The Cold Email that started a $500m - $1B Company

[Mathuin]

I've taxed this from a post on r/Entrepreneur by u/harrydry that I hadn't seen posted here after a quick search.

**Post begins**
Back in February 2010, Jason Cohen had an idea: A new Wordpress hosting service, that would help with speed, scalability, and security.

He now faced the challenge that everyone with a startup idea once faces: How do I get my first customers?

Jason's approach was simple and brilliant. He logged onto Linkedin, searched for Wordpress consultants and sent them the following email:

Hey
I’m the founder of this new Wordpress hosting company. It’s supposed to be designed for folks like you, so I’d love to talk to you about any pain you’ve got with Wordpress and get some feedback on my idea.
Now, I know your time is valuable. You’re a consultant. I absolutely do not want you to feel like I’m trying to grab time from you. So I’m very happy to pay whatever you think is fair for an hour of your time. Even if that’s more than your normal hourly rate because I appreciate this is a weird one off thing.
- Jason

THE RESULTS

Jason sent 40 of these emails. 100% agreed to talk to him on the phone. Not one asked for any money. And after talking to him 30 verbally agreed to pay $50 / mo once the product was ready.

To quote Jason:

Before I had a company name, before I had a powerpoint presentation, before I had any employees, before I had a server, before I had anything, I already had 30 customers willing to pay.

WHY DOES IT WORK SO WELL?

Well, Jason's email is a masterclass. He puts himself in the consultant's shoes, shows respect for their time, and even calls out the elephant in the room - that the majority of these emails are just people trying to grab your time. Oh, and it's an advice email.

But undoubtedly, the killer line is Jason offering to pay whatever you think is fair for an hour of your time. Even if it’s more than your normal rate. Why?

1. It signals that he's not a time-waster.
2. It signals that he is fair to do business with.
3. And it's flattering (that he's willing to pay for your expertise).

These three reasons coalesce and the default response is: Sure, let’s chat. You seem like a decent guy, so don’t worry about the money!

SUMMARY

Today, WP Engine is a business with 500+ employees making more than $100M / yr.

I bet they've still got people logging onto Linkedin, finding Wordpress consultants, sending similar emails, just like Jason did nine years earlier.

**POST ENDS**

I thought this would be good to share as it demonstrates a number of the principles that MJ talks about in his books, re chasing needs, pain points service deficiencies, growing your company ethically and honestly and not worrying about action fakes like PowerPoints etc. Jason also has a number of excellent interviews on YouTube.

 

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[Empires]

I use WP Engine for my web hosting and they have some of the best customer service I've ever experience. Extremely knowledgeable from even a technical standpoint. They don't just refer you to some article and say goodluck.

I've never even considered a different web host since I started with them.

 

[Mathuin]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWXBWLTcmn4&t=63s


One of Jason Cohens great interviews.

 

[ronlugo]

I've taxed this from a post on r/Entrepreneur by u/harrydry that I hadn't seen posted here after a quick search.

**Post begins**
Back in February 2010, Jason Cohen had an idea: A new Wordpress hosting service, that would help with speed, scalability, and security.

He now faced the challenge that everyone with a startup idea once faces: How do I get my first customers?

Jason's approach was simple and brilliant. He logged onto Linkedin, searched for Wordpress consultants and sent them the following email:


THE RESULTS

Jason sent 40 of these emails. 100% agreed to talk to him on the phone. Not one asked for any money. And after talking to him 30 verbally agreed to pay $50 / mo once the product was ready.

To quote Jason:


WHY DOES IT WORK SO WELL?

Well, Jason's email is a masterclass. He puts himself in the consultant's shoes, shows respect for their time, and even calls out the elephant in the room - that the majority of these emails are just people trying to grab your time. Oh, and it's an advice email.

But undoubtedly, the killer line is Jason offering to pay whatever you think is fair for an hour of your time. Even if it’s more than your normal rate. Why?

1. It signals that he's not a time-waster.
2. It signals that he is fair to do business with.
3. And it's flattering (that he's willing to pay for your expertise).

These three reasons coalesce and the default response is: Sure, let’s chat. You seem like a decent guy, so don’t worry about the money!

SUMMARY

Today, WP Engine is a business with 500+ employees making more than $100M / yr.

I bet they've still got people logging onto Linkedin, finding Wordpress consultants, sending similar emails, just like Jason did nine years earlier.

**POST ENDS**

I thought this would be good to share as it demonstrates a number of the principles that MJ talks about in his books, re chasing needs, pain points service deficiencies, growing your company ethically and honestly and not worrying about action fakes like PowerPoints etc. Jason also has a number of excellent interviews on YouTube.

Thanks for sharing. Good stuff here.

 

[salva101]

Another masterpiece from Jason Cohen:

View: https://youtu.be/otbnC2zE2rw

 

[Raja]

Thanks for posting

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Bump, some good stuff and vids.

 

[RadicalShift]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWXBWLTcmn4&t=63s


One of Jason Cohens great interviews.

Thanks for the share. I'll have to check this out. Becker's a really smart dude as well, so I'm sure there's tons of gold here.

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

All of his interviews are great.

Here's another good one:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn5MbZoSRNM

 

[Paul David]

I've taxed this from a post on r/Entrepreneur by u/harrydry that I hadn't seen posted here after a quick search.

**Post begins**
Back in February 2010, Jason Cohen had an idea: A new Wordpress hosting service, that would help with speed, scalability, and security.

He now faced the challenge that everyone with a startup idea once faces: How do I get my first customers?

Jason's approach was simple and brilliant. He logged onto Linkedin, searched for Wordpress consultants and sent them the following email:


THE RESULTS

Jason sent 40 of these emails. 100% agreed to talk to him on the phone. Not one asked for any money. And after talking to him 30 verbally agreed to pay $50 / mo once the product was ready.

To quote Jason:


WHY DOES IT WORK SO WELL?

Well, Jason's email is a masterclass. He puts himself in the consultant's shoes, shows respect for their time, and even calls out the elephant in the room - that the majority of these emails are just people trying to grab your time. Oh, and it's an advice email.

But undoubtedly, the killer line is Jason offering to pay whatever you think is fair for an hour of your time. Even if it’s more than your normal rate. Why?

1. It signals that he's not a time-waster.
2. It signals that he is fair to do business with.
3. And it's flattering (that he's willing to pay for your expertise).

These three reasons coalesce and the default response is: Sure, let’s chat. You seem like a decent guy, so don’t worry about the money!

SUMMARY

Today, WP Engine is a business with 500+ employees making more than $100M / yr.

I bet they've still got people logging onto Linkedin, finding Wordpress consultants, sending similar emails, just like Jason did nine years earlier.

**POST ENDS**

I thought this would be good to share as it demonstrates a number of the principles that MJ talks about in his books, re chasing needs, pain points service deficiencies, growing your company ethically and honestly and not worrying about action fakes like PowerPoints etc. Jason also has a number of excellent interviews on YouTube.

Great cold email!

 

[SPM_ENT]

I've taxed this from a post on r/Entrepreneur by u/harrydry that I hadn't seen posted here after a quick search.

**Post begins**
Back in February 2010, Jason Cohen had an idea: A new Wordpress hosting service, that would help with speed, scalability, and security.

He now faced the challenge that everyone with a startup idea once faces: How do I get my first customers?

Jason's approach was simple and brilliant. He logged onto Linkedin, searched for Wordpress consultants and sent them the following email:


THE RESULTS

Jason sent 40 of these emails. 100% agreed to talk to him on the phone. Not one asked for any money. And after talking to him 30 verbally agreed to pay $50 / mo once the product was ready.

To quote Jason:


WHY DOES IT WORK SO WELL?

Well, Jason's email is a masterclass. He puts himself in the consultant's shoes, shows respect for their time, and even calls out the elephant in the room - that the majority of these emails are just people trying to grab your time. Oh, and it's an advice email.

But undoubtedly, the killer line is Jason offering to pay whatever you think is fair for an hour of your time. Even if it’s more than your normal rate. Why?

1. It signals that he's not a time-waster.
2. It signals that he is fair to do business with.
3. And it's flattering (that he's willing to pay for your expertise).

These three reasons coalesce and the default response is: Sure, let’s chat. You seem like a decent guy, so don’t worry about the money!

SUMMARY

Today, WP Engine is a business with 500+ employees making more than $100M / yr.

I bet they've still got people logging onto Linkedin, finding Wordpress consultants, sending similar emails, just like Jason did nine years earlier.

**POST ENDS**

I thought this would be good to share as it demonstrates a number of the principles that MJ talks about in his books, re chasing needs, pain points service deficiencies, growing your company ethically and honestly and not worrying about action fakes like PowerPoints etc. Jason also has a number of excellent interviews on YouTube.

Thank you for posting and the summary about it! Glad I found it. This should work extremely well in B2B and I'm going to share it with my guys.

Offering to pay for their time is genius. It seems like they feel that you recognize their importance and most business owners like to show off their knowledge that they figured it out and can tell you what to do. It allows them to be interested so you can further expand on the USP of your business. It should get them way more involved than a sales call where they're trying to get off the phone. Once they feel involved they are more likely to buy. You're not selling them with this technique you're asking them what they need and then making it work around them (if that's possible for your business) then why wouldn't they buy, it's their idea!

Lastly, it just feels honest, "Hey we just want your opinion on how our service could be better in order to improve our company." If you improve and get the feedback from the clients you want your service offering should be unstoppable.

 

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[Paul David]

Thank you for posting and the summary about it! Glad I found it. This should work extremely well in B2B and I'm going to share it with my guys.

Offering to pay for their time is genius. It seems like they feel that you recognize their importance and most business owners like to show off their knowledge that they figured it out and can tell you what to do. It allows them to be interested so you can further expand on the USP of your business. It should get them way more involved than a sales call where they're trying to get off the phone. Once they feel involved they are more likely to buy. You're not selling them with this technique you're asking them what they need and then making it work around them (if that's possible for your business) then why wouldn't they buy, it's their idea!

Lastly, it just feels honest, "Hey we just want your opinion on how our service could be better in order to improve our company." If you improve and get the feedback from the clients you want your service offering should be unstoppable.

Thank you for posting and the summary about it! Glad I found it. This should work extremely well in B2B and I'm going to share it with my guys.

Offering to pay for their time is genius. It seems like they feel that you recognize their importance and most business owners like to show off their knowledge that they figured it out and can tell you what to do. It allows them to be interested so you can further expand on the USP of your business. It should get them way more involved than a sales call where they're trying to get off the phone. Once they feel involved they are more likely to buy. You're not selling them with this technique you're asking them what they need and then making it work around them (if that's possible for your business) then why wouldn't they buy, it's their idea!

Lastly, it just feels honest, "Hey we just want your opinion on how our service could be better in order to improve our company." If you improve and get the feedback from the clients you want your service offering should be unstoppable.

Do you think it only works well because you’re asking for their opinion rather than testing something?

Say you already have an app or product and you need people to test it for free would still use the same angle as Jason and then mention the app/product further down the conversation?

 

[SPM_ENT]

Do you think it only works well because you’re asking for their opinion rather than testing something?

Say you already have an app or product and you need people to test it for free would still use the same angle as Jason and then mention the app/product further down the conversation?

I can really only speak from my experience in B2B. As a business owner, if someone asked me for my opinion to help them VS test something out, I would only be willing to do the former and I wouldn't want to get paid... Unless it was a service that could benefit me. I suppose then I might be willing to test but that means I already understand the benefits of the service and find that it might be useful. This email seems like it's before that explanation of benefits so to me the "opinion ask" would still be the way to go.

How about you, what do you think?

 

[Paul David]

I can really only speak from my experience in B2B. As a business owner, if someone asked me for my opinion to help them VS test something out, I would only be willing to do the former and I wouldn't want to get paid... Unless it was a service that could benefit me. I suppose then I might be willing to test but that means I already understand the benefits of the service and find that it might be useful. This email seems like it's before that explanation of benefits so to me the "opinion ask" would still be the way to go.

How about you, what do you think?

Yes I agree.

I’ve been a business owner on the other side of receiving cold emails and calls and I usually tend to ignore them.

For a while now I’ve been trying to come up with a cold email that doesn’t sound salesy or spammy even though I do offer a free trial of my saas.

The idea was to come up with something that makes someone feel silly saying no to.

I think that email may do that although it may be worth a split test versus explaining the benefits, asking them to trial and still offering to pay them for their time.

 

[SPM_ENT]

Yes I agree.

I’ve been a business owner on the other side of receiving cold emails and calls and I usually tend to ignore them.

For a while now I’ve been trying to come up with a cold email that doesn’t sound salesy or spammy even though I do offer a free trial of my saas.

The idea was to come up with something that makes someone feel silly saying no to.

I think that email may do that although it may be worth a split test versus explaining the benefits, asking them to trial and still offering to pay them for their time.

Do you have any rough drafts of the "silly saying no" email?

I keep going to honesty always works best and connects with people. It's hard to cold sell people something if you don't connect or ask them questions about them/their business first. I'm honestly asking what they think of my product and service so that I can improve it and as a result, they get what they want and I get a new client.

I just tried the Jason Cohen email approach with a client of mine who stopped using our services so we'll see what happens, fingers crossed.

 

[SPM_ENT]

Well guys, I'm happy to report that I'm batting 1000 and went 1 for 1 with this email strategy. I have a meeting on Friday!

Thanks again for sharing @Mathuin

 

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[mikecarlooch]

Wow this is so awesome. Great post!

 

[Paul David]

Thanks again for sharing @Mathuin

excellent!

 

[Andy Black]

I've taxed this from a post on r/Entrepreneur by u/harrydry that I hadn't seen posted here after a quick search.

**Post begins**
Back in February 2010, Jason Cohen had an idea: A new Wordpress hosting service, that would help with speed, scalability, and security.

He now faced the challenge that everyone with a startup idea once faces: How do I get my first customers?

Jason's approach was simple and brilliant. He logged onto Linkedin, searched for Wordpress consultants and sent them the following email:


THE RESULTS

Jason sent 40 of these emails. 100% agreed to talk to him on the phone. Not one asked for any money. And after talking to him 30 verbally agreed to pay $50 / mo once the product was ready.

To quote Jason:


WHY DOES IT WORK SO WELL?

Well, Jason's email is a masterclass. He puts himself in the consultant's shoes, shows respect for their time, and even calls out the elephant in the room - that the majority of these emails are just people trying to grab your time. Oh, and it's an advice email.

But undoubtedly, the killer line is Jason offering to pay whatever you think is fair for an hour of your time. Even if it’s more than your normal rate. Why?

1. It signals that he's not a time-waster.
2. It signals that he is fair to do business with.
3. And it's flattering (that he's willing to pay for your expertise).

These three reasons coalesce and the default response is: Sure, let’s chat. You seem like a decent guy, so don’t worry about the money!

SUMMARY

Today, WP Engine is a business with 500+ employees making more than $100M / yr.

I bet they've still got people logging onto Linkedin, finding Wordpress consultants, sending similar emails, just like Jason did nine years earlier.

**POST ENDS**

I thought this would be good to share as it demonstrates a number of the principles that MJ talks about in his books, re chasing needs, pain points service deficiencies, growing your company ethically and honestly and not worrying about action fakes like PowerPoints etc. Jason also has a number of excellent interviews on YouTube.

First time I’ve seen this thread. Love the email and simplicity of just reaching out to people.

 

[Paul David]

Here's another good email along the same lines.

https://gusto.com/blog/growth/datanyze-cold-emailing-growth

Hey <NAME>,

I’m a first time entrepreneur and I’m trying to validate whether my idea is worth pursuing before investing too much into it. I was looking for experts in this space and your name came up several times, so I was hoping that you could give me your feedback on whether or not you think it might work.

I built a prototype of a tool that can crawl millions of websites every day and see when somebody starts or stops using a particular web technology. For example, I can see when a website starts using <THEIR_BIGGEST_COMPETITOR> and we can assume that they just started a free trial.

Do you think this might work? Please let me know if my idea sucks – you will save me several years that I’m going to spend building it.

Thanks,

– ilya