[cliftonmckinney]

Same is true for sales-type emails, I'd say. All too often, the mistake is to "sell" the reader in the initial email. That only works if you're selling something incredibly compelling and easy to understand. Most startups don't have that. The goal, then, is more to pique interest; to make the reader want to learn more.

I've learned this lesson first hand more than once, unfortunately. If you make the entire sales argument in an initial email, then you have no chance to drive the conversation. You're giving the reader an opportunity to make a 0 or 1 decision before you even have the chance to explain a bit of the gray areas. Don't do that, if you can help it.

[rhizome]

It's analogous to job ads that spend the first 500 words describing what the company is trying to do and how much foosball and dinners yadda yadda, the actual job details being haphazardly compiled at the bottom. Narcissistic business model syndrome.