How to Write Cold Emails

Reach anyone, for any reason

Boops

CONTEXT

I saw an excellent tweet from my friend Liam, that cold emailing is the fastest way to get ahead as a young person – I 100% agree.

I've sent hundreds of cold emails throughout my undergrad. In fact, every job I had during undergrad has come from a cold email. Cold emailing has opened so many doors for me, that I wouldn't have thought possible. This article is my way of giving back to anyone who wants to break down any barriers and do cool shit.

WHY COLD EMAIL?

Most of us know the concept of six degrees of separation, the idea that you can reach anyone through 6 continuous connections.

In 2026, I don’t think that holds anymore. Today, almost anyone is just one or two degrees away, at most.

Thanks to the internet, everyone's contact information is widely available, often for free. If you can easily find Jeff Bezos’ email address, what’s stopping you from reaching out to him?

INTRODUCTION

The best cold emailers I've met were also great salespeople; that's not a coincidence. Every cold outbound message includes an ask, which means you're always selling something, whether it's a product, an idea, or yourself. Therefore, the rules of sales apply:

EMAIL WALKTHROUGH

I don't have a cold email template – every email I send requires too much personalization and customization. As a result, instead of creating a formula, I've created a framework.

These are general guidelines for what to include in your cold emails, not rules to follow blindly.

When you're first learning to cold email, it's a science. But to get from good to great, it becomes an art.

Acquired Queen's Commerce Student Founder Interested in [Company Name]

Hi [Name],

My name is Evan, I'm in my 3rd year of Queen's Commerce, passionate about software and startups.

A couple of months ago, I read an article that [Company Name] promoted you to [Position] (congrats!!). It's amazing to hear that a Canadian and Ivey grad has been a driving force at [Company Name]. :)

Recently, I took a gap year after Taiv (YC W20) acquired my startup. During that time, I led an engineering team to build internal tooling for their sales and ops teams, where I found my passion for software engineering.

I saw that [Company Name] Toronto office opened a Summer SWE Internship, and I would love to be in consideration. I deeply resonate with [Company Name] fast-paced and high-agency culture.

If possible, I'd greatly appreciate an introduction to someone on [Company Name]'s talent team to see if I'd be a good fit. I've attached my resume in case it's helpful.

Thank you so much for your time – I truly appreciate it!

Best,
Evan

This is a real email I've sent that landed me an internship. Why did it work? Let's break down its 3 main sections.

BUILDING RAPPORT

Acquired Queen's Commerce Student Founder Interested in [Company Name]

Hi [Name],

My name is Evan, I'm in my 3rd year of Queen's Commerce, passionate about software and startups.

A couple of months ago, I read an article that [Company Name] promoted you to [Position] (congrats!!). It's amazing to hear that a Canadian and Ivey grad has been a driving force at [Company Name]. :)

Starting from the subject line, this is where you want to start building rapport by finding commonality between you and the receipent. Treat building rapport as trying to convert your cold email into a warm email as fast as possible. This can come in many forms:

Acquired Queen's Commerce Student Founder Interested in [Company Name]

Here, I highlighted that I’m a Queen’s Commerce student and an acquired founder. The recipient was an Ivey grad (a rival business school) and a former founder, giving us two clear points of common ground.

Your subject line is the first thing the receipient will see, usually as a push notification on their phone. Given this, keep your subject line easy to scan at a glance and compelling enough that they actually open your email.

Hi [Name],

My name is Evan, I'm in my 3rd year of Queen's Commerce, passionate about software and startups.

Introduce yourself:

A couple of months ago, I read an article that [Company Name] promoted you to [Position] (congrats!!). It's amazing to hear that a Canadian and Ivey grad has been a driving force at [Company Name]. :)

Expand on the commonality you used in your subject line and be authentic. If you genuinely think something they did is impressive, tell them!

VALUE PROPOSITION

Recently, I took a gap year after Taiv (YC W20) acquired my startup. During that time, I led an engineering team to build internal tooling for their sales and ops teams, where I found my passion for software engineering.

Now, you've got their attention! But before going straight to your "ask", give them a reason to say "yes". This is where your value proposition comes in.

Your value proposition should be tailored in two ways:

  1. To your ask
  2. To the recipient

You need to show that objectively speaking, you’re already a strong fit for what you’re asking for. For a software engineering role, maybe highlight a project with XX,XXX users. For a VC pitch, share metrics that make your startup stand out from everyone else's.

The other half is tailoring to the person you're emailing. People find different experiences valuable depending on their position and background. A frontend recruiter will likely value your years of React experience. But an engineering manager who was a competitive swimmer might find your D1 swimming experience more compelling.

In this case, I highlighted my startup's acquisition and experience building internal tooling from the ground up to showcase my entrepreneurial spirit (something this specific person would find valuable) and technical ability, demonstrating that I'm a good fit for the role.

THE ASK

I saw that [Company Name] Toronto office opened a Summer SWE Internship, and I would love to be in consideration. I deeply resonate with [Company Name] fast-paced and high-agency culture.

If possible, I'd greatly appreciate an introduction to someone on [Company Name]'s talent team to see if I'd be a good fit. I've attached my resume in case it's helpful.

Be explicit with what you're asking for. Personally, I always have my ask as its own paragraph to avoid any ambiguity.

Minimize their time commitment. Chances are the person you're emailing has a packed schedule. In this case, I'm asking for an introduction, not an interview or a job. It only takes them 15 seconds to forward my email to the right person.

If you're requesting a coffee chat, ask for 15 minutes, not 30. Once you're on the call, then you can see if they have more time to go over or if you can schedule a longer call.

When reaching out cold, you don’t have enough of a relationship to make a big ask upfront. Start small, build the relationship, and follow up with a warm email or message.

Also, note that I've attached my resume upfront. Any time your asking for a job, their next step will likely be to request it.

Reduce any points of friction and back-and-forth. Getting them to respond to your initial email is hard enough, but every additional step decreases your chances of them responding/following up to your ask.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

FINAL THOUGHTS

I want to re-iterate that this isn't a formula, it's a framework. Use it as a guide, not a strict set of rules.

Many of my emails deviate from the structure I've shown above. For example, if I'm emailing someone who's extremely busy, I might highlight common ground before introducing myself to increase the odds they keep reading:

Hi [Name],

A couple of months ago, I read an article that [Company Name] promoted you to [Position] (congrats!!). It's amazing to hear that a Canadian and Ivey grad has been a driving force at [Company Name]. :)

My name is Evan, I'm in my 3rd year of Queen's Commerce, passionate about software and startups.

Experiment and A/B test. Once you understand the basics of cold emailing, start tweaking your structure. Figure out what works best for each type of ask and recipient.

I hope you found this guide helpful. If you end up finding any success with cold emailing, feel free to shoot me a (cold) email – I'd love to hear about it :).

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