INSIGHTS / Blog

For founders building technology businesses, it can be easy to become caught up in the day-to-day demands of running a start-up. There are customers to speak to, products to develop and new opportunities to explore. But sometimes, taking a step back from the business can be just as valuable as pushing it forward.

SETsquared’s Entrepreneurs Workout is designed to give founders the space to do exactly that. The fully funded, practical two-day programme allows entrepreneurs to step away from their usual routines, look closely at their business model and value proposition, challenge their assumptions and gain fresh perspectives from experienced mentors and fellow founders.

We spoke to Noor Khizer, Founder and Director of VoiceDart, about his experience of taking part in the Entrepreneurs Workout and how the programme helped him step back from the day-to-day running of his business, rethink his approach and make some important decisions about the direction of the company.

VoiceDart develops bespoke AI voice agents for service-based businesses. Its conversational AI agents can answer calls, qualify leads, remind customers about appointments and book appointments into calendars. Six months into his start-up journey, Noor was already balancing strategy, sales and marketing while building the business and growing his team.

Taking time out to examine the business from a different perspective gave him the opportunity to identify where his focus needed to be, challenge assumptions about the market and turn feedback into practical changes.

Here, Noor shares how the Entrepreneurs Workout helped him gain clarity, refine VoiceDart’s proposition and focus on the next stage of the company’s growth.

The importance of stepping away from the day-to-day

“The idea for VoiceDart came through a bit of trial and error. I was exploring how I could make money using AI and my technical skills, and I stumbled across AI automation. From there, I started to think about where I could niche down, and AI voice was something that clicked straight away.

“I saw a massive gap in the market. People increasingly want answers instantly, and businesses can lose customers simply because they don’t respond quickly enough. If you call a business and have to wait ten minutes to speak to someone, that’s incredibly frustrating.

“At the same time, smaller service-based businesses want to grow, but they don’t always have the resources to hire more people. That’s where VoiceDart fits in. Our AI voice agents can help businesses answer calls, follow up on leads and handle customer enquiries, allowing smaller teams to scale without necessarily having to hire straight away.

“We’re still a young start-up, so I’m involved in everything from strategy and sales to marketing and the business side. I’ve recently hired a part-time tech lead, but there’s still a lot going on.

“That’s why stepping away for the Entrepreneurs Workout was so valuable. When you’re running a busy business, it’s very easy to get caught up in all the tasks and workstreams. Taking the time to stop and look at the business properly gave me insight into things I hadn’t really considered before.

“It wasn’t just theory. It gave me practical, actionable steps that I could take back into the business and use to move things forward.”

Challenging the way I was thinking about the business

“Before the Entrepreneurs Workout, we were operating with two different business models.

“One was a self-serve platform, where someone could get set up with an AI agent in under two minutes. The other was a bespoke model, which involved much deeper integration, consultancy and delivery of a project.

“One of the biggest impacts of the programme was helping me differentiate between those two models and understand which one I should prioritise.

“Breaking the business down into different sections was really helpful. It was almost like looking at the cogs in a machine and understanding how everything fits together. Before that, VoiceDart could feel like one big business with lots of different tasks and workstreams happening at once.

“The Entrepreneurs Workout helped me realise that I needed to focus on one business model rather than trying to do both at the same time.

“That sounds like a simple thing, but when you’re immersed in your business, it isn’t always easy to see. Having the opportunity to step away and have other people look at it with you makes a big difference.”

The value of being challenged

“For me, the mentors were incredibly valuable because they pushed me to develop a much crisper and more refined value proposition.

“They challenged me to think more critically about the market and how I was positioning VoiceDart. They also made me think about how I could validate the product and business model properly and make sure there was genuine product-market fit, rather than simply assuming that there was.

“That critical analysis was really important. The mentors helped me see different customer segments that I hadn’t considered before and brought a completely fresh perspective to the business.

“It made me re-strategise, re-plan and then implement those changes.

“I think that’s one of the most important things about programmes like this. You need people who are prepared to challenge you constructively. When you’re working on your own business every day, it’s easy to become attached to the way you’ve been doing things.

“Having experienced people ask difficult questions and make you look at your assumptions differently can be uncomfortable, but it’s also incredibly valuable.”

Turning feedback into action

“The Entrepreneurs Workout didn’t just give me things to think about. I came away with a long list of key takeaways, and quite a few of those changes are now in progress.

“I’ve refined my value proposition to make it sharper and changed how I’m positioning VoiceDart in the market. I’m now focusing on one business model, and I’ve also refined the product to fit a specific target industry rather than trying to keep it generic.

“That came directly from the feedback I received from the mentors.

“I’ve also gone back and looked at the business model itself and started thinking more carefully about things like key partners and the value proposition, rather than leaving those things to assumption.

“That was probably the biggest takeaway for me: being able to look at the business in a much more structured way and then actually implement what I’d learned.”

Learning from other founders

“Alongside the mentors, the peer-to-peer element was probably the most valuable part of the experience for me.

“Listening to other founders, understanding the challenges they were facing and having open conversations about our businesses was fantastic. Everyone was at a different stage and dealing with different problems, but there was a real sense that we could learn from each other.

“That’s something you don’t always get when you’re focused on your own business. You can become so involved in your own challenges that you don’t always have the opportunity to hear how other founders are approaching theirs.

“The conversations with other entrepreneurs gave me different perspectives and helped me think about my own business in new ways.”

Building VoiceDart’s next stage of growth

“VoiceDart is still at an early stage, but the ambition is to grow significantly over the next few years.

“We want to see our agents deployed across the UK, supporting service-based businesses with things like answering customer queries, following up on leads and generating new opportunities. Ultimately, we want to become a leading bespoke AI voice agency in the UK.

“The Entrepreneurs Workout has helped me think more clearly about how we get there.

“Rather than trying to pursue everything at once, I’m now more focused on the business model we’re prioritising, the market we’re targeting and the value we’re creating for those customers.

“Having that clarity is really important when you’re building a start-up. You have limited time and resources, so you need to know where to focus your energy.”

My advice to other founders: be ready to be challenged

“I would absolutely recommend the Entrepreneurs Workout to other founders.

“It’s a two-day immersive programme packed with insight, practical advice and actionable takeaways that you can implement in your business. The mentors bring real-life examples and analogies from a huge breadth of experience, and they don’t hold back when it comes to giving you critical and constructive feedback.

“At the same time, the environment is really warm and friendly. That made it easier to open up, talk honestly about the business and understand where I was with it.

“If you’re a founder who’s on the fence about applying, I’d say go for it. Be ready to have your assumptions challenged and to come away with practical insights that you can implement almost immediately.

“Sometimes, the best thing you can do for your business is step away from it for a moment.

“For me, the Entrepreneurs Workout created that opportunity. It gave me the space to stop focusing on all the individual tasks and look at VoiceDart as a whole. It helped me understand how the different parts of the business fit together, challenged me to sharpen my proposition and gave me the confidence to focus on one clear direction.

“Building a start-up is a constant process of learning, adapting and making decisions. Having the opportunity to step back, listen to people with different experiences and be challenged on your thinking can help you move forward with much greater clarity.

“And sometimes, taking a step back is exactly what you need to take the next step forward.”