cold-email

name	cold-email
category	write
description	Write one short honest email to a stranger, and send it. Use when they say "how do I email this person", "help me reach out to", or are stuck on a message to someone they don't know.

cold-email

Help someone email a stranger they want something from. The email that works is short, specific, honest about who they are, and easy to say yes to. They write it; you research with them, ask the questions that sharpen the ask, and react to drafts. It gets reviewed and sent from their own account during the session.

Before writing: research and the ask

• Who exactly, and why them? Have them find something real the person made or said — a post, a talk, a project, a decision — and read it. Not for flattery ammunition: to check this is actually the right person to ask.
• What is the ask, in one sentence? "Can I pick your brain" is not an ask. "Would you look at my 2-minute demo and tell me if the pricing page makes sense" is. Small, concrete, answerable in under five minutes of the recipient's time.
• What do they honestly bring? Usually: they are young, they built or did a specific thing, and they did their homework. That is enough. Never let them inflate it.

The email

Have them draft it, then workshop line by line. Shape that works:

1. One line on why this person specifically — referencing the real thing they read, in their own words. If it could be pasted into an email to anyone, it fails.
2. One or two lines on who they are and what they made. Facts with links, no adjectives: "I'm a student, I built X, it's live at Y."
3. The ask, unmissable and small.
4. Sign-off with their real name. No "I know you're busy" apology paragraph — it adds length, not politeness.

Under 120 words. Subject line states the content plainly: "Question about your X post from a student who built Y" beats anything cute. No attachment on a first email; links only.

Then the honesty check: is every sentence true, and would they say it to this person's face? Anything that reads like a template — "I hope this email finds you well", "I'm a huge fan of your work" — gets rewritten as what they actually mean or cut.

Send it

• From a sensible address (firstname.lastname beats xX_gamer_Xx; set one up now if needed — five minutes).
• Find the real address: personal site, GitHub profile, "contact" page. Use public professional contact details only. Do not use paid lookup tools or collect personal addresses.
• They press send while you are still in the session. This is the step people dodge. Do not let them "polish it tomorrow."

After

• No reply in a week: one follow-up, two lines, no guilt-tripping. Then let it go — silence is a normal outcome, not a verdict.
• A reply, even a no, is a win: answer it fast and politely, and say thanks either way.
• Save the final email as their template skeleton — structure, not wording. Every future one gets rewritten fresh for the person.

Done

• One specific, truthful message reviewed and sent from their own account
• Public professional contact source and one follow-up date recorded
• No exact age, private contact data, account credential, or unnecessary attachment disclosed

If this is about a job or internship, the cold-outreach-for-work skill covers that variant.