# Weird outreach addendum

Read this **after** `profile/voice.md` and `goal.md` **outreach style**. Use for unusually interesting targets only.

Normal companies get normal outreach. Small cracked teams, founders, labs, and researchers sometimes deserve louder, stranger, more memorable messages.

---

## Principle

Generic outreach is acceptable for normal companies.

For unusually interesting companies, founders, labs, researchers, or tiny cracked teams, outreach should sometimes be **louder, stranger, and more memorable**.

The goal is not to sound professional.

The goal is to sound like a **real, sharp person who actually cares**.

### Use weird outreach when

- the company is small
- the founder seems active online
- the team has a strong technical/cultural personality
- the work is genuinely exciting
- normal applications are unlikely to stand out
- Ryan has a specific reason to care



### Do not use weird outreach when

- applying to a large formal company
- emailing HR only
- the company culture seems conservative
- the subject line could be read as deceptive
- the message sounds desperate instead of intense

---



## Rule: loud but true

Good weird outreach should be:

```
specific
honest
short
a little intense
funny
clearly human
not fake-personal
not bait-and-switch
not corporate
```

Bad weird outreach is:

```
fake urgency
fake familiarity
fake prior contact
fake flattery
gimmicky with no substance
trying to trick someone into opening
```

**Bad subject lines (deceptive / salesy — never use):**

```
Sorry I missed you
Following up
Re: our conversation
URGENT
You need to see this
```

These may get opens, but they feel salesy or deceptive.

---



## Subject line modes



### 1. Intensity

Use when the company is genuinely exciting.

```
I want to work on {company} until I drop dead
I think {company} is exactly where I should be
I can't stop thinking about {specific product/problem}
Let me work on this
I have a solution to {problem}
```



### 2. Honest cold email

Use when directness is the move.

```
This is a cold email
Cold email from a cracked CS student
I'm trying to get near work like this
Can I send you a few projects?
Probably a long shot
```



### 3. Specific technical hook

Use when there is a blog, paper, demo, or repo.

```
Your {demo/post/repo} broke my brain a little
Question about {specific technical thing}
{Specific thing} is insanely cool
I read your post on {topic}
I want to work on problems like {specific problem}
```



### 4. Founder-energy hook

Use for small teams.

```
Do you need another obsessive builder?
I want to help build {company}
I think I can be useful
Small ask from a young builder
I'm looking for a team like yours
```



### 5. Slightly funny / self-aware

Use carefully.

```
Not another generic intern email
Unfortunately, I am obsessed with this
This might be unreasonable
I promise this is not a normal job email
I found the cool thing
```

---



## Weird outreach template

```
Subject: {loud-but-true subject}

Hey {name},

I came across {company/specific thing} and had the immediate reaction of: this is the kind of thing I want to be around.

I'm a CS student and technical builder trying to get closer to genuinely hard work — AI, systems, tools, research engineering, simulation, infrastructure, anything where the problem is not already boring and solved.

I'm not looking for a slow internship where I just close tickets. I'm looking for a place where speed, taste, curiosity, and being slightly obsessive are actually useful.

Would it be unreasonable to send over a few projects / see if there is any way I could help?
```

---



## More intense version

Use **only for top-tier targets.**

```
Subject: I want to work on {company} until I drop dead

Hey {name},

This is a little intense, but honestly accurate: {company} is very close to the kind of work I want to throw myself at.

I'm a CS student and builder trying to get near ambitious technical work — especially AI/systems/research-engineering problems where there is still a lot to figure out.

I do not want to just "get experience." I want to be around people building something genuinely new and become useful as fast as possible.

Could I send over a short project list and see if there is any possible fit?
```

---



## Research / lab weird version

```
Subject: I want to get closer to work like this

Hey {name},

I read through {paper/post/demo}. The part that stuck with me was {specific detail}.

I'm a CS student trying to move toward research-engineering work: building real systems around ideas, testing them, breaking them, and making them usable.

I know this is a cold email, but I'm trying to find people doing work that actually feels worth obsessing over.

Would you be open to me sending a few projects or asking one or two questions?
```

---



## Agent rules

When drafting outreach for a target that might qualify, **create two versions:**

1. **normal/direct** — safe default
2. **weird/loud** — only if criteria above are met

For each weird version, include a short note for Ryan explaining:

- why this target deserves a weird approach
- what specific detail the message anchors on
- whether the subject line is intense, funny, technical, or direct
- whether it risks sounding cringe

**Never send weird outreach automatically.** Ryan must approve it manually.

Save both versions under the lead output folder, e.g.:

```
outputs/L0001/
  outreach_email.md          # normal
  outreach_email_weird.md    # loud variant + agent rationale note at top
```