Meet the business phone startup that wants to help you switch off

It’s not everyday you meet a technology company that wants to help you switch off your work devices. But YourBusinessNumber, or YBN, is not your normal startup.

The telecommunication company is on a mission to improve work-life balance with its simple, but smart, idea. It gives users a second business number to use with WhatsApp Business on the same phone, creating a clearer delineation between work and play.

“With everyone on their phones all day, especially WhatsApp, no-one really fully switches off,” says cofounder George Lineker. “We allow people to have a separate work number on their phone to use with WhatsApp Business [and] disconnect from work out of hours”.

The objective will chime with modern workers and entrepreneurs burnt out by an ‘always-on’ work culture that says work calls, emails, and texts must be instantly answered. Moreover, the UK government, whose ‘Right To Switch Off’ initiative is gaining momentum.

“Where appropriate, we fully support the right to switch off – and have seen it work well in places like France,” says Lineker. “Businesses need to provide a gap between personal communication. Enabling WhatsApp Business on personal phones creates that divide.”

“People feel they can’t ignore work messages”

In a recent survey of 2,000 employees, 54% said they expect to work while on annual leave, thanks to team members sending them work-related texts and emails.

The trend can be linked to remote working. With staff able to take their devices home with them, it has become harder to set healthy boundaries on availability. That pressure doubles if requests from colleagues or clients are being sent to the worker’s personal number.

“I’ve heard from many people about how they receive work messages on their personal WhatsApp at night or on weekends, which they don’t feel they can ignore”, Lineker says.

It’s a similar story for small business owners. Entrepreneurs will often run their companies from a personal number, using apps such as WhatsApp Business, in order to avoid the hassle of carrying a second phone and forking out for two business mobile contracts.

Recognising an obvious customer need, Lineker and his cofounder, Sebastian Lewis, decided to set up YBN. Now in its third year, the startup debuted at #43 in the Startups 100 Index this year, and has garnered 12,000 subscribers across the UK and US since launch.

“We receive a lot of great feedback from customers, the most valuable is how quick and simple it is to set up,” says Lineker. “Ultimately, the driving force behind [our] success is having a product that is affordable, fast and simple to use.”

“We want to be on billboards”

Starting a successful business is never a mean feat. But like all post-COVID startups, YBN has had to navigate some particularly tough terrain; finance being one of the biggest. While they have managed to raise £1m in funding, Lineker and Lewis have stayed cautious.

Lineker describes “trying to strike the perfect balance between cash flow, expansion and dilution” as a key challenge. Not that the brand is not targeting growth. Both founders want to broaden their audience by 8,000 this year, requiring a savvy approach to advertising spend.

“Our digital ads campaigns are crucial to growing the subscriber base and reaching 20,000 customers by the end of the year”, says Lineker. “Ultimately we want to be on billboards and the London Underground, but we’re not at that level yet.”

Thankfully, a slower approach to scale-up has paid off. Fast-growth startups such as Cazoo have run aground into today’s shrinking economy. YBN has instead adopted the mantra that “working with a brilliant team takes time.”

“Finding people via recommendation and word of mouth is often slower,” adds Lineker, “[but] it has meant we have built a great team.”

“Startups 100 generated huge customer interest”

Alongside having a “brilliant” team, Lineker also pays tribute to the Startups 100 Index, describing it as an “incredible platform for startups and SMEs.

“Being featured gave YourBusinessNumber huge awareness and credibility” says Lineker. “This increased the interest in the business and generated a lot of new customers”.

With YBN now hoping to roll out an eSIM product next year, and expand into new markets in the coming months, Lineker’s comments are a great reminder of how business prizes like the Startups 100 can serve as a guerilla marketing tactic for new startups.

Compared to the expensive and time-consuming process of traditional advertising, submitting an entry to a free business index or awards ceremony can be a highly cost-effective way to market a startup to investors, customers, and even partners.

Find out what other benefits the upcoming 2025 Startups 100 Index could bring to your business, as well as how to apply.