Almost a year after it pivoted to cater to business coaches, Adeptio is gaining more and more traction due to a model in which its best clients help to sell the product to other clients.

Charlottetown-based Adeptio launched in the summer of 2012, after it was incubated within Fredericton-based tech consultancy SwiftRadius. The company at that time had a hybrid product that helped consumers pursue wellness and improve productivity. People liked the product, but it was hard to draw money from this market, so CEO Chad Griffin and his team began to consider other markets.

Business coaching seemed to fit the bill.

“The pain of a business coach is made up of three things,” said Griffin in an interview last week. “How do I find more leads? How do I convert those leads into paying customers? And once I have those customers, how do I better deliver to the customer and help them get better business results?”

Business coaching, which aims to improve the effectiveness of managers and business people, has become grown rapidly into a $9 billion a year industry in the U.S. and $1 billion in Canada. But, said Griffin, few of this new breed of corporate trainers has the tools with which to attract customers or structure a meaningful and long-term program for their charges.

So Adeptio has developed a system that allows coaches to use inbound marketing to attract business. The company has struck a partnership with infusionsoft, whose software helps small businesses attract customers, to help clients produce and distribute white papers and studies that will attract notice from business people online. When people read these papers, it gives the business coach an opportunity to strike up a relationship, which could lead to a business arrangement.

It also offers a platform that coaches can sell to clients so the end-user has an online dashboard that can help him or her improve efficiency.  Adeptio charges a base rate of $97 per month, which gives an organization 10 seats. The cost structure scales up to a maximum of $495 per month, and enterprise application pricing models are also availble.

This structure means the coach can attract clients with inbound marketing services and then sell Adeptio to the people who respond. In essence, Adeptio’s clients become an adjunct sales force.

“It’s a pretty neat model,” said Griffin. “We have an active affiliate program, and we tell them, `We’re here to support your success.’ … If they introduce Adeptio into a business, there is a royalty for them as well.”

Since its pivot last June or July, the company has had increasing validation from its customers. Some 21 companies from Canada, the U.S., Britain and continental Europe are now on board and the company has more than 3,000 leads.

Griffin said the company’s revenue increased 356 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014. That growth rate is continuing into the second quarter, he added.

Adeptio has also partnered with International Coaches Federation, which is the official certification body for coaches  in the U.S.

The company secured $500,000 in angel financing late in 2012, and is now hoping to raise another $500,000 by the end of the year to fund more marketing and sales. It already has a commitment to participate in the round from one existing angel investor.