[nate]

An important takeaway is to "send out any email at all".

Like the time with our first startup in YC W06. Our first client was the result of me just cold emailing a CEO of a startup I saw featured in Wired magazine. "Hey I like what you're doing. Maybe we can find something to do together." Short. Not expecting much. No pitch. Just genuine appreciation and interest in brainstorming a collaboration. And it unexpectedly lead to them signing a 5 figure deal with us which was everything to a tiny startup not making anything :)

Over and over in my career I was amazed at what happened when I just bothered showing up.

[wastedhours]

Cannot agree more with the concept of just showing up. It's remarkable what you can get done by being, friendly, open, honest, just asking, and then delivering.

[xenospn]

"Send out any email at all" but please, do NOT make it look spammy. And don't send the same email to multiple people.

[jjice]

This applies to so many things. It's incredible how far you can get with a simple question. Worst case scenario, you get a "no", and nothing changes. Best case, you can get something like 5K from AWS.

[manigandham]

Showing up is half the battle. Even more true today.