Cold Open Craft

Make the first message easier to send — and easier to answer.

Reaching out to someone you don’t know can make even a simple message feel awkward. Tell us who you’re contacting, why you’re reaching out, and what you know about them. Cold Open Craft gives you three ready-to-send ways to begin — each opening differently and asking for something different — plus a follow-up for when nobody replies.

Overview

Cold Open Craft helps when you need to contact someone you do not know well and the first sentence is the hardest part. Tell it who you are contacting, why you are reaching out, the channel, and any real connection points you have. It returns three complete messages that open differently while staying grounded in what you actually supplied, plus a simple follow-up if the first message gets no reply.

How to use it

  1. Say who you are reaching out to and why you want to contact them
  2. Choose the channel: email, LinkedIn, Twitter/X DM, Instagram DM, or text
  3. Add any specific facts you genuinely know about the person that could make the opener more natural
  4. Add the part of your own background that is relevant to this outreach
  5. Compare the three ready-to-send approaches, choose the one that sounds most like you, and personalize it before sending

Example

Scenario: You want to contact a hiring manager who posted a role, and you have relevant experience plus one piece of their public work you genuinely follow.

What you do: Enter the role, why you are reaching out, the channel, the public connection point, and the relevant part of your background.

Result: Cold Open Craft gives you three grounded messages that lead differently — for example with the role, the shared topic, or your relevant background — plus a brief follow-up you can use later if needed.

Tips