Setora Shortlisted for Digital StartUp of the Year 2026

We've been named a finalist in the East of England region. Here's what that means, and what we've learned getting here.

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We have some news. Setora has been shortlisted for Digital StartUp of the Year at the UK StartUp Awards 2026, East of England region.

Over 2,000 businesses entered this year. We made the shortlist. For a bootstrapped platform built by a solo founder with a full-time job, a young family, and about 5-10 hours a week to spare, that feels worth talking about.

What the UK StartUp Awards actually is

The UK StartUp Awards is the largest celebration of new businesses in the country. It runs across every region, with regional winners going on to compete at the national final at Ideas Fest in September.

Being shortlisted is recognition from an independent panel of judges that Setora is doing something worth paying attention to. We're not going to overstate it. We haven't won anything yet. But being shortlisted alongside other businesses in the digital category, from a field of over 2,000, is a genuine milestone.

Why this matters for what we're building

Setora exists because barbershop booking platforms have a pricing problem. Most charge per user, take a cut of every transaction, or lock shop owners into marketplace models where the platform owns the customer relationship.

We charge £39/month per location. Everything included. No commissions, no per-user fees, no marketplace. Your customers are your customers. Your data is your data.

That's a simple idea. But building the platform to deliver on it, covering bookings, staff management, customer records, SMS reminders, deposit collection, a kiosk system, and more, while keeping the pricing transparent and the product genuinely useful, has been the hard part.

This shortlisting tells us the approach is resonating beyond just the barbershop owners we talk to every day.

What we've learned so far

Building Setora has reinforced a few things we believe strongly:

Transparency is a competitive advantage. When your competitors advertise as "free" but charge 20% commissions on every booking, simply being honest about what things cost sets you apart. We publish our price on every page. No pricing tiers hidden behind a "contact sales" button.

Barbershop owners are underserved by tech. The platforms that dominate this space were built for salons first and barbershops second. The workflows are different. The culture is different. The business model is different. Building specifically for barbershops isn't a niche play. It's recognising that one-size-fits-all doesn't actually fit.

You don't need a huge team or venture funding to build something real. Setora is bootstrapped. The total investment to date is £2,000 from family. There's no engineering team, no marketing department, no office. Just focused work, good tools, and a clear understanding of who we're building for.

What's next

The regional final is the next step. If we win the East of England region, we go on to the national final at Ideas Fest on 9th September 2026.

Regardless of what happens with the award, the roadmap doesn't change. We're building the platform barbershop owners actually need, at a price that makes sense, with complete transparency about what it does and what it doesn't do yet.

If you run a barbershop and you're tired of paying commissions, fighting with clunky software, or wondering who actually owns your customer data, take a look. We'd like to show you what we've built.

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Setora is an NHBF Assured Trade Member and a finalist for Digital StartUp of the Year at the UK StartUp Awards 2026, East of England.