How to sell to CFOs at Biotech companies
CFOs in biotech are primarily measured on cash flow management and their ability to secure funding for research and development. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a deep understanding of the unique financial pressures in life sciences, particularly around funding cycles and regulatory compliance. Highlighting how you can alleviate their funding concerns will capture their interest.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 573 biotech company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- cash flow shortages during funding gaps
- unexpected costs in clinical trials
- delays in securing R&D funding
- regulatory compliance expenses
The playbook
- 01
Identify funding gaps in R&D
Use industry reports to pinpoint biotech companies that have recently completed funding rounds but have upcoming R&D projects. Focus on firms that have raised less than their projected funding needs, as they may be more receptive to solutions that address financial shortfalls.
- 02
Analyze recent regulatory challenges
Research news articles and press releases for biotech firms that have faced compliance issues or regulatory delays. Highlighting your understanding of these challenges in your outreach can resonate with CFOs who are looking for ways to mitigate financial risks associated with compliance.
- 03
Segment by clinical trial stage
Filter your list for companies currently in late-stage clinical trials, as they may be under pressure to manage costs effectively. CFOs in these firms are often looking for financial strategies to optimize funding use, making them more likely to engage with relevant outreach.
- 04
Craft messaging around cash flow solutions
When reaching out, focus on how your solution can enhance cash flow management specifically for biotech R&D projects. Address common concerns such as funding delays or unexpected costs, and provide examples of how you’ve helped similar firms navigate these challenges.
- 05
Follow up post-funding announcements
Set reminders to follow up with CFOs after they announce new funding. This is a critical time when they are likely assessing their financial strategies. A well-timed message that offers support for managing new capital can prompt a conversation.
Can biotech companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 573 biotech companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 27% of 1–10-person companies against 84.3% of the largest — 57 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Funding strategies for biotech CFOs
- Managing cash flow in biotech
- Overcoming regulatory financial hurdles
Questions
- Why do CFOs in biotech ignore outreach about financial software?
- CFOs in biotech often receive numerous pitches about financial software, which may not address their specific industry challenges. They prioritize solutions that directly relate to funding management and regulatory compliance, so generic outreach fails to capture their attention.
- What financial metrics do biotech CFOs prioritize?
- Biotech CFOs typically focus on cash burn rate, funding runway, and return on investment for R&D projects. They are concerned with metrics that directly impact their ability to sustain operations and secure future funding, making these critical points in any outreach.
- How do biotech CFOs prefer to engage with vendors?
- Biotech CFOs prefer to engage with vendors who demonstrate a clear understanding of their industry-specific challenges. They appreciate personalized communication that addresses their unique financial pressures, rather than one-size-fits-all pitches.
- What common objections do biotech CFOs have?
- Common objections from biotech CFOs include concerns about the ROI of new financial solutions and doubts about their applicability to the unique financial landscape of the biotech industry. Addressing these objections with tailored case studies can help overcome resistance.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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