Cold emails feel awkward to send and totally normal to receive. The fear lives only on the sender’s side.

The asymmetry is almost total. On your side there is a week of drafting and a spike of exposure; on theirs, a message that takes ten seconds to read and produces no judgment at all. People receive requests constantly and think nothing of the ones they decline.

Write four short sentences, say what you want and why you asked this person specifically, and send it today. Do not apologize for the intrusion. If nothing comes back, nobody is thinking about it except you, which means the next one costs even less.