What are the ethical boundaries of “cold outreach”?;

Cold outreach exists in contested ethical territory. Some principles help distinguish acceptable practice from spam:

Genuine relevance: Contact people whose professional responsibilities make your offering potentially useful. Mass-blasting anyone with an email address isn't outreach; it's spam.

Transparency: Be clear about who you are, why you're reaching out, and what you want. Deceptive subject lines, fake urgency, or hidden identities cross ethical lines.

Respect for time: Keep messages brief. Don't demand responses. Accept that most recipients won't reply.

Easy exit: Honor opt-out requests immediately. Continuing to email someone who asked to stop is both unethical and often illegal.

Volume restraint: Sending hundreds of emails to the same company or following up aggressively shows disrespect for recipients.

The fundamental question: would you be comfortable if your outreach practices were made public? If the answer is no, reconsider your approach.