Backdoor
Write a short email to the founder that starts with their news, shows one thing you did with a number, says why this startup, and asks for one small thing. Keep it under 120 words, send it from your own address, and follow up in the same thread if they don't answer.
That's the whole method. The rest of this post is the detail: why each part is there, how to find the right address, five example emails you can adapt, and what to expect after you hit send.
Why write to the founder at all
At a startup under 50 people, the founder usually makes the hiring call and often reads their own inbox. Many roles there are filled before a job post exists, because someone good showed up first. (More on that here.) A careers inbox or an application form puts you back in the pile. A direct email puts you in front of the person who decides.
The four-part shape
Every email that gets answered tends to have the same four parts, in this order.
1. Their news
One line about something that just happened at their company: a funding round, a launch, a new feature, a post the founder wrote. It shows you wrote this email to them and not to a list of 200 people. It also gives the founder a reason to keep reading, because people like reading about their own work.
2. Your proof, with a number
One or two lines on something you actually did that maps to what they need. Use a number: users, revenue, time saved, conversion, latency, anything real. "I'm a hard worker" is a claim. "I cut checkout drop-off from 40% to 28%" is proof. Founders skim, and a number is what the eye stops on.
3. Why them
One line on why this startup and not any startup. It can be the problem they're solving, the customer they serve, or the stack they use. If you can't write this line, the email isn't ready yet.
4. One small ask
Ask for one thing that is easy to say yes to: a 15 minute call, or whether they're hiring for the role. Not "any opportunities you might have". Not three questions. One.
How to find the founder's email
Look where the founder has put their address in public:
- The company site. Team, about, contact and careers pages, and the footer.
- Launch posts. Product Hunt, Hacker News "Show HN" posts, and launch announcements often include a "write to me at" line.
- Their profiles. Personal sites, GitHub, X and LinkedIn bios, podcast show notes.
If none of these show an address, write to the founders or hiring inbox the site lists, or reach the founder where they post. Don't guess patterns like firstname@company.com and send blind. A bounced email hurts your sender reputation, and a guessed address that happens to work may belong to someone else.
Five example emails
Each of these is made up. The people and startups are invented, so copy the shape, not the facts. Each one is under 120 words.
Software engineer
Made-up example. Person and startup are invented.
Subject: Your sync engine post
Hi Priya,
Read your post on rebuilding Tallyfox's sync engine after the seed round. The part about conflict resolution on flaky mobile networks was the exact problem I spent last year on.
At my last job I rewrote our offline queue in TypeScript and cut failed syncs from 6% to under 1% for about 40,000 daily users.
I want to work on small-business tools, and Tallyfox is the first one I've seen treat offline as the default.
Would you be open to a 15 minute call next week?
Arjun
- The subject line points at something she wrote, so it reads like a reply, not a pitch.
- The proof matches her problem exactly, with a before and after number.
Product designer
Made-up example. Person and startup are invented.
Subject: Onboarding at Leafline
Hi Marcus,
Congrats on the Leafline launch last week. I signed up and the plant scan is great.
I'm a product designer. At a meal-kit startup I redesigned the first-run flow and raised week-one retention from 31% to 44%. The case study is linked below my name.
Your onboarding asks for five things before the first scan. I sketched a version that asks for one. Happy to share it.
Are you hiring a designer yet?
Lena
- She used the product before writing, and says so.
- Offering a sketch shows the work instead of describing it, without being pushy.
Product manager
Made-up example. Person and startup are invented.
Subject: Clinic scheduling at Doseday
Hi Hannah,
Saw Doseday raised its Series A to expand to dental clinics.
I've spent three years as a PM on clinic software. I led the scheduling product at a practice-management company and shipped a waitlist feature that filled 2,300 cancelled slots in its first quarter.
Dental is where I've spent most of my time with customers, and I'd like to help you get the first 50 clinics live.
Could we talk for 15 minutes this week or next?
Omar
- The funding news is tied to a reason they'll need a PM now.
- "The first 50 clinics" shows he understands what the next stage looks like.
Data or ML
Made-up example. Person and startup are invented.
Subject: Forecasting at Harborcast
Hi Daniel,
Your talk on why Harborcast moved from daily to hourly demand forecasts was the clearest take on it I've seen.
I build forecasting models. At a grocery delivery company I replaced a weekly model with an hourly one and cut stockouts by 18% across 60 stores.
I'd like to work on forecasting where the data is messy and the decisions are real, which is what you described.
Are you hiring on the ML side? Happy to send a short write-up of that project.
Mei
- The news can be a talk or a post, not only funding.
- The ask offers something useful in return, which makes it easy to answer.
Growth or marketing
Made-up example. Person and startup are invented.
Subject: Your waitlist
Hi Sofia,
Congrats on 10,000 people on the Quillset waitlist before launch.
I run growth for small B2B tools. At my last startup I took signups from 300 to 4,100 a month in six months, mostly through a referral loop and SEO pages, on a budget under $2,000.
Quillset is a tool I'd use myself, and I think the waitlist could become a referral engine on day one.
Open to a 15 minute call next week?
Tom
- The proof includes the budget, which matters to a small team.
- "A tool I'd use myself" is a real reason, said in one line.
What not to write
- "I hope this email finds you well." Start with their news instead.
- Your life story. Two lines of proof beat two paragraphs of background.
- "I'm passionate about..." Show it with what you did.
- A resume attachment as the whole email. If you attach one, the email still has to stand on its own.
- Several asks. One question gets answered. Three get saved for later, and later rarely comes.
- A template with the name swapped. Founders get these every day and can tell.
When to follow up
Most founders who don't answer are busy, not uninterested. Follow up in the same thread a few days later, and add something new each time. In Backdoor's data, 3 in 10 founder replies came after a follow-up. Here's when and how to follow up when a founder doesn't reply.
When replies come
Replies come fast or not at all. Across about 11,300 first emails Backdoor sent for 481 people, 9 in 10 people who heard back got their first founder reply within two weeks of their first email.
It also pays to keep going. Of the 28 people who kept sending for three weeks or more, 17 heard back from a founder, about 6 in 10. See the full numbers.
If you're an international student on OPT
Founders at small startups often assume a student visa means sponsorship and paperwork. On OPT, an employer sponsors nothing. Say it in one line right after your proof, for example: "I'm on OPT, so there's nothing to sponsor." That answers the question before it stops the reply. Here's the full guide to cold emailing founders on OPT.
Let Backdoor do it for you
Doing this well takes an hour or two a day: finding startups that just raised or launched, finding the founder's real address, writing a specific note, and tracking follow-ups.
Backdoor does that for you. You text it your LinkedIn on WhatsApp or iMessage. It picks startups that fit you, finds the founder's email from pages that print it, and drafts a short note in this shape. Nothing goes out until you approve it, it sends from your own Gmail, and it follows up three times in the same thread until someone answers.
If you'd rather run outreach yourself with a tool, see how Backdoor compares with Hunter, Apollo and lemlist.
