telli

What do they actually do

telli runs an AI voice-agent platform that makes phone calls and sends texts for B2C-facing businesses. Teams use it to pre-qualify leads, book appointments, engage prospects, and warm-transfer to humans when judgment is needed. The product is packaged into agent types (e.g., “qualifier,” “booker,” “engager,” “reacher”) aimed at clear outcomes like a scheduled meeting or a live transfer, with CRM and calendar integrations to keep records in sync (site, solutions).

A typical workflow: a customer connects their CRM/calendar and uploads leads, configures the script and outcomes, and telli dials using number rotation and calling strategies. The agent holds a natural conversation, validates info, books a slot, or transfers to a human. Outcomes and metadata write back to the CRM and dashboard. The team publicly cites processing roughly a million calls in early months and highlights fast “time to first call” in certain flows, indicating the system is set up for high-volume outreach across the US, Europe, the UK, and Latin America (site, YC profile, fundraise coverage).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Real estate brokerages and high-volume agents: They handle many inbound leads that need quick qualification and scheduling; agents lose time on repetitive calls and miss hot leads without rapid follow-up.
• Home-services businesses (plumbers, HVAC, cleaners): They run constant outbound/inbound calls for near-term jobs and lose revenue when calls go unanswered or scheduling is slow or error-prone.
• Energy and telecom acquisition teams: They work large lead lists and need fast pre-qualification and compliant warm transfers; manual dialing is slow and expensive, and rules enforcement is inconsistent.
• Medical clinics and consumer-health providers: They need reliable booking and accurate data capture with privacy and data residency controls; staff time is consumed by routine scheduling and reminders.
• Recruitment teams and hiring operations: Recruiters spend hours on first-round screens and scheduling, slowing hiring cycles and increasing costs for simple, repetitive phone screens.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder-led, paid pilots via YC and personal networks with 1–2 week trials for nearby real estate, home-services, or recruiting teams, using early call volume as proof and hands-on CRM/calendar setup (site, YC profile, press).
• First 50: Run verticalized outbound into three priority sectors with prebuilt scripts and a standard 2‑week pilot-to-subscription path; emphasize quick integrations and publish simple case results to drive referrals (solutions).
• First 100: Add CRM/telephony marketplace partnerships and a light self-serve flow for smaller accounts; use webinars/paid search by vertical and lean on EU-hosting/compliance to win regulated buyers and new geographies (job post, EU-hosting note).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

The market spans phone-heavy B2C operations across real estate, home services, energy/telecom sales, clinics, and recruiting—teams that rely on outbound/inbound calls and basic scheduling/qualification workflows rather than complex contact-center suites.

Bottom-up calculation:

Focus on five initial verticals across US/EU/UK/LatAm: ~40,000 target teams (e.g., multi-agent real estate teams, home-services firms with dispatch, distributed energy/telecom sales pods, multi-location clinics, and recruiting agencies) at an estimated $6,000 average annual contract yields roughly $240M in initial TAM (serviceable by current product). Expansion to mid-market/enterprise teams and additional geographies would increase this materially.

Assumptions:

• Roughly 40k suitable teams across the listed verticals with enough call volume to benefit from automation.
• Average annual contract value of ~$6k per account (combination of platform fee and usage).
• Current product scope focuses on pre-sales/scheduling use cases rather than full contact-center replacement.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Autocalls.ai: Ready-made AI phone agents for outbound qualification, appointment booking, and reminders in services verticals; overlaps on booking workflows and calendar integrations.
• Retell AI: AI voice agents with SIP/telephony connectors, batch outbound, verified numbers, and scheduling; competes on dialing scale, call outcomes, and CRM hooks.
• Synthflow: AI-driven appointment booking and outbound lead qualification; targets quick setup for sales and services teams with similar qualify→schedule flows.
• PolyAI: Enterprise conversational voice agents for high-volume contact centers; stronger on complex inbound service flows and reliability for larger customers.
• Hyro.ai: Call-center automation and voice skills for regulated or enterprise buyers; emphasizes compliance, system integrations, and structured workflows (e.g., healthcare/finance).