How to sell to Founders at Developer tools companies in United States
Founders in developer tools companies are primarily measured on product-market fit, as it directly impacts user adoption and revenue. They respond positively to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their technology challenges, such as integration complexities or deployment delays, which are critical in their fast-paced environment.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 587 developer tools company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- integration complexities
- deployment delays
- user adoption resistance
The playbook
- 01
Identify teams launching new CI/CD features
Use platforms like GitHub or product announcement blogs to find teams that have recently announced CI/CD feature updates. These teams are likely looking to improve their development processes and may need tools that enhance their workflows.
- 02
Research founders' recent speaking engagements
Look for any recent webinars or podcasts featuring the founders. Mentioning their insights on observability or API platforms in your outreach can create a strong connection and show that you're engaged with their vision.
- 03
Craft a message around deployment challenges
Focus your email on common deployment issues faced by developer tools companies, such as downtime during updates or integration hurdles. Highlighting how your solution can alleviate these specific pain points will resonate more with founders.
- 04
Follow up after significant product updates
Set a reminder to follow up two weeks after a major product update is announced. Founders are often busy, but they may be more receptive to new ideas that can help them optimize their latest features during this period.
- 05
Propose a quick call after a successful integration
If you notice a developer tool company has successfully integrated a new feature, reach out to suggest a brief call. Offer insights on how they can further enhance their product's performance with additional tools.
Can developer tools companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 587 developer tools 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: 27.4% of 1–10-person companies against 94.9% of the largest — 68 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
- Streamlining your CI/CD process
- Enhancing observability in your tools
- Overcoming deployment challenges
Questions
- Why do founders in developer tools ignore cold outreach?
- Founders often receive numerous outreach attempts and may ignore cold emails that don’t directly address their specific needs or challenges. If the outreach lacks relevance or personalization, it’s likely to be overlooked, especially in a competitive industry.
- What triggers a response from founders in developer tools?
- Founders are more likely to respond when they see a clear connection between their current challenges and the solutions being offered. Demonstrating an understanding of their specific technology stack and recent product developments can capture their interest.
- How can I make my outreach stand out to founders?
- To stand out, tailor your message to reflect the current trends in developer tools. Highlighting insights from their recent blog posts or talks, and providing actionable solutions to their pain points can differentiate your outreach from generic pitches.
- What common objections do founders have about new tools?
- Founders often express concerns about the integration of new tools into their existing workflows, potential disruptions to their teams, and the overall ROI. Addressing these objections upfront in your outreach can help build trust and credibility.
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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