, add a sentence or two about their experience with the founder and the company, and send it over.

The structure and style of the forwardable email matter. If it’s not done correctly, it creates more work for the connector, and oftentimes the email simply falls below the fold of their inbox and the connection is never made. Many times I’ve received emails from founders asking for connections to a list of a dozen or more people, which requires me (the connector, who doesn’t know the founder’s needs as well as they do) to do much deeper digging. The point is to avoid copy/paste and having to fix the email. In a nutshell, the forwardable email should be addressed to the final recipient.

A Full Example

Subject: Patrick (Render Capital) <> Cheryl (VC firm), Intro to Startup Founder

Body:

Patrick, thank you for sending this note along to Cheryl and her team.

Cheryl,

[Amazing Founder’s Company] is building a B2B platform to help optimize category spend for omnichannel advertising that drives 10x ROI in the first six months of use. Here is our Demo Day pitch.

We now have over a dozen enterprise clients (like Procter & Gamble, Kroger, and Airbnb) driving omnichannel adoption and attribution from our platform. The Fortune 1000 and middle-market companies on our platform are seeing a significant increase in conversion and attribution based on our AI model.

We’ve been growing across our key metrics at 30% month-over-month and are now expanding through channel partnerships with 84.51° (Kroger’s digital analytics arm) and WPP (one of the largest media buyers in the US).

I’ve followed the great investments in our space for years, and I know we can add value not only as a portfolio company to your investment strategy but also to your other portfolio companies.

Thank you, Startup Founder

When the connector receives this email, they simply click Forward and add a few lines on top. For example:

Cheryl,

Startup Founder won our Render Capital Competition in the fall of last year and has since gone on to scale revenue to over $50k in MRR. She is a deeply passionate and knowledgeable founder. I highly recommend her and the team, and hope you can find the time to connect. Please see more about her business and the ask below.

Looking forward to connecting when I’m in NYC next, Patrick

When Cheryl receives the email, she can easily see it’s an email asking for an introduction, the name of the company is in the subject line, and she can read more about the company and the ask in the founder’s own words. If she accepts, the introducer can be added to the email and the intro is complete. If she declines, the introducer can reply to the original email with a decline.

By following this style, you’ll minimize the friction for the connector and make the introduction process efficient and effective for all parties. Once you’re connected, move the introducer to BCC to spare their inbox. It’s always good practice to circle back with the introducer and let them know how the introduction went, especially if the introducer is one of your investors, as it helps them figure out who might be best to connect you with next.