Originally published here.

Cold emails are often the overlooked paths of venture capital, yet they are also quiet acts of courage from entrepreneurs who choose to reach out despite uncertainty and a lack of network. Most lead nowhere. A few reveal real promise. And once in a long while, one opens the door to a partnership that becomes obvious in hindsight.

This is the story of one such email. An advisor named Larry Chao reached out about a founder named Sakyasingha Dasgupta, PhD, CEO of EdgeCortix . I did not know Larry. This was a true cold email with no prior context. Yet the message was so crisp, so relevant, and so grounded in real traction that it earned my attention immediately. That moment eventually led to TDK Ventures investing in the company, as shared in our investment announcement.

But this story is not only about the email. It is a reflection on why investors should welcome cold outreach, how to respond with respect, and what entrepreneurs can learn to increase their chances of being heard.

Cold emails are not noise. They are intent. Founders who reach out cold are signaling that they believe you are relevant to their journey. That alone deserves attention.

Cold emails are also a mirror, reflecting the hopes of entrepreneurs placing trust in someone they have never met. They show whether a firm has built a reputation for being useful, ethical, responsive, and respected by founders. Entrepreneurs almost never write to investors they believe will waste their time or not respect their secrets. Cold outreach flows toward those known for empathy, respect, and value creation.

And when the message is not a fit, investors can still strengthen their reputation with a simple and swift response. Sometimes the answer is “not now” or “not something we have explored yet”, and even then entrepreneurs deserve clarity so they do not spend precious time and emotional energy guessing.

At TDK Ventures, I receive far more cold emails than I can answer personally. Many I forward to our Team Assistants so they can respond on behalf of the team and guide the entrepreneurs to our project submission page. It is the only way I have found to keep our commitment to treating founders with respect and speed.

But when a cold email clearly aligns with something I know to be of real interest to someone in the team, I will respond myself. In this case, one look at Larry’s note made that obvious.

I also do not interfere with our investment team regarding which startups they decide to engage with or deep dive on. Their judgment must remain independent and objective. Founders should know that if interest develops, it is driven by the team’s conviction, not mine. This clarity of ownership helps us stay impartial, consistent, and respectful toward founders.

And entrepreneurs can easily check what would be relevant to us. TDK Ventures is — I believe — unique in publicly sharing what we have explored in the past and what we are exploring right now at: https://tdk-ventures.com/explorations. No founder should waste effort sending thoughtful outreach into a void.

We also created a simple submission link for all entrepreneurs: https://tdk-ventures.com/contact. Everything submitted there is reviewed weekly by our investment team.

Before I continue with the story of Larry’s email, it is important to acknowledge that we did not arrive at this process or this level of responsiveness by chance. We had to learn it. The hard way.

Below is an internal note I shared with our team during one of our quarterly anti-portfolio reviews, where we reflect on companies we wished we had invested in.

It captured a moment two years earlier, in September 2022, when we received a very high-quality cold email, acknowledged it quickly, documented it, but ultimately failed to act on it. We did not follow up, and we did not even provide a simple pass email. When the founder later reached out with a thoughtful and timely prompt, sharing that he had assembled a promising potential syndicate and asking for visibility into where we stood, our silence continued. Our response should have been constructive and timely, yet we left the entrepreneur hanging.

His original outreach embodied everything an investor should hope to see in a cold email. His introduction was concise and grounded, immediately positioning both the scale of the market and why his company existed to meet it. He highlighted traction with credible numbers rather than superlatives. He demonstrated capital efficiency and technical depth supported by strong academic foundations, and he made next steps frictionless with a short video and a self-serve scheduling link. It was the kind of message that shows a founder values the investor’s time as much as their own.

In other words, it had all the signals of an exceptional founder, and we still failed to act. That is why it belongs in our anti-portfolio. And it is how we remind ourselves to hold ourselves to a higher standard.

This keeps us grounded. Cold emails require effort and vulnerability from entrepreneurs, and they deserve an equally thoughtful response from our side. Our improvement has been deliberate, and we continue to refine how we assess cold outreach so we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

With those lessons firmly in mind, the cold email that led us to EdgeCortix stands out even more clearly.

Here is the actual exchange, only obfuscating emails and dollar amounts.

Larry’s cold email

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From: Larry Chao [email protected]

Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2025 6:08 PM

To: Nicolas Sauvage [email protected]

Subject: Meeting Opportunity with EdgeCortix CEO — June 25–26 in Bay Area

Hi Nicolas,

I hope you’re doing well, I recently joined EdgeCortix as an advisor and thought they would be a great company for you to meet. They’re a Japan-based hardware and software company designing a runtime reconfigurable processor in process of closing a $xxM Series B round (already 70% subscribed with a term sheet in hand).

I’ve attached their pitch deck, but in summary, they’ve demonstrated significant traction, including:

Would you be open to meeting the CEO of EdgeCortix while he’s in the Bay Area June 25–26? Let me know if you’d be open to a brief meeting and I’ll be happy to coordinate. Thanks,

- Larry

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My response (within one hour)

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From: Nicolas Sauvage [email protected]

Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2025 6:47 PM

To: Larry Chao [email protected]

Cc: Ankur Saxena [email protected]

Subject: Re: Meeting Opportunity with EdgeCortix CEO — June 25–26 in Bay Area

Hi Larry,

Thank you for reaching out. That would be interesting to our new Investment Director Ankur Saxena.

Thank you, Nicolas

+++

A one-line response, clear and direct, showing interest and directing the conversation to the right person on the team. The meeting was set within days. And months later, we invested.

The investment happened for many reasons beyond the email, yet it would not have begun without the cold email.

A cold email does not need to be long. It needs to be disciplined.

Larry demonstrated four essential qualities:

1. Clear relevance

He explained why EdgeCortix was a natural match for TDK Ventures.

2. Real proof, not promises

Revenue growth, pipeline expansion, customer traction, METI non-dilutive support. Facts, not adjectives.

3. A credible bridge

He reached out as a new advisor willing to put his name and reputation behind the introduction.

4. A small and reasonable ask

Just a short meeting during a fixed two-day window. Easy to accept or decline.

Because the cold email was so well crafted, it earned an immediate response.

A cold email is not a pitch. It is your first impression of discipline, and for many entrepreneurs it also carries the hopeful tension of sharing their ambition with someone new. It should show respect for the receiver’s time and demonstrate why the conversation is relevant.

How to write one that works:

For entrepreneurs reaching out to TDK Ventures, always check our Deep Explorations page first. We openly share what we are digging into so you can decide if the outreach makes sense.

If founders must write well, investors must respond well, because entrepreneurs are often navigating moments of vulnerability when they reach out cold.

What investors can practice:

Responsiveness is not about speed for its own sake. It is about respecting the entrepreneurs who choose to reach out. Cold emails become a quiet scorecard of how founders experience your firm.

Warm introductions matter — and we love them from our trusted partners — but cold outreach often reveals who believes you are worth the attempt.

The partnership with EdgeCortix did not begin through a warm introduction. It began with a few lines written by someone who believed the company deserved attention and communicated that belief with clarity.

A single cold email set everything in motion. What began as an unexpected outreach became a mutual discovery, then trust, then conviction. And that conviction ultimately became an investment in one of the most innovative Edge AI companies in the world.

Entrepreneurs and investors both play a role in making this possible. Entrepreneurs must be disciplined in how they reach out. Investors must be disciplined in how they respond.

And a final caution for founders. With AI tools becoming more capable, it can be tempting to send thousands of tailored cold emails at scale. Resist that temptation. AI can certainly help you research which VCs are a genuine match and can help you refine your draft. But the voice, the intent, and the authenticity must remain entirely yours. Authenticity cannot be automated, and investors sense the difference instantly.

Sometimes the shortest path between two people is a well written email, especially when sent with the optimism that defines so many entrepreneurs.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn.