Local businesses rarely lose customers because they're bad at what they do. They lose them because the phone rings while they're mid-cut, mid-massage or up a ladder, and by the time they call back, that customer has booked with the next name on Google.

That's the problem subba is built for. It's an AI receptionist and booking system for local businesses: it answers website chats and contact forms in seconds (and phone calls, with the phone add-on), books people into the real diary and takes the deposit, in the owner's own voice.

We launched here a couple of weeks ago. Since then we've shipped ready-made setups for 54 trades, class timetables and a referral programme. Here are five things building it has taught me.

1. Nobody wants "an AI". They want the interruption gone.