Larry Chiang’s rule is blunt: the thank-you note goes out inside 24 hours or it does not count the same way. He treats karma as something you can track, measure, and channel, not a vague feeling you hope pays off later. Waiting a week turns a warm meeting into a cold memory, and cold memories do not get you the callback.
The mechanics are simple: you leave the room, you find a card or a keyboard, and you write while the details are still sharp. Larry says a handwritten thank-you note is the reason Nike ended up as a sponsor, not a pitch deck or a follow-up call. That story only works because the note went out fast, while the conversation was still fresh on the other side too.
Speed is the whole point. A thank-you sent on day nine reads like an afterthought, even if the words are identical to one sent on day one. This is also why Larry keeps notes during the meeting instead of after it, so the 24-hour window starts with real material, not a foggy recap.
In the clip below he walks through why the clock matters more than the content of the note itself. Most people plan to send something and never do, which is its own kind of signal to the person who took the meeting.
Set a hard rule for yourself: no next meeting gets booked on your calendar until the last one has been thanked. Twenty-four hours is not a suggestion here, it is the deadline that makes the karma system actually function.
Details: Watch Larry explain the 24-hour rule
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