A mum of three turned an idea gathered from a broken fork into a global, multi-million-pound business selling children’s cutlery.
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Cat Dodd, 43, shared how she was “scraping rock-bottom” before having a “eureka” moment and launching doddl, which now has an estimated worth of £20million.
Battling with the high costs of childcare, Ms Dodd, from Gloucestershire, left her nine-to-five job to look after her children full-time – a journey that would soon lead her to doddl.
Ms Dodd said: “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 said she felt “trapped in the house” after a “near-miss” left her feeling unsafe to venture out with three toddlers.
READ MORE: Mum-of-two turns £5 into business worth over £250,000
She said: “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” moment came in September 2013 while holidaying in Portugal.
She said: “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 company says is suitable for children aged one to five, was Ms Dodd’s first product and continues to be the company’s best seller. The products feature smaller, easy-to-grip handles to help children use cutlery comfortably.
Ms Dodd invested £2,000 and was gifted an old computer, desk and chair following an office closure, which she said was all she needed in the early days to get going.
To get the product to market, Ms Dodd said: “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 noted that a significant challenge they encountered in the early stages was funding.
She said: “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 company took on Ms Dodd was huge during the first few years. She said: “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.”
