Write a cold outreach email

The prompt that stops a model writing the same cold email everyone else sends: a named recipient, a named trigger, and a hard length cap.

When to use it

Outreach that has to survive a recipient who deletes nineteen of these a week unread.

What it prevents

The template that reads like a template. The named trigger in the first sentence is the entire prompt — without it the model writes something that could have been sent to anyone, which is exactly how it will be treated.

The prompt

Write a cold outreach email to the head of engineering at a mid-size SaaS company.

### Audience
Someone who receives twenty of these a week and deletes nineteen unread.

### Context
We noticed their public status page shows three deploy-related incidents this quarter. Our product catches config drift before deploy.

### Requirements
- Length: Under 120 words, including the sign-off.
- Output format: A subject line, then the email body as plain paragraphs.
- Reference the specific trigger in the first sentence.
- Ask for a reply, not a meeting.
- Avoid: flattery, "I hope this email finds you well", and any mention of synergy.

### Example of the wanted output
Subject: your three deploy incidents this quarter
I saw the incidents on your status page...

Why each part is there

Every section of that prompt exists because a specific failure happens without it. These are the checks it passes, and what each one is protecting you from:

• States a concrete task — why this matters
• Avoids vague language — why this matters
• Specifies an output format — why this matters
• Gives context or audience — why this matters
• Avoids dangling references — why this matters
• Includes an example — why this matters
• Separates data from instructions — why this matters
• Avoids over-aggressive phrasing — why this matters
• Defines what a good answer looks like — why this matters

How to adapt this one

Change the recipient and the trigger — the trigger is the entire email. A public incident, a recent hire, a job posting, a conference talk: something that proves you are writing to them and not to a list. Keep the length cap brutal, and keep “ask for a reply, not a meeting”; the smaller ask is what gets answered.

The mistake this prompt avoids

Opening with yourself. “We’re a Series A startup building…” is the first sentence of every deleted email. The recipient does not care who you are until you have proven you know something about them. The named trigger has to come first, in the first line, or the rest is never read.

A variation

Following up? Drop the introduction entirely and lead with a single new piece of information — a shipped feature, a fresh incident, a relevant result. A follow-up that just says “bumping this” teaches the recipient that ignoring you works. Give them something they did not have last time.

Check your version

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