What counts as a warm path?
A warm path is a specific reason for a founder to reply, carried by someone they trust. A warm intro is that path activated: the trusted person makes the connection. Map the path before you ask for the intro.
Logo overlap alone is not a path. Only 3 route types hold up: shared investor, former teammate, and past touchpoint. Every credible route reduces to one of the 3.
Mapping takes 3 steps. List 2 or 3 candidate routes, rank them by strength, then pick 1 plus a fallback. Budget about 10 minutes for the whole pass.
- Investor: a fund you both know, like Hack VC.
- Teammate: someone who worked beside the founder before.
- Touchpoint: a real prior exchange, like a deal, a call, or an event.
How do you map people before founder outreach?
Start at the founder and work outward: profile, team, backers, teammates, then your own firm. In crypto BD that is 4 Compass pages, 1 internal ask, and most of the 10-minute pass.
Sentient shows why the team page matters. Its listed co-founders are Sandeep Nailwal, Himanshu Tyagi, and Pramod Viswanath; Yura is Head of BD. For a partnership note, Yura is the likelier first reader.
Then flip to your own side. Ask your team who has real history with any name you just collected; 1 real tie beats 5 logo overlaps. Contact channels are available on the profile once you pick your person.
- Founder: read the profile for role, history, and current focus.
- Team: note who runs BD, like Yura at Sentient.
- Backers: pull the fund list straight off the project page.
- Teammates: check where the core team worked before.
- Network: mark every name your firm already knows.
How do you rank warm-path routes?
Rank routes on 3 tests: credibility, closeness, and relevance. Credibility: would the founder take this person's call? Closeness: does the person actually know you? Relevance: does the tie fit this ask? A route must pass all 3 to carry an intro.
Operator routes often score highest on credibility. Austin Federa co-founded DoubleZero after years at the Solana Foundation, so a tie to him spans 2 networks. People move; networks persist.
Some people sit on both sides of the table. Santiago Santos operates and invests, so a route through him reads either way. Rank the person, not the label.
- 01Credibility
Would the founder take this person's call? Operators like Austin Federa carry trust across 2 networks.
- 02Closeness
The route holder must actually know you; a conference badge from 2024 does not count.
- 03Relevance
Match the route to the ask: investor routes fit raises, operator routes fit product and partnerships.
- 04Pick
Keep 1 route plus 1 fallback, and park the rest in your notes.
What should you check before founder outreach?
Check 3 things before you send: the recipient, the catalyst, and the strength of the path. Each check takes about 1 minute once the map exists.
Recipient means role fit. A BD lead like Yura reads a partnership note; a co-founder may never see it. Send to the person whose job the ask touches.
Catalyst means a dated reason to write this week; pull one from Catalysts. Path strength means the intermediary would vouch if the founder asked. If any of the 3 fails, fix it before you send.
What if there is no warm path?
No warm path is not a blocker. It changes the note, not the plan: a dated catalyst plus a specific ask carries a cold note on its own.
Timebox the search. If 10 minutes of mapping finds nothing, stop and switch to cold outreach. A forced route through a stranger reads worse than no route at all.
A workable cold note has 3 parts: the catalyst with its date, 1 specific ask, and 1 line on why you. Keep it under 5 sentences. Precision substitutes for warmth.
What should you save after mapping the path?
Save 5 fields: recipient, path, reason, timing, and the open question. In a quarter you will not remember why the route worked. The note will.
The template below fits any CRM note. Writing it takes about 2 minutes and saves the next teammate the full 10-minute mapping pass.
| Field | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient | Name and role of the person you will contact | Yura, Head of BD at Sentient |
| Path | The route type and who holds it | Shared investor: our partner knows Hack VC |
| Reason | Why this company fits the ask, in 1 line | AI infra roadmap fits our audit practice |
| Timing | The dated catalyst you are acting on | A catalyst from the last 30 days |
| Open question | The 1 thing to verify before sending | Would the partner actually make the intro? |
When should you skip a warm path?
Skip a path when it is stale, distant, or unrelated to the ask. A weak warm intro costs more than a clean cold note.
Stale means no contact with the route holder in 2 or 3 years. Distant means 3 or more hops; a friend of a friend of a friend is a stranger. Unrelated means the tie cannot explain this ask.
One rule covers the rest: never use a name that would not vouch for you if the founder called to check. Founders do call.
Frequently asked questions
Is a shared investor always a warm intro?
No; a shared investor is 1 of 3 route types, and it only warms outreach when a person carries it. Hack VC backing Sentient is a public fact. Your live tie to someone at Hack VC is the path.
What if you cannot find a warm path?
Send cold outreach built on a dated catalyst and 1 specific ask. Timebox the mapping to about 10 minutes before you switch. A precise cold note beats a forced route through a stranger.
Should the warm path appear in the message?
Only after the person holding it agrees to be named. An approved name in line 1 is the strongest opener in crypto BD. An unapproved name burns the route and the note.
How many routes should you check before founder outreach?
List 2 or 3, rank them, and pick 1 plus a fallback. More than 3 routes means you are researching, not sending. Park the extras in your CRM note.
What makes a warm path stale?
A warm path goes stale after 2 or 3 years without contact, or when a role change breaks the tie. People move faster than databases in crypto. Re-verify the current role before you lean on the path.
Sources and methodology
This article pattern uses Compass data objects: people, companies, investors, catalysts, sectors, and relationship paths. The goal is to keep outreach decisions tied to visible evidence instead of generic market commentary.