Before Hello

Become worth knowing before you ask to be known.

Want to connect with someone in your professional world, but don't want to show up as a stranger with an ask? Build a practical plan to become more visible, relevant, and useful first—then recognize when there's a genuine reason to reach out.

Overview

Before Hello is built on one test: every step it suggests has to be worth taking even if the other person never sees it. So it works on your side of the introduction — what you actually bring, where the overlap is real, and whether there is already a good enough reason to send the message. Sometimes the answer is that there is, and you should send it today.

How to use it

1. Describe the person — their role, their field, and what they work on
2. Pick the kind of connection: mentor, collaborator, investor, employer, client, or professional peer
3. Say why this person specifically, and what you already bring
4. Read the readiness verdict first — it may tell you to reach out now rather than prepare
5. Use the first-contact draft as a starting point, and keep the ask small enough to be easy to decline

Example

Scenario: You want to talk to a VC who invests in climate tech

What you do: Describe their focus, your own background in climate research, and what you'd actually want to discuss

Result: Starting position: your research is the credible part; the gap is that none of it is public. Strengthen: write up one finding in plain language — worth doing for your own record either way. Genuine overlap: their thesis and your dataset touch the same question. Ready to say hello? Build first — one piece of public work makes the message land. First contact: what to say, and what not to. Do today: draft the first paragraph of that write-up.

Tips

• The readiness verdict can say 'ready now' — a direct, specific, easy-to-decline message is often the whole answer
• If a suggested step would only make sense because this person might notice it, the tool is supposed to reject it; treat one that slips through as a bug
• Being specific about your own background is what separates a real overlap from a generic one
• Works for mentors, collaborators, investors, employers, clients, and peers in your field

Common pitfalls

• It won't help you get someone's attention — no engineered proximity, no cultivating their contacts, no attending things because they'll be there
• It won't invent facts about the person: if you don't say what they've published or care about, it won't guess
• There are no scores, percentages, or timelines here on purpose — none of them would be measuring anything