How to sell to Founders at Biotech companies
Founders in the biotech industry focus on securing funding for R&D projects, with success measured by the amount raised in each funding round. They are likely to respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their clinical trial challenges and the regulatory landscape they navigate, as these are critical to their growth and sustainability.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 573 biotech company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- delays in clinical trial approvals
- high costs of regulatory compliance
- difficulty in securing funding
- managing investor expectations
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding announcements
Search for biotech companies that have recently secured funding through platforms like Crunchbase or PitchBook. Focus on firms that have raised between $5M to $20M, as they are likely to be in a growth phase and open to new partnerships.
- 02
Highlight regulatory hurdles in outreach
Craft your message to address common regulatory challenges in clinical trials that these founders face. Mention specific regulations like FDA approval processes, as demonstrating knowledge of these hurdles can capture their attention.
- 03
Use specific clinical trial milestones
Reference recent milestones achieved by the prospect, such as successful Phase I trials. This shows you are aware of their progress and can provide relevant solutions that align with their current objectives.
- 04
Anticipate objections about ROI
Prepare to address common objections regarding return on investment, particularly around the costs of compliance and trial management. Offer insights on how your solution can mitigate these costs and enhance efficiency.
- 05
Follow up after funding announcements
If you haven't received a response within a week of your initial outreach, send a follow-up email referencing the recent funding announcement. Timing your follow-up around their funding news can help increase your chances of booking a call.
Can biotech companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 573 biotech 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 84.3% of the largest — 57 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 clinical trial challenges
- Funding insights for biotech founders
- Streamlining regulatory compliance
Questions
- Why do biotech founders ignore cold outreach?
- Biotech founders often ignore cold outreach due to the overwhelming number of emails they receive. Many prioritize communications that directly relate to their current projects or funding needs, making it crucial for sellers to demonstrate immediate relevance in their outreach.
- What are the key concerns of biotech founders?
- Biotech founders are primarily concerned with securing funding, navigating regulatory challenges, and achieving clinical milestones. They need to ensure their projects are not only scientifically viable but also financially sustainable, which drives their decision-making process.
- How can I effectively reach biotech founders?
- To effectively reach biotech founders, tailor your outreach to address specific industry challenges, such as regulatory hurdles or funding strategies. Demonstrating a deep understanding of their operational landscape can significantly increase your chances of engagement.
- What factors influence a biotech founder's decision-making?
- A biotech founder's decision-making is influenced by factors such as the potential return on investment, regulatory compliance costs, and the urgency of clinical trial timelines. Solutions that can alleviate these concerns are more likely to resonate with them.
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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