Discord CEO Cold Email

A story about how Shaan Puri cold emailed Discord's CEO with an acquisition pitch that turned into an unexpected job offer.

"I approached Discord and said 'Hey Discord, you want to buy us?' They're like 'Maybe, who are you and what do you do?' I explained what we did today, but then pitched them on how we could help them compete with Twitch. Discord has brand love - it's one of the most loved brands in gaming.

I got a warm intro through Discord's lead investor. I told the investor 'Hey, we're thinking about selling, would you do this deal or not?' He said 'Well you should first talk to the Discord guys.' That's exactly what I was hoping for because I needed to create a bidding war to get the best deal possible.

I emailed the CEO and said 'Hey, I'd love to come by the office today and in 40 minutes I'll sketch out what I have in mind.' When I met with Jason Citron [Discord CEO], I was blown away. I'd never met Zuck but the way he talked about their product, their strategy - his quiet nerdy confidence - I was like 'I don't want to compete with this guy.' I see why they've kicked everyone's ass.

At the end of it, his take was basically 'We will acquire you if you want. I don't know if we'll pay the most, so I don't know if the deal will happen. But the fact that you can come in here and whiteboard this on a wall makes me want you to come here and do things.' He offered me a C-suite type position, even though they weren't going to do the plan I outlined."