People use these three words in DMs and wonder why they don't get a response: 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, and worst of all, 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬.

😴 Opportunities: it's so vague that it usually comes from people who don't even know what we do. Everything is an "opportunity" - almost like it's a tautology. Better yet, they offer an "opportunity" for me to work with them. It's always an opportunity for ME, never for THEM. Simply lovely.

🤢 Collaborations: it's often used to hide the true agenda, which makes the conversation phony and inefficient. If you're coming to ask for sponsorship, just say sponsorship. Then I can tell you if we're interested or not. Don't waste each other's time saying collaborations.

🤮 Synergies: a big word for unsolicited DMs. Synergy isn't just 1 + 1 > 2. Mutually beneficial? Sure. Synergistic? Rarely. And it’s the worst because the people who use it often understand the least about what we actually do. There are virtually no ideas, solutions, services, or products we haven't seen pitched over the years.

Respect DMs. If you're expecting me to reply to your templated AI-generated message sent via Salesforce by hand, at least have the courtesy to write it in plain English.

As for people who ask for jobs through DMs - that's a whole other level. But that's another story for another time.