How to sell to CTOs at Developer tools companies in Netherlands
CTOs in developer tools companies in the Netherlands prioritize system reliability and deployment efficiency. They are measured on uptime percentages and the speed of feature rollouts. Demonstrating a clear understanding of their CI/CD pipeline challenges and how your solution can enhance observability will prompt them to engage with you.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 587 developer tools company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- deployment delays
- system outages
- integration challenges
- team productivity loss
The playbook
- 01
Identify companies with recent funding rounds
Use platforms like Crunchbase to filter for developer tools companies in the Netherlands that have received funding in the last six months. These companies are likely to invest in their infrastructure and may be looking for solutions to enhance their CI/CD processes.
- 02
Research their current technology stack
Check their GitHub repositories or tech blogs to understand the tools they currently use for deployment and observability. Tailor your outreach by citing specific tools they use and how your solution integrates or improves upon their existing stack.
- 03
Highlight recent industry challenges
In your communication, reference recent challenges in the developer tools space, such as the need for improved API management or CI/CD bottlenecks. This demonstrates your awareness of their environment and positions your outreach as relevant and timely.
- 04
Address common objections up front
CTOs often worry about integration complexity. In your outreach, proactively address this by outlining how your solution simplifies integration with existing systems, reducing the learning curve for their teams.
- 05
Suggest a specific time for a call
When proposing a meeting, suggest specific days and times based on their local timezone. For instance, 'Would Tuesday at 10 AM or Thursday at 2 PM work for a brief call?' This provides a clear next step and respects their busy schedule.
Can developer tools companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 587 developer tools 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: 27.4% of 1–10-person companies against 94.9% of the largest — 68 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
- Improving your CI/CD pipeline
- Enhancing observability tools
- Streamlining API management
Questions
- Why do CTOs in developer tools ignore outreach about new technologies?
- CTOs are often inundated with pitches that don't align with their current priorities or technology stack. If the outreach doesn't clearly articulate a specific pain point or improvement, it risks being overlooked. Tailoring your message to their unique challenges is crucial.
- What factors influence a CTO's decision to adopt new tools?
- CTOs typically evaluate new tools based on their potential to enhance system reliability, reduce deployment times, and integrate seamlessly with existing workflows. They also consider the support and documentation provided, as well as the long-term viability of the solution.
- How can I demonstrate value to a CTO in my outreach?
- To demonstrate value, reference specific improvements your solution can bring to their current processes, such as lowering deployment failure rates or enhancing monitoring capabilities. Use relevant case studies or examples from similar companies to illustrate potential benefits.
- What common objections do CTOs have regarding new solutions?
- Common objections include concerns about integration complexity, budget constraints, and the learning curve for their teams. Addressing these objections upfront in your outreach can help alleviate their concerns and increase engagement.
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.
Try it on your site