How to sell to Founders at AI & machine learning companies
Founders in AI & machine learning are primarily measured on their ability to innovate and deliver cutting-edge products that gain market traction. They respond positively to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of the competitive landscape, particularly how their technology can be differentiated in a crowded market. Highlighting specific challenges like talent acquisition or funding can engage them effectively.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 561 ai & machine learning company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- talent retention in a competitive market
- difficulty in scaling AI models
- funding constraints impacting growth
- staying ahead of rapid technological changes
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Use platforms like Crunchbase to filter for AI & machine learning startups that have recently closed funding rounds. These companies are likely to be in growth mode and open to partnerships that can accelerate their product development or market reach.
- 02
Analyze product launch timelines
Look for announcements of new AI products or features from competitors within the last six months. Founders often seek to differentiate quickly after a launch, making them receptive to offers that can enhance their product capabilities or market positioning.
- 03
Target teams expanding AI capabilities
Filter for companies that are hiring for roles such as AI/ML engineers or data scientists. This indicates a push to enhance their offerings, and a well-timed outreach can position your solution as a crucial support in their scaling efforts.
- 04
Address common scalability issues
In your outreach, mention specific scalability challenges faced by AI startups, like data management or model training efficiency. Founders are likely to engage if they see that you understand their operational pain points and can provide solutions.
- 05
Follow up on industry events
After major AI conferences or webinars, reach out to founders who participated. Reference specific topics discussed or trends highlighted during the event to show that your outreach is timely and relevant to their current interests.
Can ai & machine learning companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 561 ai & machine learning 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: 26.3% of 1–10-person companies against 86.2% of the largest — 60 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
- Navigating AI talent challenges
- Scaling your AI solutions
- Insights from recent AI trends
Questions
- Why do founders in AI ignore outreach about generic solutions?
- Founders in AI are inundated with generic sales pitches that don't address their unique challenges. They prioritize solutions that are tailored to the nuances of AI development and market dynamics, making it crucial for outreach to be specific and relevant.
- What makes founders in AI respond to cold outreach?
- They are more likely to respond if the outreach demonstrates a deep understanding of their technology and market position. Highlighting specific pain points or offering insights based on recent industry trends can capture their attention.
- How important is timing for outreach to AI founders?
- Timing is critical; outreach should align with key events such as funding announcements or product launches. Founders are more receptive when they are in a growth phase or facing immediate challenges that your solution can address.
- What common objections do AI founders have to new partnerships?
- Founders often express concerns about the integration of new solutions with their existing technology stack or the potential impact on their team's workflow. Addressing these objections with clear examples of successful integrations can be persuasive.
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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