BD Email Skill
Purpose: Draft professional, conversational Business Development emails for RYLLC fractional CTO consultancy outreach.
Core Principles
- Tight and conversational - Target ~130-150 words for initial outreach
- Complete sentences - No sentence fragments, use subjects and verbs
- Single version only - Don't draft multiple alternatives
- Natural voice - Professional but warm, not overly formal
- Get to the point - Lead with value, avoid long introductions
- No bragging - Focus on experience, not metrics or accomplishments
- Service orientation - What can you do for them
- Title Case for subject lines - Always use Title Case for email subjects
Email Flavors
1. Colleague Reconnect
Use for: Former colleagues, VCs, advisors, warm contacts Template: templates/06-colleague-reconnect.md Key elements:
- Personal reference to last interaction
- Brief "barbell CTO" positioning
- Ask for perspective/insights (low pressure)
- Scheduling link
2. Job Posting Cold Outreach
Use for: Found strong technical fit role, want to pitch fractional alternative Template: templates/07-job-posting-cold-outreach.md Key elements:
- Reference job posting with hyperlink
- Forward request to right person
- Brief credentials showing technical fit
- Specific interest in their tech/mission
- Fractional alternative pitch
- "Rather than (or alongside) a full-time hire" framing
3. Rejection Follow-Up
Use for: Received job rejection, want to turn into network connection Template: templates/05-rejection-follow-up.md Key elements:
- Thank them for consideration
- Express continued interest in company/mission
- Pivot from role to relationship
- Position fractional CTO services as alternative
4. Direct Introduction Request
Use for: Asking warm contact to intro you to specific company Key elements:
- Acknowledge their offer/suggestion
- Brief positioning relevant to target company
- Specific ways you could add value
- Clear ask (make the intro)
- Offer to provide additional context
5. Custom BD Outreach
Use for: Unique situations not covered by templates Approach: Follow core principles, adapt tone to relationship warmth
The "Barbell CTO" Positioning
Standard explanation (adjust as needed):
"I'm focused on fractional CTO work and reliability staff augmentation. On the CTO side, I'm doing the deep technical work like architecture and system design on one end, and high-level strategy like roadmap and team building on the other."
Note: Keep framing positive. Avoid negative language like "skipping all the middle management nonsense" or similar. Focus on what you DO provide, not what you avoid.
Technical Credentials (Use Sparingly)
Standard positioning:
"I spent six years as CTO and co-founder of Gremlin, pioneering chaos engineering."
For energy/climate context:
"At Gremlin, we constantly wrestled with quantifying the impact of failures that didn't happen—exactly the kind of reliability challenge that's critical in [energy systems/climate infrastructure]."
What to Avoid
- Sentence fragments or choppy writing
- Multiple alternative versions
- Bragging about metrics ($10M+ ARR, 100+ customers)
- Redundant paragraphs
- Multiple bullet lists in email body
- Alternative contact strategy sections
- Long explanations when brevity works
Standard Components
Scheduling link: https://app.reclaim.ai/m/forni/chat
- Preferred phrasing: "You can grab some time here [link] if you like."
- Alternative: "You can find some time here: [link]"
- Always embed in conversational text, not standalone
Signature:
Matthew FornaciariWarm closing (for reconnect emails): "Either way, cheers and hope things are going well."
- Use when you want to give warmth without pressure
- Shows genuine interest beyond just the business ask
Forward request (for cold outreach): "If I'm reaching out to the wrong person, I'd appreciate you forwarding this along to whoever's leading this hire."
Process
- Identify email flavor - Which template/approach fits?
- Gather context - Relationship history, company details, technical fit
- Email history analysis: Use Gmail MCP to search and read past email threads with the contact - Look for: Last contact date, nature of relationship, how things ended, any commitments made, warm/cold signals - Key insights: Did they offer to stay in touch? Was there a previous engagement discussion? Any specific topics discussed?
- Enrich from LinkedIn - Current role, company stage, recent activity, mutual connections
- Draft email - Follow template structure, customize personal elements with specific details from email history
- Check length - Target ~130-150 words
- Review tone - Natural? Warm but professional? Service-oriented?
- Single version - Don't create alternatives
Example Usage
Warm reconnect to former colleague:
- Use template 06
- Add specific personal reference
- Brief barbell CTO explanation
- Low-pressure ask for perspective
Cold outreach to job posting:
- Use template 07
- Hyperlink to job posting
- Show technical fit understanding
- Pitch fractional alternative
- Include forward request
Introduction request to warm contact:
- Direct, conversational tone
- Brief positioning relevant to target
- Specific value-add examples
- Clear ask to make intro
Resources
All templates available in:
/Users/forni/Craft/vocation/templates/
Contact database:
/Users/forni/Craft/vocation/network/contacts.md
Project guidelines:
/Users/forni/Craft/vocation/CLAUDE.md
Gmail Integration
For details on using Gmail MCP server to draft emails directly in Gmail, see gmail-integration.md.
Quick start: After Claude Code restart, use draft_email tool to create drafts directly in Gmail instead of copy/paste.