The Prompt for the Introduction You Wish Someone Would Make for You

Almost everyone can describe what they do. Almost no one can describe themselves the way a great mutual friend would — the person who knows your work well enough to introduce you in a single sentence that makes a stranger lean in. "You have to meet her, she's the one who figured out the thing everyone else gave up on." That sentence is worth more than your entire bio, and you have probably never written it down, because it's not the kind of thing you can write about yourself directly. It sounds like bragging when you say it and like magic when a friend does.

The gap between those two is the most useful thing to close before you set up any page that speaks for you. Here is a prompt that closes it. It works in any AI assistant, and it's useful whether or not you ever build a Parlei page — because the output is the truest short description of you that exists, and you'll find uses for it everywhere.

The prompt

I want you to help me write the introduction a great mutual friend would give of me — the kind that makes a stranger want to meet me. Interview me one question at a time. Don't move on until an answer is specific.

Start by asking me what I actually do, then keep pushing past the generic version until we reach the thing that's true and particular. Then ask: what's the problem I'm the most obvious person in the room to talk about? What did I figure out the hard way that most people in my field haven't? Who have I helped, and what changed for them? What do I want to be reached for — and what do I want to be spared? Who is the person I'd clear an afternoon to meet, and why?

When you have enough, write three things: (1) a one-sentence introduction a warm mutual friend would give, pointed at a reason, not a résumé; (2) a short paragraph a stranger could read and immediately know whether they're a fit; (3) a plain list of who I'm hoping to meet and who I'm not. Keep my voice. Cut anything that sounds like a LinkedIn headline.

That's it. Paste it, answer honestly, and don't let the assistant — or yourself — settle for the first, safe, generic answer to any question. The value is entirely in the pushing.

Why this works, and why the interview matters

The reason to make it an interview rather than a "write my bio" request is that you cannot see your own reason from the inside. Asked to describe yourself, you'll produce the safe summary — the title, the years, the list of things you're associated with. That summary is exactly what makes a stranger's eyes slide off. A good mutual friend doesn't summarize you; they point at you. They pick the one true, specific thing and aim it at a reason to talk. The interview format drags that specific thing out one question at a time, because specificity only shows up under follow-up. The first answer is a headline. The third answer is the truth.

Notice the two questions doing the heaviest lifting: what do I want to be reached for, and what do I want to be spared, and who would I clear an afternoon for. Those aren't bio questions. They're intent questions — they define not just who you are but who you're for. An introduction that includes the reason lands; one that's just credentials evaporates. Most self-descriptions are all credentials and no reason, which is why they don't produce introductions.

What to do with the output

Read the three pieces it gives you and check them against a simple test: would a stranger, having read this, know whether they are the person you'd want to hear from? If yes, you've got something rare — a description that qualifies as well as it impresses.

Then it goes to work in obvious places. It's a better "about" than your about page. It's the DM you send when someone asks what you're up to. It's the thing you hand a real mutual friend so their introduction of you is as sharp as the one you just wrote for yourself.

And if you build a page that speaks for you, this output is the seed for it. Parlei's onboarding is a paste-your-context flow — you have a conversation about yourself and paste the structured result in — and this prompt produces almost exactly the material that flow is hungry for: not a résumé, but a reason and an intent, in your voice. The introduction you wish someone would make becomes the one your emissary makes, for every stranger, at any hour.

Most people wait their whole careers for a mutual friend generous and well-informed enough to introduce them perfectly. You can write that introduction this afternoon. Then you never have to wait for it again.

Parlei is in early access. If you want your page to make the introduction you just wrote, request an invite.