Costello

Costello emerged in 2016 as a specialized software developer targeting sales teams. The Indianapolis-based firm was founded by Frank Dale and Rod Feuer, with Dale serving as CEO. Dale's background includes serving as CEO for Compendium, a content marketing firm acquired by Oracle in 2013, and as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, experiences that highlighted the execution challenges sales representatives faced. This led to the creation of Costello, envisioned as an AI-powered co-pilot to guide sales professionals through client conversations.

The company successfully secured $3.1 million in capital over two seed funding rounds. The first round in September 2017 raised $1 million, led by Dundee Venture Capital with participation from Elevate Ventures and others. A subsequent round in June 2018 brought in an additional $2.1 million. This financial backing enabled the company to refine its product and expand its team. In a significant milestone, Costello was acquired by Salesloft, a major sales engagement platform, on October 31, 2019. The acquisition integrated Costello's opportunity management capabilities into Salesloft's broader suite of tools, aiming to serve the entire sales cycle from prospecting to closing.

Costello's business model was centered on a subscription-based service, with fees based on the number of users at a client company. It targeted business-to-business sales teams of various sizes. The core offering was an AI-driven platform designed to improve the effectiveness of sales calls. Key features included guided selling playbooks, which provided reps with key questions and talking points during calls, and a centralized dashboard for managing deal pipelines. The software also offered analytics for sales managers to track performance and identify which strategies were most effective. By integrating with CRM systems like Salesforce, as well as tools like Gmail and Google Calendar, Costello aimed to streamline workflows, ensure important data was captured, and identify at-risk deals.

Keywords: sales co-pilot, opportunity management, guided selling, sales engagement, deal management, pipeline management, sales analytics, CRM integration, sales playbook, deal intelligence