Got this spam just now ( it was marked to a few Internet CEO’s)!!
Replied to the spam with some pointers!!
Questions:
– Does TiE just allow its members to use its name and brand like this?
– If this person is NOT a TiE member, then who the hell is it??
– How does this ‘whoever’ get the e-mail ids of all the CEO’s of Indian Internet and write to them with such confidence and openness about her Company’s association with TiE??
Something is smelling worse than the October Fish smells of Mumbai here….
******
Govind G Prajapati
Lolz, one should not reply to this mail, and mark it spam and delete forever,
or forward it to spamcop.
one more step could be give complaint in cyber crime division of Mumbai Police.
Rochak Sharma
and now you had made them more popular then they deserved
Murtaza Amin
they will not become popular, but will loose existing biz.
cheap trick to earn some extra bucks, never works on the long game.
kanchan.kumar
Alok,
To answer your questions :
– TiE does not allow it’s members to use the brand – certainly not like this. At the same time we have no way to track who is sending mail to whom mentioning TiE brand – unless it is brought to our notice. Thank you for bringing it to our notice.
– Even a non-member can attend certain programs of TiE, specifically workshops. Moreover, TiE is an open and inclusive platform, anyone can become associate member (as against charter membership which is by invitation only) . However, TiE membership is not a endorsement of the individual or his organisation. But it’s not relevant in this context, whether the person is a member or not a member.
– Getting email ID of anyone is not difficult. However, given that she wrote to you (and others) via LinkedIn, my best guess is that mail came to you on your email ID mentioned in your LinkedIn profile.
Hope this clarifies.
Thanks again you for bringing it to our notice. Our Bangalore chapter has contacted the individual and she has apologised.
Anshoo Grover
Alok,
This message was (most probably) sent to you via LinkedIn InMail feature – which allows you to filter your target audience to ‘CEOs of Indian Internet Cos’.
The message attempts one of these 2 things:
On a side note, I think InMail is an excellent tool (albeit quite powerful – You don’t need any contact info) to get connected to senior executives (I speak from firsthand experience of having used it), but like any other medium – it should be responsibly used.
Above is a perfect case of how not to use InMail.
Amit Mishra
Alok Sir,not only did they loosely used the Tie to indirectly market their product but they also used Linkedin to do so which means after reading this post their networking requests may possibly not accepted in fear of getting spammed. 🙂
To answer your third question, she is connected to you via linkedin and thats how she has been able to contact you.
PS – The person in question is a Harvard graduate and ISB postgraduate with a lot of experience to back whatever she is trying to do except sending this irrelevant and not at all targeted mailer.
Rahul Ramchandani
So good to see TiE takes this so seriously and you responded so quickly. TiE certainly takes their brand name seriously. Good job!
Dinesh Brid
Anshoo, though LinkedIn’s InMail rocks, it’s an expensive proposition for start-ups.
Another bummer, they have an upper cap on the # of InMails you can shoot out each month. So sales professionals such as you can only prospect on LinkedIn based on pre-set limits.
I’ve been using Rapportive. It’s kick-ass!
Install the browser plugin for Gmail at http://www.Rapportive.com
Once installed, open Gmail & try entering the firstname.lastname of the individual you want to reach, followed by his company name. Example: anshoo.grover@remindo.com
Note: I usually do my background research of looking up company names, designations, etc. in advance.
So your name in this case:
I looked you up on LinkedIn to confirm your company – Remindo.
I launched compose new mail in Gmail.
Entered your name: anshoo.grover@remindo.com. To the right it MUST show me your LinkedIn Profile Pic. If not, I’ll try another email combo.
I tried anshoo.g@remindo.com. No luck.
On hitting anshoo@remindo.com, vwallah! I had your LinkedIn on the right.
Here’s to saving time & money 🙂
Lesser known fact: Rapportive was acquired by LinkedIn. Founder Rahul Vohra now works at LinkedIn.
Dibakash Baruah
Trolled! lol
Jack John
Now this brand got, Brand visibility 🙂