Cold emails that worked for me and why

The dreaded cold email becomes a lot more fun when you like who you’re sending it to.

Cold email is typically a volume game, but for me, it’s more of a precision play. If I’m writing you, it’s very likely I am *just* writing YOU and not sending the same note to a million other people.

I’ve been sending cold emails since forever. At least since I was a teenager, when I got my first AOL account and I needed to rack up experiences and accolades for my college applications.

I’ve used them on and off in business. Some of my favorite clients, collaborators and sponsors have come from thoughtful cold outreach.

One of the best cold emails that worked for me was a 2015 note to Syd Mead.

Syd is famous for being the concept artist behind Blade Runner, Tron, Aliens and a bunch of other cool stuff.

I wanted to interview him. So I found his website and emailed him.

A few months later, I was sitting in his living room in Pasadena, California. Syd himself walking me through his artistic process and showing me around his studio.

Hands down one of the most pinch me moments in my life.

All because of a cold email.

Still—cold emails are stressful. They’re wildcards. Who should you send them to? Which scenarios are they right for? What makes them work?

I’m no expert in cold email selling, but I dabble in the art form quite a bit so I wanted to share some of what’s worked for me.

I gathered up 10+ examples from my inbox on everything from getting client work to booking sponsors to finding collaborators, and even just meeting people I wanted to meet.

Find the emails, along with my take on why they worked, below!

In this post:

• Emails that got me on someone’s radar (4 examples)
• Emails to team up with someone (2 examples)
• Emails to book a sponsorship (2 examples)
• Emails to get clients and members (2 examples)
• The email that sold my newsletter (1 example)
• The email that got me the Syd Mead interview