Guides
Guides to finding and reaching people
These guides explain how to find a person and reach them well, with steps you can follow by hand, and with notes on when a tool is worth paying for.
By Invenitor team. Updated .
Finding people
Go from a person or a description to a way of reaching them.
- How to find someone's email addressTo find someone's email address, check the places they chose to publish it first, then their company's pages, then ask a mutual contact, and use a contact tool when those fail.
- How to find someone's work phone numberTo find someone's work phone number, start with their company's site and front desk, then ask a mutual contact, and use a contact tool when you need a direct line.
- How to find someone when you don't know their nameTo find someone when you do not know their name, describe them by role, field, company type and place, then search for that description and check the people it returns.
- How to write a people search query that worksA good people search query is one plain sentence that names a role or field, adds one or two details such as a place or company type, and leaves out anything you could live without.
- How to find the right person to contact at a companyThe right person at a company is whoever owns the problem you solve and can act on it, which is usually the founder at a small company and a team head at a large one.
- How to find an email from a LinkedIn profileTo find an email from a LinkedIn profile, first check the person's contact info section and linked site, then ask them on the platform, or paste the profile link into a contact lookup.
- What to do when you cannot find someone's emailWhen you cannot find someone's email, try a mutual contact, a company route or the platform they use, then consider a different person who can help just as well.
Finding by who they are
Each kind of person publishes contact details in different places.
- How to find a journalist's email and pitch them wellTo find a journalist's email, read the author page behind their recent articles and the publication's contact page, because most reporters publish a route so that sources can reach them.
- How to find a startup founder's emailTo find a founder's email, check the startup's site, their launch posts and newsletter, then their investors' portfolio pages, because early founders usually want to be reachable.
- How to find an investor's email and reach them wellTo find an investor's email, check the fund's team page and their own writing, but try for an introduction from a founder they back first, since investors weigh how a deal reaches them.
- How to find a podcast host's email to pitch a guest spotTo find a podcast host's email, check the show's website and episode notes, then the show's feed, which often lists an owner address, and look for any guest form they prefer.
- How to find a professor's email and get a replyTo find a professor's email, check their department's faculty page and the corresponding author line on their recent papers, since academics usually publish an address for this purpose.
- How to find a local business owner's contact detailsTo find a local business owner, start with the business's map listing and phone number, then ask for the owner by role, because small firms usually answer calls and visits sooner than email.
- How to find an expert to interview or advise youTo find an expert, look for people who have done the specific thing recently, not those who talk about it most, then ask them one clear question and offer to pay if it takes real time.
- How to find a mentor who will actually replyTo find a mentor, look for someone only a few years ahead of you, ask one small specific question rather than asking them to be your mentor, and let the relationship grow from there.
- How to find alumni from your college and reach outTo find alumni from your college, start with your alumni office and groups, then search by college and role, and use the shared college as the honest reason for your note.
Finding customers and partners
Find the people who will buy from you, or sell with you.
- How to find your first customers without a sales teamTo find your first customers, pick one narrow group of people who feel your problem, reach twenty of them personally, and treat every conversation as research before you buy any tool.
- How to find clients as a freelancer without a marketplaceTo find clients as a freelancer, choose a narrow niche, look for people with a visible need for your work, write to them with one specific idea, and turn each project into referrals.
- How to find partners and resellers for your businessTo find partners, list the businesses that already serve your customers but do not compete with you, reach the person who owns that relationship, and offer them a clear reason to care.
Reaching out
What to write, how to follow up, and what rules apply.
- How to write a first email to someone you have never metA good first email to a stranger has a plain subject line, one sentence on why you chose them, one on who you are, and one small request they can answer in a minute.
- How to follow up on an email without annoying peopleTo follow up without annoying people, wait about a week, add something new rather than repeating yourself, send at most two follow-ups, and stop immediately if they say no.
- How to lower your cold email bounce rateTo lower your email bounce rate, stop sending to addresses that hard bounced, send old lists in small test batches, set up SPF and DKIM on your domain, and keep your list short and current.
- Rules for contacting strangers for work in India and abroadIn India, the DPDP Rules phase in through May 2027, TRAI regulates commercial calls and texts, and WhatsApp requires opt-in, so treat a found contact as a way to ask, not as permission.
Credits, API and agents
What things cost, and how to build on the search.
- How Invenitor credits work, with worked examplesInvenitor credits cost ₹2 each, a search costs 20 credits for up to 100 people and is free if it finds nobody, and a contact costs 1 credit only when an email or phone comes back.
- How to use a people search API: a developer's guideTo use Invenitor's people search API, send a POST request with your key and a plain-words query to /api/v1/people/search, then read up to 100 people from the JSON response.
- How to connect people search to an AI agent with MCPTo connect people search to an AI agent, add Invenitor's remote MCP server at https://api.invenitor.com/mcp to your client with your key as a bearer token, then ask the agent to check your balance.
- How to remove your details from people search sitesTo remove your details from a people search site, find its removal or privacy page, send the email, phone or profile link it lists, and keep a record, while on Invenitor you ask at /remove.