Catherine Ann Reid

Doqit transforms how people manage life admin through easy, smart, simple organisation.

Born from personal experience, Doqit gives people a secure, single place to store important documents and never miss crucial deadlines. Because life's too short for paper chaos and missed renewals!

Available on iOS and Android, Doqit helps individuals and families take control of their life admin. From household bills to insurance documents, from school records to pet vaccinations - everything important, instantly accessible.

We also partner with forward-thinking businesses to offer Doqit as an affordable, high-impact benefit for their employees and customers. Zero integration required, maximum value delivered.

Recent recognition includes FinTech Scotland Challenge winner 2024, UK StartUp Awards 2025 finalist, and featured in the Female Founders Rise campaign.

Available for speaking engagements, podcast appearances, and panel discussions on topics including:
• Digital innovation in life admin 
• Female founder journey 
• SEND parent entrepreneurship 
• Building user-focused solutions

Want to discuss Doqit or booking a speaking engagement? Let's connect.

Founder & CEO

Doqit - Dropbox with a brain.

Today, we all have more personal paperwork, information and documents, than ever before, that we keep across a variety of on and off-line places like files, piles, spreadsheets, apps, emails...... making the
task of managing it time-consuming, stressful and often costly.

Our mission is to reduce this and help make your life admin simple.  We are fundraising NOW and seeking like-minded visionaries to join us on our journey. 

07867 788087 or drop a note: catherineann@doqit.io

An ITV News article today on parents of SEND children being forced into debt or out of work should concern all of us.

Families aren’t “failing to cope”.

They are being failed.

The SEND system is so fragmented and under-resourced that parents are having to:

- Reduce hours or give up work
- Fight repeatedly for basic provision
- Manage overwhelming paperwork
- Chase assessments and therapies that should already be in place

In fact 37% of parents/carers have (had no option but to) quit their jobs to support their SEND child! 

34% have reduced working hours, and around 22% changed jobs to find more flexible work.  

And while adults are pushed to breaking point, children and young people are missing education, missing therapies and losing opportunities that cannot be recovered later.

As a parent of a 23-year-old with complex additional needs requiring 1:1 support, I recognise every part of this story.

I’ve been fortunate to work flexibly freelance in the past, and build my business around caring responsibilities. 

Even so, the fight for support has been relentless and exhausting.

Most families don’t have that flexibility.

This isn’t about parental resilience or better time management.

It’s about a system that is structurally broken; and pushing carers, mostly mothers, out of the workforce.

We cannot talk about economic participation, inclusion or opportunity while ignoring this.

Families are absorbing the cost of systemic failure.

That is not sustainable. And it is not good enough.

Founder of Doqit | Bringing life admin and future obligations into one place

Young woman with riding cap and lady with light hair. Faces close. Both wearing glasses and look happy. 

I asked ChatGPT whether a Christmas pudding I found lurking at the back of my cupboard was still edible.

Best before: April 2022 -thinking I must have bought it around 2020! 

Current date: February 2026

Vibes: questionable

ChatGPT’s initial response:

 ☢️Proceed with caution. Inspect carefully. This has been a long time☢️

Fair enough.

Then I added one crucial detail - it’s from Waitrose.

The tone completely changed.

Suddenly it was … and I quote:

Ah. That helps. Commercially produced. High sugar. Alcohol. Properly sealed.

Honestly? Probably fine.

So yesterday I learned two things:

1. Christmas puddings may outlive us all.

2. ChatGPT, like the rest of us, clearly has opinions about brands.

Who knew artificial intelligence would end up reinforcing premium supermarket trust - one back of the cupboard find at a time?

Anyway. The pudding was delish.

And apparently brand equity now extends to AI reassurance.

PS thanks to Chat GPT for creating the image of ‘the pudding’😄

Founder of Doqit | Creating calm, clarity & control for families overwhelmed by life admin.

No alternative text description for this image

On Sunday I had ping from our Instagram messages. 

“I’m loving Doqit and wanted to share a testimonial. 

I know you’re busy so made it ready to share”. 

Ellie’s a SEND Mum, Wife, and Teacher. And still made time to share her feedback. 

This is why we do what we do at Doqit.

Recognise this?

That’s how I opened my three minutes yesterday at the Finbridge Global  pitch event - and the nods around the room said everything.

Life admin overwhelm clearly resonates.

Not because people are disorganised or lazy, but because life admin has exploded and the tools and systems haven’t kept up…

… and don’t address the underlying issue: future obligations. 

The renewals, deadlines and commitments that quietly come back, expire, or cost money if you forget about them.

That’s the problem Doqit is built around.

A big thank you to Barbara and Kim for bringing together such a thoughtful mix of investors, partners and fellow founders; and to Eloise and Price Forbes for generously hosting.

A morning that felt collaborative, energetic, and genuinely constructive.

It’s been less than 24 hours, but I’m already grateful for the conversations it’s sparked.

We’re currently raising the final part of our SEIS round on a rolling close. 

If you’d like to chat, let’s get a date in.

Image shows lady with dark hair. Head in hand. Legs crossed. In the background is words that itemise many of the life admin obligations we all have. 

⭐️ Another one-star review. Only this time, I’m not upset - I’m curious.

As a founder, I’m genuinely okay with negative reviews when they’re honest. 

If something doesn’t work, that’s on us to fix.

But occasionally, you get feedback that isn’t confusion, it’s just factually untrue.

An App Store review from last week claimed:

> Doqit forces users to choose from fixed categories (it doesn’t — users can create their own)

> That users can set passwords on individual documents (this feature does not exist)

> And then speculated that we’d “hired out the dev work” rather than building the product ourselves

What’s interesting to me isn’t the rating … it’s the motivation.

Because this isn’t a misunderstanding of UX, or someone bumping into an edge case. 

It’s a description of behaviours that simply cannot occur in our platform.

So I’m left wondering:

- Is this a review intended for a different app?
- Is this someone misremembering an experience that didn’t actually happen?
- Or is this simply an example of how easy it is for incorrect information to travel once it’s written down?

Either way, we’ve reported it to Apple for review and responded publicly with the facts; calmly, transparently, and without drama.

Building consumer products means listening hard, staying grounded, and sometimes accepting that not all feedback is created equal.

I started my career as Sales Exec in a Typesetter in Glasgow.

Our clients were some of the best advertising agencies in the country like Ogilvy Mather, Barkers, Morgan, Ash Gupta. 

Globally awarded work. Sharp strategy. Even sharper copy.

I learned very early that words matter.

Good copy wasn’t about shock, trickery, or 'gotcha'.  

It was about clarity.

→  Precision
→  Respect for the reader
→  And fun! 

Last week I read an article on here about a marketing email with the subject line:

“Your name’s on the Epste*n list.”

When opened, it read, “Only kidding. We just wanted you to read this.”

This is not clever, bold, or innovative.

It’s lazy.

And worse than that; it uses something that caused harm to real women and children as a hook for attention.

We can do better than that. 

> Yes, digital marketing has changed.
> Yes, inboxes are crowded.
> Yes, attention is harder to earn.

But if your strategy relies on baiting people into opening an email by referencing exploitation and abuse, then something has gone badly wrong.

Good businesses build trust.

They don’t borrow shock value from trauma.

We choose how we position ourselves.

Reach is not the same as respect.

And in the long run, respect wins.

#sayitforward an opportunity for me to pick up the baton from the wonderful, always composed, highly articulate, Rebekah Clark FRSA

Here are my Friday Five hashtag #sayitforward superpowers:

Craig Unsworth -  a champion extraordinaire, and with a brain that LLMs are modelled on 🧠 
Georgie Harris - fearless fellow SEND Mother, who took her life being turned upside down, into positive action 💥 
Sam Simpson - Captain of the fundraising lifeboat, bringing clarity, direction, and buoyancy in choppy waters 🧭 
Emmie Faust - holding the vision that so many of us have benefitted from; bringing the most amazing women into my life - eternally grateful ✨ 
Chloe Greaves - for being a continual inspiration and light in my life 🫶 

If you're reading this, do pick up the baton. 

Life and work can be tough, and we don’t tell each other often enough how highly we think of one another 💚 ✨ 

Who would be in your Friday Five?

A friend is in the middle of a house move at the moment.

Moving home still ranks among one life's most stressful experiences, surpassing even childbirth! 

But what’s surprised her most isn’t the chain, or even the packing. 

It’s the paperwork.

There are stacks of documents.

Different parties involved. Repeated ID checks. And, remarkably, still wet signatures in 2026!

Which is why last week’s announcement from Nationwide Building Society is big news.  

They’re the first lender to allow mortgage deeds to be signed digitally.

It might sound like a small operational change.

It's not.

Moving house, remortgaging, settling estates, are already cognitively heavy moments. 

When you’re making big decisions, coordinating timelines, and managing money, even the smallest administrative hurdles feel amplified.

Digital signatures don’t just remove paper.

They remove friction.

And more broadly, they signal something important: institutions are starting to rethink how documents are handled, tracked and verified in a way that reflects how people actually live today.

The real opportunity isn’t just going paperless. It’s creating systems that are clearer, structured properly and reliable over time - so people aren’t scrambling for documents when their plate is already overloaded.

That’s a shift I’m sure we’re all pleased to see.

Image is AI generated. It shows a red brick house with white window frames. Detached and two storey. Lush green garden. With a for sale sign with sold across it. 

An excerpt from Where To Begin: A Small Book about Your Power to Create Big Change in Our Crazy World by Cleo Wade.

I’m just going to quietly, not silently, leave this here.

The idea of the ‘admin night’ and ‘admin party’ is appearing everywhere lately; from TikTok to lifestyle press.

This says something broader about how we experience everyday organisation.

People are now literally getting together with friends or colleagues and carving out time just to tackle life admin - bills, insurance, budgeting, paperwork, renewals - because doing it alone feels overwhelming. 

Mashable, The Independent and international press are even chronicling this as a social behaviour trend.

On the surface, it sounds social. But underneath, it’s a signal.

People aren’t doing this because they enjoy admin. 

They’re doing it because life admin has become fragmented, hidden, and mentally exhausting; and tackling it alone feels like a heavy lift.

What’s interesting is how people describe leaving these sessions: 

- Not ‘organised’ but lighter
- Not ‘productive’ but relieved

They gain confidence, clarity, and the sense that nothing important has been missed.

That tells us something important: the real problem isn’t motivation - it’s mental load.

When people need to create a social ritual just to stay on top of everyday responsibilities, it’s a sign the system is broken, not the person.

I think the future of life admin isn’t more to-do lists or reminders, it’s quieter systems that work in the background, so we can spend our time together doing the things we actually choose.

Genuinely curious have you ever joined (or hosted) an admin night? 

And did it leave you feeling organised or just unburdened?

Image shows a social gathering with lots of paperwork and laptops on the table. 

Matt Jonns

Investing in, and building, tech companies with non-technical founders | Founder and CEO @ Founder + Lightning

I build and back ambitious ventures - with product, capital, and talent.

It started with helping to digitise my family’s business 15 years ago. Since then, I’ve worked with 40+ startups to turn ideas into companies - raising millions and launching dozens of products along the way.

That journey led to Founder + Lightning and now The Lightning Group - a group of connected services that help startups, scale-ups, and corporates move faster and smarter.

What we do: 

• Strategy and product development that gets you to launch and beyond 
• Access to capital and investor networks
• High-performing, flexible talent (onshore + offshore)
• Designing and building venture studios 

If you’re looking to raise, launch, or scale - or you’re just figuring out where to start - feel free to reach out.

https://www.founderandlightning.com


(Formerly ucreate.it)

We partner with ambitious, Non-tech Founders and equip them with the team, tools, expertise and scale to build highly successful technology companies

100+ team - 25 portfolio companies - £100 million + valuation - £30 million + raised 

Our offices are in London, Cardiff, Chandigarh and Kraków

We glorify the founder journey - but we still don’t make it safe to fail.

In the UK, failure still carries a quiet shame. Even in tech. Even now.

You can tell by how few people talk about it. The founders who go quiet after a shutdown. The investors who distance themselves. The friends who stop asking how it’s going.

We talk a lot about resilience. But when something doesn’t work, there’s no safety net. No soft landing.

Just the long road back - financially, emotionally, reputationally. And the irony is… this is the same ecosystem that relies on experimentation.

On people taking a swing. On ideas that might not work.

I’ve seen great founders walk away from startups that didn’t land, and struggle to get a second look.

While others get propped up by networks and capital no matter the outcome.

We say we back founders. But if we really mean that, we need to make failure survivable - not just in theory, but in practice. Something the US does so much better than us.

Venture Studio Founder & Startup Investor.

Most people who don’t run businesses assume founders get rich early.

The reality is many founders are vastly underpaid for long periods of time compared to what they could earn if employed. 

I’ve worked with founders who paid themselves less than their junior hires when getting things going. Founders who delayed buying a house. Delayed having kids. Lived off credit cards. Or drained their savings just to keep the team going.

You can be “the boss” and still not pay yourself properly for years.
Because the team comes first.
Because the numbers are tight.
Because you’re worried about what it signals to investors.

The mental load of that builds quietly.

Paying your team before yourself sounds noble. But when it goes on too long, it starts to make everything worse and it’s a hard cycle to get out of. 

It’s a topic no one really talks about - especially when the narrative outside is they are “doing well”.

But it’s more common than people think. And it's one of the least understood parts of early-stage life.

What was your first real “founder salary”? Did you pay yourself too late?

Some of the most successful people I’ve met don’t mind looking stupid.

They ask questions. They admit when they don’t get it.

They don’t pretend to know everything - even when everyone’s watching.

I’ve sat in rooms with investors who have made serious money over many decades who don’t mind stopping and asking for something to be dumbed down for them. 

It’s never a weakness. It’s confidence without ego.

The people who struggle most are usually the ones trying to prove they’re the smartest. The ones who nod along while missing the point.

When you’re building something, there’s no prize for pretending.

Ask the question. You’ll get there faster.

You can raise millions and still feel broke.

I’ve seen founders announce funding rounds, get all the congratulatory messages, and then go straight back to struggling to pay their rent or mortgage.

From the outside, it looks like everything’s sorted, and on paper they might even be a millionaire now. 

But investors have insisted on a salary that’s barely higher than what the founder was just on, and the founder has accepted it to get the deal done, show belief in the business and not look “greedy”.

Even family start to assume you’re doing well -  but you’re putting off holidays, delaying house moves, and trying not to burn out.

This is the part that doesn’t make it into the press release.

Support for founders isn’t just funding.

It’s belief when the numbers still look bad.

I’ve seen it first hand over the years… Those early months when revenue is thin, confidence wobbles, and everything feels fragile.

The support that matters most rarely comes as a big cheque.

It’s someone saying, quietly, “You’re not mad. This is hard.” Or making an intro at the exact moment it’s needed. Or sticking around when the metrics aren’t pretty yet.

Sometimes it’s an early team member who takes a risk on you.

Sometimes it’s a first angel who backs the person before the business.

Sometimes it’s a customer who gives honest feedback and a bit of patience while you figure things out.

That kind of support doesn’t show up in pitch decks or press releases. But it’s often the reason a company survives long enough to find its feet.

Belief compounds just as much as capital.

Who was the first person that really backed you as a founder?

The best early hires aren’t specialists - they’re builders.

I’ve seen this play out again and again in early-stage teams.

The hires that make the biggest difference aren’t the ones with the perfect CV. They’re the ones who lean in, figure things out, and move the needle - even when it’s not their job.

Generalists who can write copy, speak to customers, write a presentation, and close a deal all in the same week. People who see something broken and just sort it.

Every time I’ve got this right, things moved faster.

And the times I’ve got it wrong?

It’s usually when I hired for a narrow skillset too early. Brilliant on paper -  but not what the business needed at that stage.

If you’re explaining your product with more than one sentence - it’s not clear enough.

I’ve sat in meetings where founders need three slides just to get to the point.

Not because the product’s bad - but because the story’s messy.

Too many features. Too much jargon. Too many use cases.

And when it’s not clear, people stop listening. Customers get confused. Investors lose interest. Even your own team struggles to stay aligned.

The hard part isn’t building the thing. It’s explaining it simply. What it does. Who it’s for. Why it matters - all in one line.

Doing anything is hard. So you may as well make it a big thing.

Starting something from scratch takes energy - whether it’s a tiny side project or a business with real ambition.

You’ll still have to figure it out. You’ll still hit resistance. You’ll still be up late thinking about it.

So if you’re going to put in the work… 

Make it count. Make it something that stretches you.

Something you’ll still care about when it gets hard (because it will).

I’ve seen founders play small - and still get overwhelmed. And I’ve seen others go after something ambitious - and find an extra gear because it mattered.

The effort’s coming either way. Might as well aim for something that moves the needle !

You can’t outsource conviction.

You can hire salespeople. Bring in advisors. Get warm intros and polished decks.

But if you’re not the one who believes (deeply !) it shows.

I’ve seen founders try to delegate the hard conversations early on. Pitching investors. Closing customers. Delivering tough news.

It never lands the same.

Because early on, people aren’t buying the product. They’re buying the energy. The clarity. The sense that you see something they don’t yet.

That can’t be faked. And it can’t be handed off.

You have to carry it - especially when the numbers aren’t there yet.

That’s what earns belief.

Your customers don’t want another app. They just want the outcome.

They don’t wake up hoping to log into a dashboard. They don’t want to click through 6 tabs to get a simple answer. They don’t want to learn your product.

They just want to book the thing. Approve the invoice. Get the update. Fix the issue. Move on.

The best products today don’t feel like “software”. They feel invisible. They work in the background. They reduce steps, not add them.

That’s where the bar is now - especially in B2B.

If the customer has to think, chase or guess… you haven’t nailed it yet.

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