How to sell to CTOs at SaaS companies in Australia
CTOs at SaaS companies in Australia are primarily measured on system uptime and performance efficiency. They respond positively to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of the technical debt challenges they face, such as legacy system integrations or the need for scalable architecture solutions. Showing familiarity with their tech stack can significantly increase your chances of engagement.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 559 saas company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- technical debt from legacy systems
- challenges in scaling infrastructure
- system security during growth
- integration issues with new tech
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Use platforms like Crunchbase to filter for SaaS companies in Australia that have recently secured funding. These companies are likely to be expanding and may be facing challenges in scaling their infrastructure, making them more receptive to outreach.
- 02
Analyze tech stack changes
Utilize tools like BuiltWith or Datanyze to identify companies that have recently adopted new technologies or switched providers. This indicates a willingness to innovate, and you can tailor your message to address potential integration challenges they might be facing.
- 03
Highlight common pain points
Craft your outreach to address specific issues CTOs commonly face, such as managing technical debt or ensuring system security during rapid growth. Mentioning these pain points directly can resonate more with them and prompt a response.
- 04
Leverage industry events
Research upcoming SaaS industry events in Australia and mention them in your outreach. CTOs often attend these events for networking and knowledge sharing, making it a relevant context for your conversation.
- 05
Follow up with insights
After your initial outreach, send a follow-up email with insights or articles related to the challenges you discussed. This positions you as a knowledgeable resource, increasing the likelihood of booking a call.
Can saas companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 559 saas 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: 16.7% of 1–10-person companies against 80.9% of the largest — 64 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 your SaaS infrastructure
- Overcoming technical debt challenges
- Insights on SaaS security
Questions
- Why do CTOs at SaaS companies ignore outreach?
- CTOs often receive numerous outreach messages that fail to address their specific pain points. Many messages lack relevance or insight into their unique challenges, leading them to prioritize other communications that offer immediate value.
- What topics are CTOs most interested in?
- CTOs are particularly interested in topics related to system performance, security, and innovative technologies that can streamline operations. They appreciate insights that can help them make informed decisions about tech investments.
- How can I demonstrate value to a CTO?
- Demonstrating value to a CTO involves showing a deep understanding of their technical challenges and providing tailored solutions. Sharing case studies or insights that reflect their industry context can help establish credibility and relevance.
- What common objections do CTOs have to new solutions?
- CTOs often express concerns about integration complexity, potential downtime, and the ROI of new solutions. Addressing these objections upfront in your outreach can significantly improve your chances of 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