Now You See: Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel’s 2014 Email To Indian-origin Techies Asking For An Internship Has Gone Viral
A budding software engineer seeking an internship with Snapchat sent a cold email to CEO Evan Spiegel in 2014. While such unsolicited emails usually receive little response, Indian-origin techie Niraj Pant did receive a response from Spiegel. Furthermore, he introduced Pant to the company’s lead recruiter.
Pant, who is now a startup co-founder, shared a screenshot of the email exchange on X, saying, “I found this old (egregious) email I sent to Evan Spiegel a few years back.” Always take your shot!”
While Pant has yet to reveal whether the interaction resulted in a successful internship at Snapchat, the format of the email not only piqued Evan Spiegel’s interest in 2014, but it has found fans even now.
“This is fantastic!” Prof. Priya Narasimhan (@YinzcamPriya) commented, “Very well played for taking the shot in the first place and for being crisp and to the point in your email.” “This demonstrates the importance of taking chances in life.” “The rest will fall into place,” wrote X user Mitra Joshi (@mitrajo).
Others wondered if a similar email would elicit the same response from any business leader or recruiter in 2024.
“This email may receive no responses in 2023–24.” People are becoming less responsive as communication trends shift, making traditional cold emails less effective,” said Mangesh Saraf (@mangy_s). “There is no proof of work link or image attached or mentioned.” “The brevity of the email is insufficient,” added another user, Himanshu Chhabra (@himanshu_seeker).
In a similar vein, a Karnataka-based tech entrepreneur recently recounted how a cold email to Zerodha co-founder and CEO Nithin Kamath secured him funding for his start-up, ImStrong.
Kumar described how a simple act of reaching out resulted in a game-changing investment in a thread. “Most entrepreneurs believe that seeking assistance is a sign of weakness.” “My biggest realization, however, is that it is, in fact, a superpower,” he said.
