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Indian-origin founder praises young programmer's cold email after failed attempt to deliver 24 doughnuts: 'One of the coolest'
An Indian-origin founder praised a 20-year-old programmer's unusual cold email featuring doughnuts and a handwritten note.
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An Indian-origin startup founder based in San Francisco has praised an unusual cold email from a 20-year-old programmer who tried to grab his attention with 24 doughnuts and a handwritten letter. The young programmer's unusual approach has drawn attention on social media, with some users suggesting that the letter may have been created using AI.
(Also read: Indian-origin CEO in US wakes up as early as 3 am, works 6 days a week but rejects Silicon Valley's '996' culture)
Jai Bhatia, co-founder of AI startup Turnstone, shared a screenshot of the email on X on November 12, writing, "One of the coolest emails I've ever got."
What was in the unusual email?
The email came from Logan Hogg, a 20-year-old self-taught programmer who had travelled to San Francisco.
Hogg explained that he had attempted to visit Bhatia's office the previous day, carrying 24 doughnuts and a handwritten letter. However, he was unable to locate the office.
With a flight back to London scheduled for the following day, Hogg decided to email Bhatia instead, attaching a photograph of his handwritten note.
In the letter, Hogg expressed admiration for Bhatia's entrepreneurial journey and explained how the founder's achievements had inspired him.
He also revealed that he had left school to pursue the Y Combinator programme, saying that seeing entrepreneurs like Bhatia succeed had encouraged him to pursue his own ambitions.
The message was not simply an expression of admiration. Hogg also proposed meeting Bhatia for lunch or dinner and offered to demonstrate a product developed by his team.
He suggested that Bhatia's team could test the product free for a week, claiming that it could reduce AI token costs and the time spent debugging.
Take a look here at his post:
Bhatia is the co-founder of Turnstone, a San Francisco-based AI startup backed by Y Combinator.
Social media users react
Bhatia's post attracted attention online, with users discussing both the creativity of Hogg's approach and whether the handwritten message was entirely his own work.
Some appreciated his effort to visit the office with doughnuts, while others suspected that the letter may have been created using AI.
"I liked it at first because it felt genuine and then people said it was AI. Ugh!" one user commented.
(Also read: ‘He hoodwinked me’: Indian-origin CEO who fired 900 employees over Zoom seeks his job back)
Another wrote, "Looks like AI but the script was nice."
However, there was no confirmation that AI had been used to draft the letter.
