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Use these 4 forms of content for better networking

Author

Kyle Thomas
October 07, 2023

JOB SEARCH STRATEGY
Create Killer Cold Outreach From Content.

Cold outreach is one of the most powerful strategies in your startup job hunt, but most people suck at it. The most common questions I hear are:

  1. I don’t know who to reach out to

  2. I don’t know what to say when I reach out

I’ve used content as a secret weapon to get meetings with executives, entrepreneurs, founders, authors, and world-class keynote speakers.

I’ll show you how to use content to answer both questions to increase your response rate and, as a result, land more offers.

What Content Do I Consume?

Exposure to good information is the birthplace of all good ideas. Good information in, good ideas out. This is especially true in your startup job search, where you might not know:

  • Who the up-and-coming startups are

  • Who just got a big check from a top VC

  • Who is growing fast

  • Who has a founder uniquely positioned to win

  • Who has a killer product about to take the world by storm

So, it pays to stay on top of the industry. The best way I have found to do that is to:

  • Listen to podcasts

  • Read newsletters

  • Follow content creators

  • Follow funding announcements

  • Attend live events

Here’s how you can use those to create reasons to reach out and create more compelling messaging.

How to use content as an outreach engine.

Every new piece of information, every new person, and every new company you find interesting is an opportunity to send outreach.

  • 🔍 Identify Companies: Startup content will highlight companies you may not have heard of. You can add these companies to your target company list.

  • 👤 Identify Individuals: It could be the host, a guest, or a person who is the subject of discussion. Regardless, you’ll learn about new people, and those people can become new outreach targets. You can find mentors who have walked the path, people at target companies, and others who will be influential in your job search.

  • ⚙️ Identify Tactics: People or companies are featured on a podcast because they either did something right or wrong. Both are useful. You can learn what to do or not do in your job search.

You can send a message like this:

Hi Taylor, I saw your recent interview on the 20VC podcast, and your story about being discouraged before landing your role at Stripe hit home. My name is Kyle Thomas, and I was an early Uber employee. I’m now looking for my next killer startup operator role. Are you open to speaking for 15 min? I’d love to ask you about what you found most helpful when landing your Stripe role. I love everything you do to empower the next generation of startup operators. Cheers!

The template:

Hi [FIRSTNAME], I saw [SOMETHING THAT SHOWS YOU KNOW WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY DO]. My name is [YOUR NAME], and I [BUILD A CONNECTION BETWEEN YOU AND THEM]. I'm curious if [YOUR ASK]. I love [A PERSONAL CONNECTION TO WHAT THEY OR THEIR COMPANY DO]. Cheers!

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

  • New Target Company: You hear or read about a cool company. You look up the company to see if they have any open roles. You find one you like. You message the hiring manager, recruiter, cross-functional stakeholders, team members, and founders, highlighting the awesome episode and your relevant highlight reel of accomplishments.

  • Inspiring Mentor: You listen to an interview with a person who was an early employee at Uber. You want to land a role at the next Uber. You identify the areas of their story that resonate most with you. You reach out to the podcast guest, letting them know their story's impact and asking them for tips on the top 3 things they did to land their Uber role.

  • Standout Tactic: You hear a story about how a person used a custom website to land interviews at AirBnb, Uber, LinkedIn, and Dropbox. You take a similar tactic and create a mock-up of a product opportunity you think a target company should pursue. You share this value deliverable in your messages to people at the company.

  • Outreach Target: You see a top VC firm just invested in a target company. You look at the VC’s website, find the lead partner and head of talent in the deal, email them, congratulate them on the investment, share your relevant background, and how you hope to help the team.

Podcasts.

🎙You know one person who won’t shut up about all the podcasts they listen to. Maybe you are that person. But podcasts are incredible resources for your job search.

Podcasts allow you to get inside the mind of the host or the guest to understand how they approach problems, see opportunities, and have handled similar situations. They can provide a deep-dive analysis of a subject, company, industry, or job function. They can also keep you up to date on everything happening in your industry.

Due to their long-form nature, they are treasure troves of information, and that information can be repackaged in your outreach.

WHERE DO YOU FIND THEM?

PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

Hey Claire, I listened to your recent interview on Lenny’s Podcast. Wow! The stories about early Figma were incredible. You all were hustlers. One part of the story I didn’t hear was how you learned about Figma and landed the role. Would you be open to a 15 to 30-minute call where I could ask you some details and what you would recommend to people looking to land a similar role? I’m an avid Figma flowchart freak. Cheers!

Real World Story: I heard an interview with an NYC based entrepreneur who started an education business he sold for $7M. I was starting a course business myself and am also based in NYC. I crafted a video message describing the impact of the story he told, shared my story, and asked to buy him coffee. We met up, spent 3 hours talking about business and he’s now a major mentor.

Newsletters.

✍️ One way to stay on top of everything is to set up Google alerts for target companies. That requires you to know what alerts to set. Newsletters can do that work for you. Experts are constantly searching for stories to report, companies in the news, and trends to share, all of which you can leverage as an excuse to reach out.

WHERE DO YOU FIND THEM?

NEWSLETTER RECOMMENDATIONS

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

Hey Sarah, I saw the recent announcement that WhatNot is launching tipping soon. At Uber, introducing tipping was a significant turning point in the company. Some good, some bad. If you’re open to it, I’d love to jump on a quick call and share what happened. If you're open to sharing, I’m also curious what ops looks like in Whatnot. Cheers!

Helpful Tip: It’s easy to subscribe to a ton of newsletters and get inbox overwhelm. Monitor the ones you read regularly. Unsubscribe from the ones you don’t find useful or that you never read. Keep a document where you paste relevant articles, company names, and target people to reach out to.

Content Creators.

🎥 Not everyone produces content online, but those who do make it easier for you to contact them. It’s not a sure bet, but you can engage with their content early and often. Once you have engaged with their content, send them a DM letting them know which specific content resonated, provide anything of value you can offer, and then make a specific ask of 15 to 30 min of their time.

WHERE DO YOU FIND THEM?

  • Follow people you have heard on podcasts or read about in newsletters

  • Search for top creators in your industry on sites like Favikon

  • Search top [insert your job function here] creators

STARTUP CREATOR RECOMMENDATIONS

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

Hey Tom, your post yesterday about avoiding burnout was all too real. I honestly felt like I was having a heart attack in my last role and had to take a step back. What you’re building at Mindbloom is going to change people’s lives. I saw an opening for a Senior Strategy and Operations Manager which I think my background in scaling Uber would be perfect for. Would you be open to speaking about how I might be able to help the team?

Real World Story: I listened to a podcast with Charlie Hoehn talking about how he landed his job as Tim Ferriss’ first employee and how he created a job search coaching program. I followed Charlie on LinkedIn. I engaged with some of Charlie’s content, offered to review a pdf he was going to use for a new program, shared my story, and an ask to get on a call to ask him some specific questions. We jumped on an hour long call where he gave me incredible information.

Reply this email with your favorite startup or tech content creators.

Funding Announcements.

💰Funding announcements are a great catalyst to use for cold outreach to members of the team. For one thing, it means the company just secured more money they can use to hire… YOU. There is always a lot of internal hype around fundraising, and people are excited to see their company being recognized. So take advantage of that excitement and mention it in your outreach. Congratulate the person on the raise and let them know how exciting it is for the future of the company and the impact they’ll have on their customers.

WHERE DO YOU FIND THEM?

  • Follow VC firms, VC partners, and startups on LinkedIn and Twitter.

  • Use publications like Pitchbook and Crunchbase which have a business model of providing fundraising data.

FUNDRAISING ANNOUNCEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

Hey Sarah, congratulations on the recent $125M Series C raise! I know all the work that goes into preparing to push everything over the finish line, so big claps to you and the team. I saw an opening for a Senior Manager, Revenue Operations that looked very similar to my role at Uber, where I led driver funnel optimization and decreased churn by 75%. Would you be open to a 30-minute call where I could ask about what you’re looking for in the role?

Helpful Tip: This is actually a great way to expand your network when you’re not looking for a job. If you see an interesting company just raised money, reach out to someone at the company in a similar role to yourself. Congratulate them and ask them to chat about what your role looks like in their company. Offer to share tips, tactics, playbooks, templates that might be useful to them in their role.

Live Events.

🎉 Live events provide another fantastic touchpoint for outreach. You just watched this person speak, or maybe they were mentioned by another speaker at a conference. Maybe the person wasn’t a speaker, but you saw on social media they attended the same event. Utilize that as a reason to reach out. Anything to create a sense of familiarity is cold outreach gold.

WHERE DO YOU FIND THEM?

  • Events will be mentioned in the newsletters and podcasts you’re consuming.

  • Search for top tech and startup events near me

LIVE EVENT RECOMMENDATIONS

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

Hey Brandy, I just got back from South by Southwest and had the opportunity to see Miranda’s amazing speech about building a brand that inspires. It was inspiring to hear about the journey you and the KORA team have been on over the last two years. I saw an opening for an operations role on the team similar to my role at Uber. I ended up scaling the business in New Jersey and Connecticut from zero to hundreds of thousands of trips per day and would love to share how I think that could apply to KORA. Would you be available on Tuesday at 3 pm ET?

Helpful Tip: Don’t have money to purchase a ticket? You can often get a front row seat at the conference by volunteering. I know multiple people who have volunteered at tech conferences and had it lead to incredible opportunities including new jobs at top companies.

OPEN ROLES
Who’s Hiring?

  • What They Do: Electric Hydrogen is on a mission to create affordable and highly efficient systems that produce clean hydrogen gas without using any fossil fuels. They use inexpensive, renewable electricity to make this clean hydrogen, which helps to reduce pollution from various industries and decreases our reliance on fossil fuels. In doing so, they offer their customers a more environmentally friendly gas option and help to significantly cut down on large-scale industrial waste.

  • Total Raised To Date: $601.86M

  • Last Raise Date: October 3, 2023

  • Recent Raise: $380M

  • Series: C

  • Number of Employees: 275

  • Open Roles? Yes

  • Pitchbook Success Probability: 98% Success

  • What They Do: Metropolis develops a special computer system, using what's known as "computer vision" (where computers are taught to "see" and understand visual information), to update and improve parking solutions and help pave the way for future transportation methods. Their system creates a modern, flexible platform that helps increase earnings and cut down on costs, making operations smoother and more profitable for property partners. This means that owners of these properties can offer up-to-date parking features and various transportation options, enhancing both the value and functionality of their assets.

  • Total Raised To Date: $1.93B

  • Last Raise Date: October 5, 2023

  • Recent Raise: $1.70B

  • Series: C

  • Number of Employees: 2000

  • Open Roles? Yes

  • Pitchbook Success Probability: 98% Success

  • What They Do: Loop has created a payment platform specifically for the logistics (or transportation) industry, which aims to automate and streamline the entire process from invoicing to payment. Using artificial intelligence, their platform turns all shipping documents into digital format, checks invoices in real-time, and makes the payment process smoother. This helps businesses cut down on costs and manage their available funds more effectively.

  • Total Raised To Date: $95.75

  • Last Raise Date: October 03, 2023

  • Recent Raise: $43M

  • Series: B

  • Number of Employees: 47

  • Open Roles? Yes

  • Pitchbook Success Probability: 98% Success

So there you have it, how I keep a never-ending list of opportunities for relevant cold outreach using the content I consume on a daily basis.

Remember, while the reason for the outreach might be triggered by a piece of content you consume, to be effective it must be backed by genuine interest.

The more cold outreach you send, the better you get, and in the job search quality + quantity wins.

Let’s become career champions together 🏆

Kyle

SHARE THE WEALTH
Don’t Job Hunt Alone!

Share this newsletter with anyone you know who is currently looking for that next career-accelerating startup opportunity so you can win together.

See you again next week!