Andrew Bentley and Adrian Roberts want us to be less unhappy when we use call centres. They are the founders of ICR Speech Solutions and Services, a speech recognition technology business that enables callers to identify themselves automatically, give instructions or leave messages, without speaking to a call centre agent.

In the five years since ICR was founded, annual turnover has reached £3.1m. But this level of success has been hard-earned. Both partners took on considerable financial risks to launch the business and difficult trading times obliged them to take a big salary cut. Now, profitable and with a strong client base, navigating the next stage of the business’s journey has brought a new set of risks.