Mum turns £2,000 into world enterprise price £20million
A mum of three turned an concept gathered from a damaged fork into a world, multi-million-pound enterprise promoting youngsters’s cutlery.
In an unique interview with Express.co.uk, Cat Dodd, 43, shared how she was “scraping rock-bottom” earlier than having a “eureka” second and launching doddl, which now has an estimated price of £20million.
Battling with the excessive prices of childcare, Ms Dodd, from Gloucestershire, left her nine-to-five job to take care of her youngsters full-time – a journey that might quickly lead her to doddl.
Ms Dodd mentioned: “Back in 2013 I had been scraping along at rock bottom. My twins were two and my daughter was three. I was mentally and physically exhausted and struggling to find joy in anything.”
Ms Dodd mentioned she felt “trapped in the house” after a “near-miss” left her feeling unsafe to enterprise out with three toddlers.
READ MORE: Mum-of-two turns £5 into business worth over £250,000
She mentioned: “We spent a lot of time at home where the focus of our day was feeding and sleeping. But mealtimes were a challenge – the kids would get frustrated feeding themselves; mealtimes were very messy, and it was never an enjoyable experience. It just became a task to complete, with the aim of getting through it as quickly and as stress-free as possible.”
Ms Dodd’s “eureka” second got here in September 2013 whereas holidaying in Portugal.
She mentioned: “We were tackling another messy mealtime when my daughter accidentally broke the handle off her fork. She then picked up the broken-off stubby utensil end and proceeded to eat her food much more easily. It literally was my light bulb moment.
“This gave me the idea that normal long-handled cutlery was the problem. I knew I had potentially stumbled onto an idea that could improve one area of daily stress for parents. I couldn’t wait to get home and start building on my idea.”
The doddl toddler cutlery, which the corporate says is appropriate for youngsters aged one to 5, was Ms Dodd’s first product and continues to be the corporate’s greatest vendor. The merchandise characteristic smaller, easy-to-grip handles to assist youngsters use cutlery comfortably.
Ms Dodd invested £2,000 and was gifted an outdated laptop, desk and chair following an workplace closure, which she mentioned was all she wanted within the early days to get going.
To get the product to market, Ms Dodd mentioned: “We undertook market research, which identified that parents experienced a range of problems when their children were learning to self-feed.
“The final doddl design was an evolution of many different design iterations created on the back of all the research and testing and consultation with development experts.”
However, Ms Dodd famous {that a} vital problem they encountered within the early levels was funding.
She mentioned: “Doddl was entirely self-funded, resulting in loans against our family home to raise the finances to cover the product design costs. I worked tirelessly to secure funding and get support from organisations to help progress the designs.”
The emotional toll the corporate took on Ms Dodd was enormous through the first few years. She mentioned: “It almost finished me as I was investing so much into getting the business off the ground. It negatively impacted my family relationships and I often questioned my ability to be a good mother.
“I was also aware of the stress I was pushing onto my husband as the business drained every last penny we had. The fact that the business now strongly stands on its own two feet and pays its way is a huge relief.
“I’m glad I am contributing to the ‘team’ rather than feeling like a burden. Above all else I feel very proud that I never gave up no matter how tough things got and proud of what we have achieved as a team over the past few years. To know that the cutlery I designed is helping so many families as they navigate through the stresses of mealtimes with toddlers is very satisfying.
“If I stop and think about my journey – it is amazing taking that initial £2,000 and turning it into £20miilliion, but that is still a drop in the ocean with where we think this company can go and all the innovative products we have yet to release.”