These two articles have different points of view on cold-emailed by VC. PG seems to reject the possibilities of getting funded by VC's cold calls or emails, but this TC article's author seems to favor them. What is the difference?
http://paulgraham.com/fr.html Investors will try to lure you into fundraising when you're not. It's great for them if they can, because they can thereby get a shot at you before everyone else. They'll send you emails saying they want to meet to learn more about you. If you get cold-emailed by an associate at a VC firm, you shouldn't meet even if you are in fundraising mode. Deals don't happen that way.
http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/15/was-y-combinator-worth-it All of our investors – every single one of the 43 – contacted us or requested an introduction through their network.