How to sell to CTOs at Biotech companies
CTOs in biotech companies are primarily measured by their ability to reduce product development timelines. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of regulatory hurdles and how technology can streamline compliance processes. Highlighting specific solutions that address their current clinical trials or R&D inefficiencies can capture their attention.
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
- regulatory delays
- clinical trial inefficiencies
- data management issues
The playbook
- 01
Identify compliance bottlenecks in ongoing trials
Research recent clinical trials within your target companies. Look for press releases or news articles that mention delays or compliance issues. Use this information to tailor your outreach, focusing on how your solution can mitigate these specific challenges.
- 02
Connect with engineering leads on LinkedIn
Search for engineering leads in your target biotech firms and engage with their posts. Comment on their insights about tech in life sciences to establish a rapport before reaching out directly. This connection can increase the likelihood of a response.
- 03
Leverage recent funding announcements
Monitor funding news in biotech to identify companies that have received new investments. These companies are often looking to scale quickly and may be more open to discussions about tech solutions that can enhance their R&D capabilities.
- 04
Address specific regulatory pain points
When crafting your outreach, explicitly mention regulatory challenges faced in biotech, such as FDA approval processes. By addressing these pain points directly, you demonstrate an understanding of their unique environment and can position your solution as a critical asset.
- 05
Follow up with insights on industry trends
After your initial outreach, follow up with valuable insights regarding trends in biotech technology. Sharing articles or reports on innovations in clinical trials can keep the conversation going and position you as a knowledgeable partner.
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
- Streamlining clinical trials
- Reducing compliance delays
- Enhancing R&D efficiency
Questions
- Why do CTOs in biotech ignore outreach about generic tech solutions?
- CTOs in biotech prioritize solutions that address specific industry challenges. Generic tech pitches fail to resonate because they don't speak to the unique regulatory and operational hurdles faced in biotech, such as compliance and data integrity.
- What recent trends are CTOs in biotech focused on?
- CTOs are increasingly focused on integrating AI and machine learning to optimize drug discovery and clinical trials. They are also looking at data analytics solutions to improve decision-making and streamline compliance with regulatory requirements.
- How can I effectively demonstrate value to a biotech CTO?
- Demonstrating value to a biotech CTO requires a deep understanding of their specific pain points, such as regulatory challenges and R&D timelines. Tailor your message to show how your solution can directly alleviate these issues and enhance their operational efficiency.
- What objections might CTOs have regarding new technology integrations?
- CTOs may object to new technology integrations due to concerns about compliance, data security, and the potential disruption to ongoing projects. It's essential to address these concerns by providing clear examples of successful integrations in similar biotech environments.
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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