How to sell to CTOs at SaaS companies in United Kingdom
CTOs at SaaS companies in the United Kingdom prioritize system uptime and performance metrics. They respond positively when outreach demonstrates a clear understanding of their current tech stack and how your solution can enhance their service delivery. Highlighting specific pain points, such as downtime impact on user experience, will resonate with their responsibilities.
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
- system downtime impact
- performance bottlenecks
- compliance headaches
- integration challenges
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent outages or performance issues
Research recent reports or news articles about outages or performance challenges faced by SaaS companies in the UK. Use tools like Google News or industry-specific forums to find relevant incidents. This insight will help you tailor your outreach to address these specific pain points.
- 02
Analyze current tech stack
Leverage platforms like LinkedIn or BuiltWith to identify the technologies currently used by your target companies. Understanding their existing systems allows you to present your solution as a complementary or superior option that enhances their current setup.
- 03
Highlight compliance challenges
Focus on compliance issues that are particularly pressing for SaaS companies, such as GDPR or data protection regulations. Mentioning how your solution simplifies compliance can capture the CTO's attention, as these concerns are critical for their operations.
- 04
Reference industry benchmarks for uptime
In your outreach, include relevant industry benchmarks for uptime and performance. For instance, if the average uptime is 99.9%, emphasize how your solution can help them achieve or exceed this standard, which is a key metric for CTOs.
- 05
Propose a specific time for a call
When reaching out, suggest a specific time for a call that aligns with their schedule, such as mid-morning or post-lunch on weekdays. This shows respect for their time and increases the likelihood of securing a meeting.
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
- Tackling performance issues
- Enhancing your tech stack
- Simplifying compliance for SaaS
Questions
- Why do CTOs at SaaS companies ignore outreach about performance tools?
- CTOs often receive numerous outreach messages, making it easy to overlook those that don't immediately address their specific performance challenges. If the outreach lacks a clear connection to their current tech stack or does not highlight a recent issue, it may not capture their interest.
- What compliance issues do CTOs prioritize in SaaS?
- CTOs typically prioritize compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR, as non-compliance can lead to significant fines and reputational damage. They seek solutions that not only meet regulatory standards but also streamline their compliance processes.
- How can I effectively demonstrate value to a CTO?
- To demonstrate value to a CTO, focus on how your solution can directly address their pain points, such as reducing downtime or improving system performance. Use specific examples or case studies that showcase measurable improvements relevant to their industry.
- What common objections do CTOs have regarding new tech solutions?
- CTOs commonly object to new tech solutions due to concerns about integration with existing systems, the potential for increased downtime during implementation, or the cost versus ROI. Addressing these objections proactively in your outreach can help facilitate a more productive conversation.
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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