Cold Email Template

Free cold email template to help boost your network building activities

Author: Osman Ahmed
Osman Ahmed
Osman Ahmed
Investment Banking | Private Equity

Osman started his career as an investment banking analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners where he spent just over two years before moving into a growth equity investing role at Scale Venture Partners, focused on technology. He's currently a VP at KCK Group, the private equity arm of a middle eastern family office. Osman has a generalist industry focus on lower middle market growth equity and buyout transactions.

Osman holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Southern California and a Master of Business Administration with concentrations in Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Reviewed By: Hassan Saab
Hassan Saab
Hassan Saab
Investment Banking | Corporate Finance

Prior to becoming a Founder for Curiocity, Hassan worked for Houlihan Lokey as an Investment Banking Analyst focusing on sellside and buyside M&A, restructurings, financings and strategic advisory engagements across industry groups.

Hassan holds a BS from the University of Pennsylvania in Economics.

Last Updated:October 6, 2023

Breaking into investment banking (IB) can be difficult, more so if you are from a non-target university.

Most of your interviews for internship and full-time roles will be secured through your network.

Haven't started networking yet? Fear not; below is a sample cold email template to help kickstart your network building campaign to help you break into investment banking (IB).

Dear Mr/Mrs. X,

Hi, my name is [Name], a student at [College Name] majoring in [Major Name]. I found your contact information through the alumni database. I am highly interested in the investment banking industry and specifically the mergers and acquisitions field.

I understand you are busy and may not have the time, but I would really appreciate it if you could be open to a brief informational interview over the phone or in-person next week?

I am eager to learn more about your undergraduate experiences at [University Name] university and about your role at [Bank Name] bank. Thank you for your time and help.

Best regards,

[Name]

Always keep the email short and brief. The recipients don't have the time to go through huge blocks of text to talk to you. The easier you make it for them, the higher the chances that they will agree to talk to you.

Attaching your resume on your first cold email is a highly debated topic. There is no right answer.

The main argument against it is that the point of informational interviews is to build a relationship, and sending a resume usually undermines that objective.

However, others point out that the resume gives a brief overview about you to the recipient, and may work in your favor especially in cases where it is very strong.

Remember, cold emailing is just the start.

To make sure you properly track all your networking prospects, have a look at our FREE contacts for networking template.

Also, have a look at our FREE investment banking guide that covers 101 questions to help you prepare for the interviews you land.

If you are serious about getting into investment banking, we suggest you invest in our paid investment banking course below.

More Resources:

We hope these templates help you land that dream IB job! Please check out the following additional resources to help you advance your career: