How to send LinkedIn messages that get billion-dollar CEOs to reply 💻
Copy-paste my LinkedIn DM strategy & templates
LinkedIn is kind of insane when you think about it.
You can write to almost anyone alive (billion-dollar CEOs, famous authors, etc) and the message actually lands in their inbox.
So it bugs me how badly most people use it.
A few months ago, a founder I was advising sent me his cold DMs and asked why he hadn’t received any replies. He runs a billion-dollar company with a great product, and he was messaging exactly the right people. Still… got nothing back.
It wasn’t his fault:
He paid an agency five figures, and they’d given him the same templated script they give everyone. The kind you (and me) ignore.
I fucking hate agencies. 🤬
The people who run them have never ONCE been on the other side of one of these messages. They’ve never opened LinkedIn as a CEO with 40 identical pitches waiting. So they hand every client the same “proven” script, a thousand other agencies hand out that exact script too, and every inbox fills up with the same cringeworthy slop.
Here’s the message the agency told him to send (I stripped the names):
Hey {{firstName}},
figured I’d reach out directly since this might be relevant for you.
I’m the Co-founder and CEO at [Startup]. We’re the same team behind [past companies you’ve never heard of]. We’re still early, but already working with several Fortune-level teams who wanted a simple way to [solve a pain].
[Startup] gives them [that solution].
I’d be happy to give you a sneak peek at what these teams are using. Does a short call work for you? Happy to work around whatever time is easiest.
Where do I even start…
❌ That first line, “figured I’d reach out directly”, is the bit that shows up in the notification preview before you even open the message. Most valuable real estate he’s got, and he spent it saying nothing.
❌ Then it’s him, him, him. His title, his company, the startups he built before. I don’t know this guy. Why would I read his CV before he’s given me one reason to care?
❌ After that comes four sentences of product I never asked about.
❌ And then he asks me, a total stranger, to sacrifice 30 minutes for a call. For WHAT, exactly?
[I’m not above this. My own first cold DMs looked exactly like that, and I cringe thinking about them now. But after tons of trial and error, I think I cracked the code. My DMs now actually get replies from strangers.]
So I told the founder to delete it, then wrote him a new one myself.
This is the re-written DM he sent that night:
{{firstName}} :)
I’m building something new in [category]. Still pre-launch, but already running inside a few Fortune teams.
Here’s the secret: [one concrete, slightly surprising line about what it actually does].
We’re being picky about who sees it before launch. Want an early look?
[Name] (previously built [past company], acquired by [bigger company])
The next day he texted me, saying he’d gotten 4 replies overnight!
And it wasn’t a one-off. ✅
I’ve been doing this for years for the CEOs and CMOs I advise, and it plays out the same way every time. I’m also on the receiving end of these messages all day, so I know exactly which ones get a reply and which get ignored 100% of the time.
My LinkedIn DM cheat sheet 📋
None of that was luck. I use the same set of tactics on every cold DM, starting with making the person feel chosen (which is why I wrote “We’re being picky about who sees it before launch”).
Below is the full set of tactics, and exactly what to write (copy & paste). I've never published any of it.
What you’re getting today:
💎 10+ LinkedIn DM tactics, each with copy-paste lines to drop straight in.
🧪 7 Ready-to-send templates for the awkward spots: warm leads, the wrong contact, a soft no, etc.
💰 Follow-up sequences that revive people who’ve gone silent (there’s one line that always works).
⚙️ Specific LinkedIn timing and mechanics, from the connection request to InMail, so you never make the big mistakes.