21/52: Please don’t ask to pick my brain… there’s just not that much to spare

#CapitalAtRisk

Above: The Timewaster Letters by Robin Cooper

The 2010s was the decade of the Entrepreneur. The 2020s will be the decade of the Investor.

“Please do not send any further correspondence on this subject”

Frank Hauxwell, British Colour Makers Association (in reply to Robin, above)

---

Welcome to new subscribers…

• 🆓 Free subscribers get a short preview and all free public posts. NB: All posts in 2024 will have paid-subscriber-only parts.

• 💰 Paid subscribers get access to all posts, the angel investor Q&A podcast I did during the 2020 lockdowns, the full archive and can request a video call to ask me anything and talk about the things I don’t share anywhere else.

• 💰💰💰 Founding Members get all paid benefits plus you get to WhatsApp me unlimited questions for discussion, you get a one hour discussion session once a quarter plus a great lunch (most likely in London) on me.

---

Too much too soon

Like many of you, I get emails from all sorts of people asking for advice and help. And of course I’m in the business of advising and helping people (!) so I read the message, look at their online profile, and (unless it’s clear they’re a nutcase) I reply to everyone.

For the investment pitches I say that I have my #1 Rule (read more on that here) so I can’t invest in the current round and, while I don’t want to get in the way, I’m happy to hear more and get to know them. For most people I point them to 9others in case that ever looks useful hoping that they’ll want to come along.

This week I had the umpteenth person want to ‘pick my brain’. It’s just such a bad approach I thought I’d share why in case it’s useful to you or to anyone you know.

What to do instead

I wrote back to the most recent person just this week. They’re a student, had done some hustling and wanted to get more experience in a fast-paced startup.

I encouraged them to keep doing what they were doing — reaching out to people but:

• Keep the message super short — people don't want to read more than a line or two of preamble;

• If you’re going to ask for something ask something specific that needs a yes or no answer, and try to make it a no-brainer to say yes;

• The objective should really be to get a conversation going — a couple of messages back & forth;

• Arranging coffee or a call is a hassle in amongst people's day jobs so save this until some rapport has been built;

• Perhaps better than asking for something is to think what you can contribute — be helpful without the expectation of anything in return. If you’re helpful to 100 startups then it would be a bit weird if nothing came from it…

• Maybe your message should actually be a simple thank you letter;

• If you’re looking for a job don't attach your CV — it's just extra friction — again, save this for later when the person is more engaged and will really want to read more about you.

People are generally helpful but always short on time, and if it looks like something will take too much effort, thinking about or figuring out they'll just not respond.

There’s a better way