An Indian-origin YouTuber managed to get Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on his podcast with a simple cold email. Dwarkesh Patel reached out to Nadella with a straightforward request: “Wanna come to my podcast?”

In his email, Patel mentioned that he had noticed Nadella’s email address among his newsletter subscribers, indicating that the Microsoft chief had tuned into an episode of his podcast. Seizing the opportunity, Patel extended an invitation, writing: “Would you be interested in coming to my podcast? Previous guests include Mark Zuckerberg, Tony Blair, and Ilya Sutskever.”

To his surprise, Nadella personally responded with enthusiasm. “Hi, Dwarkesh. Your pod is super! I would love to,” the Microsoft CEO wrote.

Patel later shared this experience on X, encouraging others to take chances. “Kids, don’t underestimate the power of a cold email,” he posted, along with snippets from his conversation with Nadella.

During the podcast, Patel referred to Nadella as a “company man” for his 34-year tenure at Microsoft and asked about his journey. Nadella expressed his growing passion for the company, saying, “For anybody joining Microsoft… as long as they feel that they can use this as a platform for both their economic return but also a sense of purpose, a sense of mission that they can accomplish by using us as a platform. Right, so therefore that’s the contract.”

The discussion also delved into advanced topics like AGI and quantum breakthroughs, making for an insightful conversation.