How to Transform Your Business Through Effective Communication Practical insights for lasting change

In this Entrepreneur UK interview, Muj Choudhury, CEO and co-founder at RocketPhone, a London bassed company that provides AI-powered telephony systems for CRM platforms, reveals actionable strategies to enhance your company's communication practices. Discover how to turn everyday conversations into valuable opportunities for growth and connection.

In this Entrepreneur UK interview, discover how to turn everyday conversations into valuable opportunities for growth and connection.

What inspired you to start your business?
The inspiration for RocketPhone came from a combination of market opportunity and technological advancements. During my time at Salesforce, I noticed that the voice communication industry had remained largely stagnant for decades. While many technological fields were rapidly evolving, voice systems were still clinging to outdated models.

I saw a huge opportunity to reshape this space by harnessing the declining costs of computing power, storage and bandwidth. Our vision was to create a platform that could analyse every conversation within a business, generating valuable insights and driving performance. This wasn't about enhancing just one department; it was about transforming how businesses everywhere manage their most critical asset: human interactions. We set out to challenge the status quo by delivering more cost-effective solutions while simultaneously offering greater value.

By enabling sales, customer service, and marketing teams to work more efficiently, we believed we could introduce a highly disruptive product in a multi-trillion-pound market. The potential for such far-reaching impact and innovation is what truly inspired me to launch RocketPhone.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
I definitely faced both personal and professional challenges when starting RocketPhone. On a personal level, leaving a secure job at Salesforce was a huge risk—especially with a family to support. It's one thing to take such a risk when you're young and single, but it's an entirely different ballgame when you have a family to look after.

On the business side of things, building a team was a major challenge. We were venturing into the world of artificial intelligence (AI), where even fresh PhD graduates in machine learning were commanding six- figure salaries. The challenge wasn't just financial - it was also about convincing talented individuals to take a risk on a startup, potentially putting their own financial futures on the line. We couldn't compete on salary, so we competed on vision and purpose. We approached top universities and began building relationships with their computer science departments. This academic connection also lent us credibility in the AI field, creating a halo effect that helped attract even more talent.

Another challenge then was securing our first customer. I initiated conversations with Prudential PLC who were impressed with our immersive approach to understanding their needs. While other vendors pitched standard solutions, we embedded ourselves in their operations - conducting extensive on-site discovery sessions, running collaborative workshops with their teams, and organising intensive user research days. This hands-on, granular approach demonstrated our commitment to building exactly what they needed. These obstacles were tough at the time, but they taught me valuable lessons. The constraints of limited resources forced us to think creatively and build more sustainably – while we had access to venture capital (VC) funding, we made a deliberate choice not to accept. This ended up being a blessing in disguise, as it led to more sustainable business practices and forced us to focus intensely on customer needs from the very beginning.

How did you secure your initial funding?
Having been through the startup cycle a couple of times before, I made a conscious decision to avoid the usual route of venture capital or private equity for RocketPhone. From experience, I knew VC funding could be time-consuming and pull focus away from actually building the product and getting market traction. Plus, the terms can sometimes box you in, limiting your flexibility.

Instead, I chose to lean on my professional network, reaching out to people I worked with over the years. The key was securing a major customer deal first to show we had momentum. Once that was in place, I raised an initial £50,000 from individuals who trusted our vision. That funding gave us enough to hire contractors and keep working with our first big client, Prudential. After that, we went through two more rounds, all from private individuals.

So far, we've raised $10 million without taking a penny from VCs or institutional investors. This strategy has allowed us to stay in control of our direction while still securing the funds to grow. We raised a couple of million pre-COVID, and when things picked up after the pandemic, we went back to our network for another round, which was essentially a kind of crowdfunding from our supporters.

How do you handle failure or setbacks?
I see failure and setbacks as part of the journey. Real failure, to me, only happens when you stop trying. As long as you keep moving forward, there's always a way to improve or pivot. In a startup, things like missing out on funding or losing a prospect aren't final — they're chances to learn and adjust.

Setbacks are just part of working in a fast-moving environment, especially when you're balancing so many factors: people, tech, customers, competitors, and regulations. My job as CEO is to keep everything in sync, and one thing I've learned is not to rely too heavily on any one person or resource.

One of the major challenges we faced was when an early product launch had serious issues for one of our clients. It was tough and set us back by about a year, but in the end, it pushed us to fix deeper problems and build a stronger product, which we're now proud to offer. I think it's important to find the positives in every setback. Being an entrepreneur means constantly solving problems, and having that mindset helps us turn challenges into opportunities to grow.

What advice would you give to someone starting their own business?
Starting a business is incredibly exciting but comes with its own challenges. First, be very selective about who you partner with. Founding a company is an intense experience and relationships will be tested under pressure. Personality clashes or differences in how partners handling stress can break a young company. Take the time to understand how your potential partners deal with challenges before committing to working together.

Don't rush into developing products or scaling your team without ensuring there's a real demand. It's easy to get caught up in your vision, but if you don't achieve product-market fit early on, you risk wasting time and resources. Constantly challenge your ideas and seek genuine feedback from potential customers. This will help you avoid building solutions no one needs or accumulates unnecessary technical debt.

Lastly, while it's valuable to take inspiration from successful entrepreneurs, remember that your journey will be different. What worked for someone else might not apply to your market or product.

How do you stay motivated during tough times?
Motivation should remain steady, regardless of external challenges. I always go back to why I started this journey – that original vision keeps me going through difficult times. Whether it's personal goals or a passion for the business, it's important to keep those top of mind. When things get tough, I focus on the long-term purpose, knowing the setbacks are temporary. It's tough but this perspective helps me stay driven and maintain momentum, even in the hardest moments. Ultimately, it's about remembering what fuels you and letting that guide you through the challenges.

Share your tips for achieving success
Be kind to people. Building and maintaining long-term relationships is key in business. Be professional, honest, and dependable. This is especially true in startups. One of the biggest challenges is keeping good people. If you create a supportive culture that values teamwork and problem-solving, you'll hold on to talent for longer. I've got staff who've been with me since day one, some even working for less than market rates, because they believe in our vision and value the culture we've built.

On the practical side, being frugal is important, but not at the cost of quality. For example, when hiring, don't just go for the cheapest option. Sometimes it's worth paying more for someone highly skilled, as it'll pay off in the long run.