Sending cold emails is as much an art as it is writing. The thing that makes it difficult to get a response to them is no one cares to read them. What you have to do is make them relate to you in the first 2 lines. You have to customize your cold email to the receiver. I am a student from France and I have managed to receive responses from people sitting in positions as high as partner/vice-president at the biggest firms in the world.
Here is an example,
Dear ---
I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as a Partner at ---.
I came across this great news while reading about ---, as one of my close friends is working on a startup in India with a similar customer experience model. It further interested me since I am a corporate finance student at ESSEC Business school and --- recently advised --- in completing their growth funding.
Since I had my first job in online advertising, the --- sector holds special interest to me. I would really appreciate if I could meet you during ---- to further my understanding of the career prospects in the domain. Your profile is truly inspirational, and it would be a great experience for me to interact with you.
Hoping for a positive response.
Thanks and regards,
Dhruv Khandelwal
This email got me a response in 10 mins. I am not kidding. I can not give out certain details of this mail, hope that is fine.
Thanks
Dhruv