Interviews

Meet Catherine Ann Reid, Founder & CEO at SaaS Company: doqit

Dana Leigh January 21, 2025

If you could describe your journey in one line, what would it be

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I鈥檝e learned more in the last five years than I did in the previous 55!

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Tell us about yourself

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My background is sales, business development and strategy gained over 30 years working in the communications industry. Started off in a type-setters and worked across various disciplines including design, video production, new media and live events. Accountability lying in B2B sales.
I鈥檓 Scottish, moved to Berkshire 1998, Mum to Chloe, married to Gary. I love the entrepreneurial journey and that every day I learn something new; with so much more to learn!听 I draw inspiration from the incredible Dame Steve Shirley who we were privileged to meet earlier this year.

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How did you overcome adversity in your entrepreneurial journey?

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Adversity comes in many forms. I鈥檓 pretty resilient and always feel the best way to face adversity is head on.听 Communicate! When the lines of communication are broken or blurred it can cause unnecessary adversity. Being unafraid of difficult conversations has kept adversity at bay.

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What is the best lesson you鈥檝e learnt as an entrepreneur?

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My goodness I could write a book on the many lessons I鈥檝e learned. The best one is possibly who I listen to. There are many people vying for a piece of the start-up ecosystem. From 鈥榚xperts鈥� selling you the next best thing to 鈥榖ig titles鈥� with promises of getting you to exit faster 鈥� all coming with their price of either hard cash or equity. It鈥檚 easy to fall foul. I鈥檝e lost a lot of time being seduced by their promises and have learned (always the hard way!) that the people to take advice from are those who have already walked the walk.

A founder with four exits, a founder whose business failed, will both have much more to offer 鈥� particularly at early stage 鈥撎� than the CEO of say an investment bank.

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Tell us about the company you have built

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doqit is a SaaS company. The app gives people a single place to manage their day-to-day life admin, reducing the mental load, cost and time it brings.听 We are a small business; I have a COO Damien McGarrigle (background financial services, and COO roles) and supported by a domain expert advisory board.
We secured investment mid 2022 from Capital Pilot Boost Fund and Angel Investment, and worked with a Venture Studio to build our MVP. Since launch we have acquired users both as a D2C proposition and B2B2C as an employee benefit. This has helped build out our Go To Market strategy and identify our Ideal Customer Profile.听 doqit is due to launch on the AppStore next month.

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What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?

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I鈥檇 offer three pieces of advice:
1.Find your tribe. There are some great founder communities out there 鈥� find one that works for you. You鈥檒l feel less alone and realise that the journey is a marathon not a sprint.
2. Ask for help. People are busy but they are kind. Don鈥檛 struggle 鈥� ask!
3. Be kind to yourself. Eat, sleep, and have fun. You can鈥檛 pour from an empty jug so make sure you take care of yourself.

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