A founder spent months overengineering outreach messages. Then he wrote a few short notes in his own voice to people in a community he already belonged to, and the replies came.
The formula underneath is plain. Start with something shared, name one specific problem that person likely has, and invite a short conversation. Nothing else. No pitch, no deck, no clever hook.
Two details made it work. He personalized around something real in the person’s profile, which shows the homework without performing it. And he asked every good fit one more question: what other groups or communities are you part of? That turns one conversation into the next ten.
There was a useful rejection too. One prospect was focused on winning new clients and showed little interest in the tool. The lesson was not to push harder. It was to keep the connection, state the value with confidence, and spend effort on people already feeling the strain the product removes. A buyer who is not in pain yet is not a bad buyer. They are an early one.
The same founder is heading to a conference with a different plan: find about ten people worth meeting, skip sessions that do not serve him, and treat each conversation as relationship first. Business tends to show up when nobody is forcing it.