May 2025 — The spark during my MBA project

This started while I was working on my main MBA project in May 2025. That’s when I really saw the power of Generative AI—not just as a demo, but as a practical tool to redesign ugly, everyday workflows and help build software.

I pulled from two threads in my past:

• Solar startup (≈6 years earlier): many contractors had no real scheduling tool. The options felt too expensive or too complex for small teams.
• Project Controls background: I lived in schedules and cost. That lens made it obvious: trades businesses need a reliable, simple way to capture demand and route it onto a calendar.

Early June 2025 — Field discovery with electricians

In early June, I started poking around with electrical contractors. The pattern was blunt:

• Owners and techs pick up at the job site (distracted, rushed) or
• They don’t pick up, say “I’ll call back,” or leave the phone unattended.

From a customer’s perspective, that’s shaky. If I’m a homeowner, I just want acknowledgment and a slot—not voicemail limbo.

The first idea — SMS that “catches the miss”

I asked: What if an SMS service automatically captured the essential info the moment a call was missed? The working concept:

• Detect a missed/declined call
• Instant text: “We’re on a job—can I grab a few details and get you scheduled?”
• Capture name, phone confirm, ZIP, system type, brief problem summary
• Remind the contractor to call back and hold a window on the calendar

It was simple, fast, and respectful of both sides: homeowners felt seen, and contractors didn’t drop leads while on a ladder.

My mentor at my previous startup encouraged me that this was a real, painful problem worth solving—and that nudge mattered.

Early August 2025 — Leveling up to Voice Agents

By late August, it clicked that Voice Agents could handle even more:

• Answer calls with a calm, plain-English assistant persona
• Do the same structured intake as SMS
• Offer time windows and log a clean timestamp for follow-up
• Reduce the “we’ll call you back later” black hole

Voice brought human cadence to the flow while keeping the automation reliable.

Why Smart Call Decline exists (and sticks)

• Contractors are busy doing the work; phones ring at the worst times.
• Homeowners want certainty now, not “maybe later.”
• AI Voice Agents + simple ops can bridge the gap—with SMS and Voice as the front door, and a calendar as the source of truth.

The mentor nudge

Along the way, a mentor told me this was a worthy problem to solve—clear pain, measurable ROI, and a chance to give small shops big-company reliability. That encouragement helped me commit and ship.

So that’s the journey…So Far

From MBA insight → field interviews → an SMS catcher → a Voice Agent that books and documents. Smart Call Decline turns a missed ring into a captured lead and a scheduled next step—without asking contractors to stop doing the job they’re already on.