How to sell to Founders at SaaS companies
Founders at SaaS companies are primarily measured on their monthly recurring revenue (MRR). They respond to outreach that clearly demonstrates an understanding of their growth challenges, such as scaling customer acquisition efficiently while managing churn. Addressing how your solution can directly impact their MRR will capture their attention.
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
- high customer acquisition costs
- increasing churn rates
- scaling operational efficiency
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding announcements
Filter for SaaS companies that have recently completed funding rounds. Use sources like Crunchbase or PitchBook to gather information. These companies are often looking for solutions to help them scale quickly after receiving investment.
- 02
Target companies with high churn rates
Research SaaS companies that have publicly reported issues with customer retention. Tools like G2 or Capterra can provide insights into user reviews and satisfaction. This pain point can be a strong entry point for discussions about improving customer loyalty.
- 03
Craft a message about scaling customer acquisition
When reaching out, focus on how your solution can help them reduce customer acquisition costs while increasing MRR. Mention specific metrics or case studies related to similar SaaS businesses to build credibility and relevance.
- 04
Follow up after 3-5 days
If you don’t hear back, send a follow-up email after 3-5 days. Reference your previous message and ask if they had a chance to consider your proposal. This shows persistence and respect for their time.
- 05
Suggest a call during peak planning times
Propose a call during their quarterly planning periods, which are often in January and July. Founders are typically open to discussing new strategies and tools that can help them achieve their goals during these times.
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
- Strategies for reducing churn
- Boost your MRR this quarter
- Funding just secured? Let's talk growth
Questions
- Why do founders at SaaS companies ignore cold outreach?
- Founders often receive numerous cold outreach messages daily, making them selective about what they engage with. If the outreach doesn't immediately address a pressing pain point or provide clear value, it risks being overlooked.
- What topics resonate most with SaaS founders?
- SaaS founders are typically interested in topics around scaling customer acquisition, reducing churn, and improving operational efficiency. They appreciate insights that directly tie back to increasing MRR and enhancing customer satisfaction.
- How can I establish credibility with a SaaS founder?
- To establish credibility, reference specific challenges faced by similar SaaS companies and how your solution has effectively addressed them. Including relevant case studies or testimonials can also help build trust and relevance.
- What timing is best for reaching out to SaaS founders?
- Reaching out during key planning periods, such as the start of a new quarter or after funding announcements, is ideal. Founders are more likely to be receptive to new ideas and solutions during these strategic times.
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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