Startup Spotlight #26: A Podcast Made Just For You

Contrary to what many believe, being an executive is hard work. Today's startup makes that work a little bit easier.

Dec 23, 2024

Retellio has created a convenient tool for company leaders to stay informed about customer complaints and desires — without spending hours listening to calls or reading through support emails.

The AI-powered Retellio platform analyzes hundreds of hours of calls and customer emails to produce a 30-minute weekly podcast highlighting key insights. This podcast allows leaders to identify priorities for improving products and business processes.

This tool is designed for leaders who genuinely care about what their customers think and say, such as startup founders, product managers, and customer service directors. However, it could be helpful for any top-level executive.

To get started, the Retellio AI connects to all customer interaction platforms — Zoom, Teams, and others. It then monitors conversations and messages, identifying issues like customer dissatisfaction, bug reports, feature requests, competitor mentions, and price-related complaints.

Each week, the AI assesses the collected data for frequency and criticality, determining the most pressing topic to cover in the podcast.

The podcast itself is engaging and professional: a lively voice presents findings and insights, interspersed with customer soundbites and separated by musical jingles. A short example can be found via a link on their website.

You can integrate the podcast with popular apps like Apple Podcasts or Pocketcasts (my personal favorite) to receive notifications about new episodes and listen while driving, working out, or walking.

Founded in Canada earlier this year, Retellio has already raised $1.3 million in its first investment round.

What’s the Gist?

Top executives have a common problem: as their companies grow, they start drifting away from the ground-level realities where their employees and customers live. It’s not intentional, but as information filters upward through multiple layers of management, it inevitably gets muddled. Everyone along the way adds their spin, passing only what they think is relevant, and often, critical details get lost.

Retellio fixes this by cutting through all that noise. Instead of relying on reports or dashboards, it delivers direct insights from customers in a way that’s quick and easy to process. It’s like getting the truth straight from the horse’s mouth — except the horse is an AI-powered machine that crunches hours of data into a 30-minute podcast. No fluff, no overthinking, just the essentials.

The broader challenge Retellio addresses isn’t unique to external customer interactions. Similar tools are tackling internal communication gaps. For instance, Fora has developed an AI assistant that analyzes internal company conversations instead of customer feedback.

It’s like a radar for detecting the hottest issues among employees and bringing them straight to the top. While Fora focuses on what’s happening within the company, Retellio takes a similar approach to what’s being said outside it — because let’s face it, both perspectives are crucial if you want to make smart decisions.

Customer feedback is pure gold for any company, but it’s usually buried in hours of calls, emails, and surveys. And let’s be honest: frontline staff, no matter how dedicated, aren’t equipped to extract every nuance and escalate it to management. That’s where Retellio shines. By using AI to process massive amounts of unstructured data, it makes sure that no recurring complaint, subtle hint, or brilliant idea slips through the cracks.

But it’s not alone in this game. Overstand pulls insights from B2B client conversations to identify upselling opportunities. Syncly zeroes in on customers’ pain points, helping companies figure out where their products are falling short. Actionable analyzes communication patterns to uncover the reasons customers leave, while Kraftful uses everything from user reviews to survey data to help developers create products people actually love. Each startup has its unique spin, but the common thread is clear: AI is changing how we listen to and learn from our customers.

Key Takeaways

AI tools like Retellio are shaking up the way businesses approach customer feedback. Forget complicated dashboards and endless reports — executives don’t have the time or patience for that. Retellio’s podcasts cut straight to the heart of the matter, offering a format that’s engaging, easy to understand, and perfect for multitasking. Whether you’re driving, hitting the gym, or walking the dog, it fits right into your day.

This format isn’t just convenient; it’s smart. Executives are busy, and the last thing they need is another spreadsheet or data dump to sift through. A podcast, complete with snappy analysis, customer soundbites, and even a bit of music, is much more likely to grab their attention — and keep it.

Retellio’s approach is a fresh take on a broader trend in AI: making massive amounts of data useful for humans. It’s not just about what you analyze; it’s about how you present it. Other startups, like Mica, are experimenting with similar ideas, turning long B2B client calls into bite-sized video highlights that can be shared across teams. The underlying principle is the same: tailor the insights to the audience, and deliver them in a way that makes sense for how they work.

So, here’s the million-dollar question: what’s next for this kind of AI? The answer lies in three decisions: Which interactions should be analyzed? Who are the insights for? And what’s the best way to package them? Get those right, and you’ve got a product people will not only use but love — something that, frankly, would’ve been impossible without AI. Retellio is already proving that the right combination of tech and creativity can make a real difference.

Company info

Retellio

Website: https://www.retellio.com/
Last funding round: $1.3 million, 17.12.2024
Total funds raised: $1.3 million over 1 round