Agentic use cases · Custom bot
A LinkedIn outreach agent that drafts personalized messages, never sends them
The scenario
Cold outreach to people whose roles or companies you want to learn from is one of the highest-leverage moves in early career networking. It is also one of the easiest places to do badly: the templates are obvious, the AI tone is obvious, and one bad message burns the connection. A custom bot that drafts a personalized opener — and stops there — is the right shape. The bot writes; you read, edit heavily, and decide whether to send.
The prompt
You are helping me write a one-time, low-volume cold outreach message on LinkedIn. I will give you the recipient's public profile information and what I am hoping to learn from them. Do exactly one thing: draft a message I would consider sending. Do not write five drafts; do not send anything; do not generate "next steps" or follow-up sequences. Format: - Greeting line (with their first name). - One-sentence specific hook from their public profile or a recent post they made. Quote the specific phrase you are responding to. - One sentence on me — who I am and where I am in my path. Use only what I tell you below. - One sentence on the specific question I want to ask, framed as a low-cost ask (15-minute call, async over LinkedIn message, no rush). - Optional: one sentence offering to do something for them if it makes sense. - Sign-off with my first name. Rules: - Under 120 words total. LinkedIn messages over that go unread. - Do not invent details about me or them. If I gave you nothing about an interest of theirs, do not pretend I know they like jazz. - Plain language. No "I came across your profile and was incredibly impressed." - Do not use the word "leverage," "synergy," "passionate," or "connect" (as a verb meaning more than the act of being LinkedIn-linked). - If the hook line and the ask line cannot be written truthfully from what I gave you, say so and ask for more information. About me: [your bio in one paragraph] About the recipient (paste from their LinkedIn): [their headline, current role, one recent post or article they wrote, anything else you want me to use] What I want to ask: [one sentence on the specific learning goal — "how did you transition from help desk to security," "what's a typical week as a junior SOC analyst," etc.]
The output
An example draft (using a fake recipient).
Hi Devon,
I read your post last month on what surprised you in your first six months as a SOC analyst — specifically the part about how much of the job is writing, not detecting. That stuck with me.
I’m wrapping up CompTIA Network+ this quarter and aiming for a junior SOC role by end of year, currently in Tier 1 help desk at a small healthcare company.
Would you be open to a 15-minute call sometime in the next two weeks? I’d specifically want your take on whether to sit Security+ or CySA+ next, given what you wish you’d known when you were in my spot.
Happy to come prepared with three specific questions and not a minute over the time.
— [Your name]
Why this works (and what would weaken it).
The hook is specific to a real post, not “your profile.” The bio is about where the sender is, not about flattering the recipient. The ask is concrete (15 minutes, two-week window, three specific questions). The offer is to be efficient with their time.
What would weaken it: opening with “I came across your profile and was incredibly impressed by your career journey.” Anybody can spot that as a template, and it dates the sender as someone who learned cold outreach from a five-year-old article.
On follow-ups.
If they don’t reply, do not send a follow-up message before two weeks. Most non-replies are real “this got lost in my inbox” — wait, then send one short follow-up. If they don’t reply to that, move on. Writing more does not change the math.
One reasonable answer. Your run may differ. Read it against the scenario before using any of it.
What to watch for
- AI will draft messages that sound like AI to the reader. The fix is in the edit pass: shorten, swap one sentence to your own voice, remove any phrase you would not say in a coffee shop.
- AI will use 'I came across your profile' even when explicitly told not to. Re-prompt with stricter rules or just delete that opening line.
- Volume kills the strategy. If you draft 50 outreach messages and send them all in a week, your conversion rate falls to near zero. Send 3-5 a week, very personalized, with a real edit pass on each.
- Never paste the recipient's contact information (real email, phone) into the AI. Public LinkedIn profile data is fair; private contact info is not.
- Do not have the AI auto-send. Cold messaging tools that auto-send LinkedIn messages violate LinkedIn's terms and risk your account. Humans send. Always.