How to Build an AI Executive Assistant for Email (Telegram Setup)

Think about the last time you said to yourself: “I should connect those two people.”

Maybe you were at dinner and realized person A would really benefit from knowing person B. Maybe you heard someone mention a problem that person C has already solved. The thought flashes through your head, and then… you move on. The intro never happens.

It’s not that you forgot exactly. It’s that intro emails take effort. Real, specific, personalized effort. And when something takes 15 minutes, it keeps getting pushed to a quiet moment that never quite arrives.

The 15-Minute Problem

Here’s what writing a good intro email actually looks like:

You have to remind yourself who both people are and why the connection makes sense. You need to pull up their recent work — what are they working on right now, not six months ago. You write something warm and specific that doesn’t read like a template. You find the right email addresses. You send it.

For a thoughtful intro, that’s 10-15 minutes minimum. And it should be done while the insight is fresh — which is almost never when you actually have a free 15 minutes.

So you skip it. Or you write a lazy version and feel weird about it. Or you create a note that says “introduce X to Y” and look at it every week until you archive it.

The best networkers I know send a lot of intros. Not because they have more time — they’re just as busy. The difference is usually friction.

What 10 Seconds Looks Like

Last November, I was demonstrating my AI setup at a workshop. I pulled out my phone and opened Telegram.

I typed: “Draft an email to Evan Baehr to introduce Lauren Goldstein to be a guest at his members club. I think she would be a great addition.”

Ten seconds later, the email was in my Gmail drafts.

It opened with context about the introduction. It had a paragraph about Evan — pulled from my CRM. It had a paragraph about Lauren’s current work — pulled from a Google search the agent ran in the background. It made a case for why the connection made sense. The tone was warm and personal, not templated.

I read it, tweaked one phrase, and hit send.

My total time: maybe 15 seconds.

How It Actually Works

My AI executive assistant lives in Telegram. I message it the same way I’d text anyone — just typing normally on my phone.

When I sent that intro request, here’s what the agent actually did:

1. Looked up Evan Baehr in my personal CRM to get context on who he is and his contact info
2. Looked up Lauren Goldstein in my CRM for her background
3. Did a quick Google search on Lauren to pull current information about her work
4. Wrote a first draft that referenced all of that context
5. Deposited it in my Gmail as a draft ready for review

None of that was prompted. I didn’t tell it to check the CRM or Google anything. It just knew what a good intro email requires and went and found the information.

A friend of mine built something similar for a different use case — she drives constantly for her healthcare job and couldn’t keep up with emails. She set up an agent that reads her emails aloud while she’s driving and lets her dictate responses. Same underlying principle: AI that fits around your life, not the other way around.

AI as Tool vs. AI as Teammate

There’s a version of AI that’s a very good tool. You open it, tell it what you need, it helps you do the thing. That’s useful. That’s most of how people use ChatGPT right now.

But there’s a different category. AI that already knows your context — your contacts, your relationships, your preferences, your calendar. AI you can give a half-formed thought to and it figures out the rest.

I call this the “agent as teammate” model. Your executive assistant doesn’t need to be briefed on who Evan is every time you mention him. A good teammate already has that context. They just need the high-level ask.

The magic of email automation, in my experience, isn’t in the sending. It’s in the drafting. Once the first draft just appears, you only need a minute to review and adjust. That turns a 15-minute task into a two-minute task. And two-minute tasks actually get done.

What This Requires

A centralized contact list your agent can read. Doesn’t have to be sophisticated — a well-maintained Google Sheet works. The agent needs to know who’s in your world and what they do.

An interface you actually use. This is underrated. The reason I use Telegram is that I’m already on it. If I had to open a separate app to talk to my EA, I’d use it less. The best interface is the one you’re already in.

A good system prompt. What does a good intro email look like? What tone? What level of formality? These don’t have to be long — just clear enough that the first draft doesn’t need a full rewrite.

Permission to research. The agent needs to be able to Google people and pull fresh context. Without that, it’s working from whatever’s in your CRM, which may be months old.

With those four things in place, “send an intro email” goes from a 15-minute task to one that happens on the way to your next meeting.

The Compounding Effect

Here’s the thing about intro emails specifically: they compound.

One well-timed intro can lead to a partnership, a hire, a deal, a friendship. The people who build great networks don’t just attend more events — they stay in motion between events. They follow through on the thought that flashed through their head at dinner.

If your AI EA cuts the friction on each individual intro from 15 minutes to 2 minutes, you don’t just send the same intros faster. You send more of them. The ones you would have skipped. The ones where you weren’t sure the timing was right but it was good enough.

That’s the multiplier. Not just speed — more action on thoughts you would have otherwise let fade.

P.S. Setting up an AI executive assistant — including the CRM integration and Telegram interface — is one of the first things we build out in the Two Hour Workday program.