How to sell to CTOs at Fintech companies
CTOs in fintech are primarily measured on system uptime and performance metrics. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their current technology stack and the specific challenges of integrating new solutions without disrupting operations. Highlighting how your solution can enhance scalability or reduce latency will 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 570 fintech company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- system downtime complaints
- integration delays
- scalability issues
- high latency
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Filter for fintech companies that have secured funding in the last six months. These companies are likely looking to scale and may need technology solutions to support their growth. Use platforms like Crunchbase or PitchBook to gather this data.
- 02
Analyze technology stack
Research the existing technology stack of the targeted companies using tools like BuiltWith or StackShare. Understanding their current solutions allows you to tailor your outreach and highlight specific integration benefits that align with their existing systems.
- 03
Connect with pain points
Craft your outreach to address common issues such as system downtime or integration challenges that fintech CTOs face. Use insights from industry reports or forums to mention specific pain points that resonate with their day-to-day operations.
- 04
Leverage industry events
Identify and reference any recent fintech conferences or webinars where the CTOs were speakers or attendees. Mentioning these events in your outreach can create a connection and demonstrate your awareness of their industry involvement.
- 05
Follow up with value-driven content
After your initial outreach, send a follow-up email with a relevant whitepaper or case study focused on improving system performance in fintech. Ensure the content addresses specific challenges they face, as this positions you as a knowledgeable resource.
Can fintech companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 570 fintech 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: 34.3% of 1–10-person companies against 92.2% of the largest — 58 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
- Scaling fintech solutions
- Improving system uptime
- Addressing integration challenges
Questions
- Why do fintech CTOs ignore cold emails about new technology?
- Fintech CTOs often receive numerous cold emails daily, many of which lack relevance to their specific challenges. If the outreach doesn't demonstrate a clear understanding of their current technology stack or address pressing pain points, it is likely to be overlooked.
- What technology trends are fintech CTOs currently focused on?
- CTOs in fintech are increasingly focused on cloud migration, enhancing cybersecurity measures, and integrating AI for better customer insights. Staying updated on these trends can help tailor your outreach and engage them on topics they care about.
- How can I get a fintech CTO to respond to my outreach?
- To increase response rates, personalize your outreach by referencing specific projects the CTO is working on or recent company news. Demonstrating an understanding of their unique challenges and offering relevant solutions can significantly enhance engagement.
- What objections do fintech CTOs typically have to new solutions?
- Common objections include concerns about implementation disruptions, compatibility with existing systems, and the total cost of ownership. Addressing these objections in your outreach by providing clear integration paths and ROI examples can help alleviate their concerns.
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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