5x5 Warm-Intro Map

Replace cold applications with warm intros by mapping 5 target companies × 5 real humans inside or one degree out.

Open a fresh spreadsheet and list five companies where you would genuinely love to work. Create five columns for each row to hold the names of internal employees or mutual connections who can bridge the gap.

For each company, find 5 people: (1) someone in the role you want, (2) someone on the hiring team, (3) someone who recently joined (last 6 months), (4) a mutual LinkedIn connection, (5) an alum from your school/past company. Note one specific thing about each. Choose 5 people total (one per company) to reach out to this week with a personalized, easy-ask message.

Specificity is the whole game. A message that could be sent to anyone gets answered by no one.