There is truly a right way and a wrong way to pitch your company via e-mail.  We get about a thousand submissions to Go BIG every week, many of which make their way into my inbox. 

Here's a quick primer on the right way and the wrong way to pitch your company via e-mail.

First, the wrong way

1.  Write ten paragraphs about your company.  No one has time to read your life story, and frankly, if the type of opportunity doesn't match up with who you're pitching, who cares where you're from or how you built your company? 

2.  Submit a 5mb attachment.  Nothing is worse than watching your inbox get buried with an un-solicited ginormous file attachment.  If no one has asked for your presentation, then why send it?

3.  Ask amorphous questions.  You can't expect positive results when you ask questions like "what do you think of my plan?"  No one has time to write an open-ended essay about what they think of your company.

4.  Use a really cheesy sales line.  "Do you want to increase your investment returns by over 500%??"  No, I want to lose as much money as possible in as little time as possible. 

Now, the right way

1.  Keep it under 2 sentences.  People will know immediately whether they like what you do.  "Go BIG is the world's largest community of startup companies.  We connect startup companies with investors, employees and advisors to help them grow faster."  If you don't care about startup companies or on-line communities, the rest of our story doesn't matter.

2.  Make a clear call-to-action.  Obviously you're emailing for a reason, so get to the point.  "We're looking for $2 million to get to a $10 million run rate in the next 24 months."  You want money, or help, or connections - just ask for them specifically.

3.  The shorter the better.  You don't need to get into a big introduction.  You don't even need to use a name - just say what you have to say and be done with it.  Assume anyone that can help you can probably help a lot of other people, too, so they probably get a hell of a lot of e-mail.

... skip the 1950's era form letter introductions and cheap sales tactics.  All you need is a short, honest inquiry and you're golden.