Introductions are the reason many people join a business network. Members pay, turn up and stay because the network connects them to a supplier, a client, a co-founder or an adviser they would not have found alone. Yet most introductions in WhatsApp-based networks happen by accident: someone posts a need, someone else tags a name, and two strangers are left to work out why they are now in a chat together.
Learning how to make introductions in a business network on purpose starts with what makes an introduction worth making. Then come a step-by-step method, what to write, the difference between a strong and a weak introduction, and what changes when the network grows past the point where one organiser can remember everyone. The method draws on two well-known essays on introductions, listed under Sources.
What makes an introduction worth making
An introduction is a small loan of your reputation. When you connect two people, each of them assumes you thought it through. If the meeting is useful, they trust your next introduction more. If it wastes their time, they become slower to accept the next one, and some stop accepting at all.
Auren Hoffman's essay on the art of the email introduction puts the test simply: both people should benefit. If only one side gets value, the introduction has failed, even if it was polite. That rules out a common pattern in business groups, where a member asks to be introduced to someone senior so they can pitch them. Unless the senior person also gains something, that is a favour asked on their behalf without their agreement.
In practice, the introductions that work best in a professional community have three things in common. There is a specific need, not a general wish to network. There is a clear reason this particular person can help. And both people have said yes before their names and numbers change hands.
How to make introductions in a business network, step by step
The steps below work for one introduction a month or several a week. They assume you are the person in the middle: an organiser, a chapter lead or a member who knows both sides.
- 1Clarify the need. Ask the person what exactly they want, by when, and in which city. "A lawyer" is not a need. "A lawyer in Mohali who has handled a commercial lease dispute" is.
- 2Choose one person, not five. Pick the member most likely to help and most likely to want to. Sending a request to several people at once makes each of them less likely to reply.
- 3Ask the person who can help first, privately. Describe the need without naming the person asking unless they have agreed. Make it easy to say no.
- 4Confirm with the person asking. Once the helper says yes, check that the person asking still wants the introduction and is happy for their contact details to be shared.
- 5Send the introduction. One short message to both, with who each person is, why you are connecting them and a suggested next step.
- 6Step back. Let them arrange the call or meeting. Do not stay in the middle of the conversation unless asked.
- 7Follow up once. About a week later, ask each side whether it helped. Their answers tell you which members are good at helping and which needs your network cannot meet yet.
Steps three and four are the ones people skip, and they are the ones that matter most. Asking first is called a double opt-in introduction. Our double opt-in introductions guide explains it in full.
What to write in the introduction message
A good introduction message is short enough to read on a phone in one go. Hoffman's essay recommends full names, a short note on each person, where each person is based so they can plan a meeting, and a clear purpose. It also suggests saying if the two have met before, so nobody is embarrassed.
- One line on each person: name, what they do and where they are based.
- One line on why you are connecting them, in terms of the specific need.
- One suggested next step, such as a fifteen-minute call this week.
- Nothing they have not agreed to share. No forwarded screenshots, no private details from earlier chats.
If you write a lot of these, the free introduction message generator produces the opt-in question and the introduction itself from a few fields, so you are not starting from a blank screen each time.
Where you send the message matters too. A WhatsApp group with both people in it is the wrong place: everyone else sees the need, and tagging someone can surface details they did not choose to share. WhatsApp's own community safety guide warns admins that @mentioning a member in an announcement group exposes that member's phone number to the whole community. A new private chat with just the two people, or an email, keeps the introduction between the people it concerns.
Strong and weak introductions compared
Most weak introductions are not rude. They are rushed. The table shows the same situation handled two ways.
| Part of the introduction | Weak | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| The need | "Anyone know a CA?" posted in the group | A tax adviser for a two-person startup in Panchkula, before the March filing |
| Choosing who | Tag three names and see who answers | One member who works with early-stage startups and has capacity |
| Consent | Numbers shared in the group straight away | The helper is asked privately first; the asker agrees to share their number |
| The message | "Connecting you two" | Who each person is, why they should talk and a suggested fifteen-minute call |
| Where it happens | In the group, in front of everyone | A private chat or email with just the two people |
| Afterwards | Nobody knows if it worked | A follow-up a week later, and a note of the outcome |
When the network is too big to remember everyone
The method above depends on the organiser knowing who does what. That works up to a point. Past a few dozen active members, the organiser starts introducing the same five people because they are the ones they remember, newer members never get asked, and requests that arrive while the organiser is busy go unanswered.
Two things help. The first is a member directory with what each person does and where they work, kept current by the members themselves. Our guide on how to create a member directory covers how to build one. The second is a consistent way to route each request to someone who fits, rather than to whoever the organiser happens to think of first.
Milvao does both for communities that run on WhatsApp. A member writes their request privately to the community's own WhatsApp Business number. Milvao turns it into a short brief the member confirms, then offers it to the best-fitting member, one at a time, with automatic matching. The person asked sees the brief but not who asked, and has 48 hours to accept or decline. Names and numbers are shared only after both people agree. Organisers who prefer to choose each match themselves can switch to approving every match, as the Help Center explains under matching modes.
Mistakes that make members stop accepting introductions
Members rarely complain about a bad introduction. They just become slower to say yes to the next one. Watch for these patterns.
- Introducing without asking. The helper feels obliged to take a meeting they never agreed to.
- Always asking the same people. Generous members get worn out, and quieter members never get a chance to help.
- Vague purpose. "You two should meet" leaves both people to guess why, and most will not bother.
- Introductions that are really sales pitches. If one side only wants to sell, say so up front and let the other decide.
- No follow-up. Without it you cannot tell good introductions from wasted ones, and you keep making the same mistakes.
A good rule is to limit how often any one member is asked, and to tell members they can decline without explaining. Both make it more likely that a yes is a real yes.
Sources
- Auren Hoffman: Art of the email introduction (19 May 2010) (checked 5 November 2026)
- Fred Wilson, AVC: The double opt-in introduction (3 November 2009) (checked 5 November 2026)
- WhatsApp Communities: Building a safe community (checked 5 November 2026)
Milvao publishes this guide and makes a product for WhatsApp communities, so we have a stake in the topic. Facts about WhatsApp and other services come from the sources listed, on the dates shown, and can change. Corrections are welcome through our contact page.