This Millionaire CEO Says E-Mailing Strangers Can Help You Get Ahead

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Katia Beauchamp is the co-founder of Birchbox, a subscription-box model that sends out monthly sample-size beauty products to its subscribers. The company has more than one million subscribers.

Beauchamp and cofounder Hayley Barna Iack, had no experience in technology nor beauty when she co-founded the company.
“My co-founder and I, neither of us were in tech. Neither of us were in beauty,” said the CEO, speaking at a recent Bloomberg Cornell Tech event.

So how did they become successful? “I cold-emailed every CEO of the beauty industry you can imagine,” Beauchamp says. “And it worked.”

The company has raised more than $86 million in venture capital.

Beauchamp has a recipe for the perfect cold e-mail and here it is:

1. Have a “very compelling subject line.” The CEO used “Reimagining beauty retail online,” according to Inc, and credits the snappy line to the high response rate.

2. Make sure the email is short enough that a person can read it without having to scroll down on his or her smartphone. The less time and energy it takes to read it, the better.

3. Don’t attach a business plan. That’s asking too much. Instead, include a “one-pager” with more information.

4. “Ask for something that’s pretty hard to say ‘no’ to,” she says. Beauchamp did not ask CEOs for big favors or free products. Instead she asked, “Do you have five minutes to give me advice?”