Cold Calls, Bacon, and Vanilla Milkshakes

I cold call and cold email people all the time.

In middle school, I wrote a letter to the board of the Student Loan Marketing Association, Sallie Mae, a government entity that serviced federal education loans. I pointed out that they didn't have any students on the board and that I would be the perfect candidate to represent students nationwide.

I thought it was a great idea, but they didn't. The cold call failed, as cold calls and emails often do.

But when they work, they work really well, and can open new doors and opportunities.

In early 2007, I cold-emailed James Altucher, a writer and entrepreneur who had just launched a company called Stockpickr. Kass and I had sold GOLF.com a year earlier to a company called Time Warner, which no longer exists. I was done with corporate work and looking for a new project.

I loved the idea of Stockpickr. It aggregated trading information from the world's leading hedge funds and public company investors and made it available to everyday investors to help them make better decisions.

“I’m a?huge fan of?Stockpickr?and can help grow the business to the next?level," I wrote James. "Let me know if you’d like to discuss. You currently have a?great site and with a little tweaking can turn it into a category?killer.”

James ignored me at first but responded weeks later. We met at his favorite diner on 44 Street, The Red Flame. James ordered bacon, fries, and a vanilla milkshake.

As James wrote years later recounting the story, "For someone born with a heart condition, as Mike was, that order must’ve stayed implanted in his memory."

At the breakfast, I shared what I thought James should be doing at Stockpickr. Even though I was just 33, I had street cred. I had been running my own internet companies for 13 years since launching University Wire from my fraternity house at Northwestern.

Unlike most people I speak to, James went out and did everything I told him to do.

The ideas "were genius," James recalls. "In fact,?I stole them all from Mike and didn’t give him credit.?That’s the way I roll. And I did become a category killer as a result. Thanks Mike!"

James ended up selling the company. I got no credit. I made no money. A lost opportunity for me?

Not at all. I got something even more valuable - a friendship with James and his brilliant mind. And by rejecting my advances, James also ensured I was free to think about my next venture, which turned out to be Buddy Media.

James and I met regularly for breakfast. When I went to raise seed money for Buddy Media later that year, James was one of the first to invest (an investment that generated 80X his initial investment after Salesforce purchased the business for $745 million 5 years later.)

It's safe to say that Buddy Media's eventual outcome far outperformed whatever deal James would have offered me, as he points out in his retrospective on the investment, "How To Make a Billion Dollar Company From Scratch."

James' Buddy Media investment seems obvious today. But most people I know would never have invested in an app company built on a college social network started by a husband and wife team whose most recent company was selling golf stuff.

James' investment signaled to others that we were backable, helping build momentum that would put Buddy Media on the map.

This past week, Kass and I sat down with James to discuss our new book, Shoveling $h!t, A Love Story About The Entrepreneur's Messy Path, which will launch early next year. We also discussed Buddy Media's early days, the art of the pivot, the power of partnership, navigating challenges, health scares, balancing personal life and business, building relationships and much more.

You can find it wherever you love to listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Recording the podcast with James reminded me of so many early lessons I now take for granted.

One cold call and many more orders of bacon, fries and milkshakes later, and James and I are still friends.

One cold call, and I also got a co-investor, content collaborator, and richer life.

One cold call and James got all of the above plus a boatload of cash from Buddy Media.

You also can use cold calls to change the trajectory of your life. When I cold-called James, I had very little to offer other than my knowledge. What do you know that others may value?

In order to make your cold calls successful, you need to come bearing value for the target. You need to identify ways you can help them out and give them something in return for their time.

Cold calls should never be just about transactions. They need to provide value to both sides.

Which of these cold emails am I more likely to respond to?

1) Hey Mike, I'm launching a new business and would like to pick your brain?

Or 2) Hey Mike, I see you are a Phish fan. I had never listened to the band but just did and I understand how you like the music. I'm launching a new company and wanted to discuss with you why we are going to dominate the XX industry. Also, I saw that your company, Liquid Death, needs a XX, and I know the perfect candidate.

Obviously, #2. Be upfront about what you want. But also be clear that the meeting won't be a waste of my time. And never try to pick someone's brain.

So what are you waiting for? How many cold calls did you make today?

Please follow Kass & Mike for more about the beauty in the struggle of being an entrepreneur.

And learn more about our new book, Shoveling $h!t: A Love Story, dropping March 2025.

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