How to sell to IT Directors at Biotech companies
IT Directors in biotech are primarily measured on system uptime and data security. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of regulatory compliance challenges in clinical trials, particularly how technology can mitigate downtime during critical research phases. Tailoring your message to these specific pain points will significantly increase your chances of engagement.
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
- system downtime during trials
- regulatory compliance headaches
- data security breaches
- budget constraints for IT upgrades
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent FDA inspections
Use databases like FDA's Inspection Database to find biotech companies that have recently undergone inspections. IT Directors are keen on addressing compliance issues that may arise from these inspections, making them more receptive to solutions that can enhance data integrity and security.
- 02
Target companies with recent funding rounds
Filter for biotech firms that have secured funding in the past six months. These companies are likely expanding their IT infrastructure and may be looking for solutions that can streamline operations, making them prime candidates for your outreach.
- 03
Highlight downtime during clinical trials
Craft your message to focus on how your solution can prevent system failures that disrupt clinical trials. IT Directors are under pressure to ensure uninterrupted operations, so emphasizing your ability to enhance uptime will resonate with their immediate concerns.
- 04
Address data security breaches
Mention recent high-profile data breaches in biotech to grab attention. IT Directors are particularly focused on safeguarding sensitive patient data, and illustrating how your solution can mitigate these risks will help you overcome initial objections.
- 05
Follow up after industry conferences
After major biotech conferences, reach out to IT Directors who attended. They will be reflecting on new technologies discussed, and your timely follow-up can position your solution as a relevant next step in their IT strategy.
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
- Enhancing uptime in clinical trials
- Addressing compliance in biotech
- Solutions for data security challenges
Questions
- Why do IT Directors in biotech ignore cold outreach?
- IT Directors often receive a high volume of unsolicited emails, making it difficult for them to discern valuable opportunities. If the outreach does not directly address their specific challenges, such as compliance or system reliability, it is likely to be overlooked.
- What key challenges do IT Directors face in biotech?
- IT Directors in biotech face unique challenges including ensuring compliance with stringent regulations, managing system uptime during critical phases of research, and protecting sensitive patient data. These pressures require them to prioritize solutions that directly address these issues.
- How can I make my outreach relevant to biotech IT Directors?
- To engage biotech IT Directors, tailor your outreach to highlight solutions that address their specific pain points, such as enhancing system uptime during clinical trials or ensuring compliance with industry regulations. Use industry-specific language to demonstrate familiarity with their challenges.
- What role does budget play in IT Directors' decision-making?
- Budget constraints are a significant factor for IT Directors in biotech. They must balance the need for advanced technology with fiscal responsibility. Demonstrating a clear ROI and how your solution can fit within their budgetary limits is crucial for successful outreach.
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.
Try it on your site