The best cold email we run is also the shortest.
Two to four lines. Sent and signed by the client’s founder or MD. No pitch. It asks a fellow leader for a coffee, usually with a local hook: “I’m also based in Brussels”, “I’ll be in your area next month”.
We call it founder to founder.
The Test
Eighteen of our clients ran a founder-to-founder campaign within 60 days of their other cold campaigns. Same clients, same window, so the comparison is fair.
| Founder to founder | Everything else | |
|---|---|---|
| People contacted | 31,014 | 75,728 |
| Reply rate | 4.13% | 2.80% |
| Positive reply rate | 0.85% | 0.51% |
| Meetings per 1,000 people | 4.19 | 1.43 |
That’s 2.9 times the meetings per person. It won on positive replies at 16 of the 18 clients.
It’s the Ask That Does It
The signature on its own does very little. Emails signed by a founder or MD with any other angle booked 0.74 meetings per 1,000 people. The same kind of signature with the coffee ask booked 3.08.
The Cleanest Example
A South African managed IT provider, February 2025. Same MD, same audience, same five-step cadence, same month.
Version one was an insight pitch built on a bank’s data breach. 1.9 meetings per 1,000 people.
Version two: “I’m often in your city. Coffee to swap ideas?” 15.4 meetings per 1,000 people.
Eight times the meetings, and only the ask changed.
It Wears Out
A Dutch Magento agency’s CTO sent a two-line “koffie?” in October 2024. 9.3% replied and it booked 6.6 meetings per 1,000 people.
The same email to the next slice of the market four months later booked 1.2.
So we treat every winner as temporary and keep the next angle ready.
How to Write One
- From the founder or MD, to the founder or MD.
- Two to four lines. Who you are, one hook, one ask.
- A real local hook if you have one.
- Follow-ups are one line: “Would a coffee be an option?”
- Then turn up for the coffee.
Every number here is on the results page, with the definitions.