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Five ways to find design partners, by hit rate

Ranked list of five ways to find design partners with acceptance rates, from warm intros at 60 to 80 percent to cold outbound at 1 to 3 percent.
Start with people who already trust you

Five ways to source design partners for a B2B product, ranked by how often people say yes: warm intros from your network, investor portfolio companies, targeted LinkedIn outreach, communities and cold outbound. The rates are rough ranges for acceptance. Use the list to decide where to spend your first outreach hours.

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What's in this guide

  1. Founder's network warm intros: 60 to 80% accept. People who already trust you say yes faster.
  2. Investors' portfolio companies: 40 to 60% accept. Your seed investor knows founders with this problem.
  3. Targeted LinkedIn outreach to one ICP: 10 to 20%. Personalize hard and reference a specific post or talk.
  4. Communities: 5 to 15%. Show up and contribute for a month before asking.
  5. Cold outbound to a tight ICP list: 1 to 3%. Use it as a backstop only.

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<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/design-partner-sources-by-hit-rate">Five ways to find design partners, by hit rate</a>, Koji</p>