How to sell to CTOs at Proptech companies
CTOs in Proptech are primarily measured on system uptime and the speed of feature deployment. They respond to outreach that clearly addresses how your solution can streamline their tech stack or enhance the user experience of their rental platform. Understanding their need for agility and reliability in technology is key to capturing 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 518 proptech company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- system downtime during peak hours
- integration issues with legacy software
- delays in feature rollout
- inability to scale with demand
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Filter for Proptech companies that have received funding in the last 6 months. These companies are likely to be expanding their tech capabilities and may be more receptive to solutions that enhance their infrastructure.
- 02
Research tech stack changes
Look for announcements regarding tech stack upgrades or migrations in your target companies. This could indicate a need for new tools or services that align with their evolving technology landscape.
- 03
Target pain points in scalability
Craft your outreach by addressing specific challenges related to scaling their rental platform. Highlight how your solution can mitigate issues like downtime during peak usage or integration complexities with existing systems.
- 04
Leverage industry events participation
Check if the CTO has recently spoken at or attended industry events. Mentioning their participation can create a connection and demonstrate your awareness of their engagement with the Proptech community.
- 05
Follow up on implementation timelines
If you haven't received a response, follow up by asking about their timelines for implementing new technologies. This shows you respect their process and are interested in aligning with their strategic planning.
Can proptech companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 518 proptech 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 55.6% of the largest — 29 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
- Enhancing your rental platform's reliability
- Tech upgrades for Proptech leaders
- Streamline your feature deployment
Questions
- Why do CTOs in Proptech ignore cold outreach?
- CTOs often receive numerous outreach attempts daily, leading them to prioritize communications that directly address their immediate challenges. If your message doesn't clearly align with their pressing needs, it may be overlooked.
- What specific challenges do Proptech CTOs face?
- Proptech CTOs frequently deal with issues like system scalability, integration of new technologies with existing platforms, and ensuring system uptime. They need solutions that can address these complexities efficiently.
- How can I grab the attention of a Proptech CTO?
- To capture a Proptech CTO's attention, focus on how your solution can solve specific pain points they encounter, such as downtime or integration hurdles. Use data or case studies relevant to their industry to make your outreach stand out.
- What role does user experience play for Proptech CTOs?
- User experience is crucial for Proptech CTOs as it directly impacts customer satisfaction and retention. They seek technologies that enhance the end-user experience while also ensuring backend efficiency and reliability.
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