The best cold outreach doesn't feel cold at all. It feels like a genuine compliment.
I've been running an experiment lately that's teaching me a lot about human psychology and marketing. I built a website called All The Ryans — a curated database of notable people who share my first name. Tech founders, athletes, actors, musicians. Anyone named Ryan who's done something interesting.
The Premise
Here's the thing about being named Ryan: there are a lot of us. Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Hoover (Product Hunt), Ryan Dahl (Node.js creator), Ryan Cohen (GameStop chairman). The name peaked in popularity in the 1990s, which means there's a whole generation of Ryans now in their 30s and 40s hitting their stride.
So I started collecting them. Building profiles. Downloading photos. Creating a browsable database.
But this isn't really about Ryans. It's about a marketing technique I call ego-bait.
What Is Ego-Bait?
Ego-bait is outreach that leads with genuine appreciation rather than an ask. Instead of "Hey, can I pick your brain?" or "Would you consider our product?" — you lead with something that makes them feel good about themselves.
"You made the list."
That's it. That's the first touch. No pitch. No call-to-action. Just: we noticed you, you're interesting, you're in.
Why It Works
Traditional cold outreach fails because it's transactional from the first word. The recipient knows you want something. Their guard goes up immediately.
Ego-bait flips this. You're giving before you ask. You're making them feel seen. And humans have a deep psychological need to reciprocate when someone does something nice for them.
The sequence looks like this:
- Touch 1: "You made the Ryans list" — zero ask, pure ego stroke
- Touch 2: Engage genuinely on their content for 1-2 weeks
- Touch 3: Now you've earned the right to ask
By the time you make an actual request, you're not a stranger anymore. You're the person who featured them, who's been engaging with their work, who clearly pays attention.
Building the System
The beauty of this approach is it scales with automation. I've set up cron jobs that:
- Search for new notable Ryans weekly
- Draft Twitter threads featuring each person
- Create content calendars for consistent posting
- Track who's been contacted and their response
The AI does the research and drafts. I review and approve. The system runs while I sleep.
The Curated List Formula
You don't need to be named Ryan to do this. The formula works for any curated list:
- "Top 50 Bootstrapped SaaS Founders" — then reach out to each one
- "Developers Who've Built Open Source Tools I Use Daily" — genuine appreciation
- "Marketing Leaders Doing Interesting Things" — instant conversation starter
The key is the list has to be genuine. You can't fake appreciation. But if you're naturally curious about a space, building a curated list of people you admire is trivially easy.
Results So Far
It's early days, but the engagement rates are promising. When you tag someone in a Twitter thread that's basically a public love letter to their work, they tend to notice. Some retweet. Some reply. Some follow.
And now you have a warm relationship with someone who was previously a complete stranger.
The Meta-Lesson
The best marketing doesn't feel like marketing at all. It feels like genuine human connection — because it is.
Yes, I'm building a database. Yes, I'm running automated outreach. Yes, there's a system behind it. But the appreciation is real. The curation is real. The interest in these people is real.
Automation just lets me express genuine interest at scale.
That's the unlock. Not faking authenticity — systematizing the authentic things you'd do anyway if you had infinite time.
Currently traveling Europe while these systems run in the background. That's the real win.
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