Unmet Needs, Unlikely Founder: Moving Through Doubt to Design by Listening

There’s a kind of disbelief - or maybe amusement - when you’re a middle-aged woman from northwest Ireland who believes she can build tech that will solve a complex problem. A mother of four. Not techy. Not an executive. But with an eclectic and useful skillset. Definitely an unusual path to 'founder'.

I come from good stock - a family who love, encourage, and believe in me. No big pots of cash. But a hard work ethic. And stability in my life. I’m someone who had lived the problem - saw a problem (couldn’t unsee it) - and dared to put myself out there to see if there could be a better way. That meant taking risks: putting in my own savings, entirely shifting my career path, bootstrapping through consultancy work and placing trust in something no one else could see yet. It took listening, testing, validating — and the bravery to keep going when people assumed I couldn’t possibly be the one to solve something this complex.

I Just Wanted to Buy the Software — But It Wasn’t There

All I wanted was to buy some software. Something simple to use. Something that started from my perspective when we were starting out with self-directing care and managing a personal budget for our daughter. I wanted to be as efficient as possible with the admin - an unpaid, invisible but demanding task that is part of the deal. I found useful tech, but none of it talked to each other. But was that just my experience?

I was grateful that Mary McKenna introduced me to equally generous, connected leaders in social care - mainly in England - people who always lead with the person, not the system. I spoke to family carers, people who self-direct, influencers, service providers, charities, tech founders, competitors - you name it, I talked to them. I started asking: ‘Is this a problem for you too?’ Time and again, the answer came back: Yes.

‘We use this, but we have a homemade hack for that.’

‘Nothing’s joined up, but we make it work.’

Committing It to Paper

I was drowning in notes, had drawn so many diagrams from those conversations - pages cello-taped together, ridiculously detailed charts. I tortured myself (and others) trying to explain it all. Then Caroline Kilbane helped me. Markers. Flipcharts. I talked, she interrogated, played it back, and drew it on a page. We pulled a year of research out of my head and turned it into something I could see, react to, and shape further. My first-ever work colleague - and lifelong friend - Eileen “Mick” McLaughlin then turned it into a graphic. This wasn’t a design sprint. It was complex care, life with care needs organised and translated - visualised and named. I called it the inCharge Concept Map, July 2021.

Paper Prototypes (and Support from the Kitchen Table)

January 2022. Things were moving slowly. To keep the momentum alive - and to reassure my kids I hadn’t completely lost the plot - we made a paper prototype at the kitchen table. I am not sure they loved it, to be honest. I used Canva to make basic buttons in my brand colours. We cut them out, chatted about how it would feel to use, and prit-sticked them into place. I didn’t think much of it at the time. It wasn’t about proving anything. It was about doing something when I didn’t know what to do next. And it worked. It kept the belief alive. I still didn’t have a developer, but I found a designer who mocked up the first version in Figma.

A Visual Vision, New Momentum

That Figma mockup — generously created as pro bono work by Xwerx Dublin (eternally grateful) — became the first digital version of inCharge. For over two years, that designed vision carried me into rooms, conversations, events, accelerators, and user tests. It opened doors. It earned meetings. But it also drew suspicion:

‘Isn’t this just something you need?’

‘Are you sure this isn’t too niche?’

‘Who’s actually going to use it?’

‘It’s very… thoughtful.’

The unspoken question was: ‘It looks pretty joined up. Not hugely complicated. But how could you be building something for such a complex system? And if it’s needed — why hasn’t it been done already?’

And maybe they had, I just hadn’t found it yet!

Holding the Line - And Finding People Who Got It

Many underestimated and politely nodded like they were thinking, ‘She's never going to make this work’. A virtual polite pat on the head. Being underestimated and “patted on the head” are the two things guaranteed to fire me up. Many thought I was naïve. Truthfully, I did too at times. But I couldn’t let it go. I can’t explain that — and I’ve tried many times — but it’s the truth. If I’d reached a point where it didn’t work, I could have walked away. I’m OK with failure. But that wasn’t what was happening.

Some people got it straight away - especially the brilliant teams at In Control and Care City. They didn’t see a “mum with an idea.” They are champions of people. I felt I had found my tribe. They knew the self-directed system had massive potential but also a blind spot. They invented it! But more than that, it was about people getting on with life. They also respected someone willing to try to do something about it. Working with them on the Tech for Better Care programme (with The Health Foundation) gave me new perspective. It wasn’t just about admin — even though that still matters. It was about relationships. And continuity. And support that makes life possible.

We Finally Started Building

I can’t explain the relief and excitement of seeing it finally being made. By 2024, we started building inCharge for real.  When I say we, I'm still a solo founder but now with a fractional team - amazing! Brave, naïve, daft or otherwise - we put it into people’s hands as soon as we could. Nerve-wracking doesn’t begin to describe it. The SCIE team will understand what I mean when I say “Plan A” — because I wasn’t joking. There was no Plan B. With support from SCIE, Social Care Future, Arc NI, and Sheffield City Council, we launched early testing towards the end of 2024. We didn’t wait until everything was perfect. We put it into people’s hands and asked:

‘Does this help you?’

‘Would this make your day easier?’

‘Is this what’s missing?’

‘If not, then what?’

From Living the Problem to Solving the Real Need

Living the problem gave me insight. Validating the need gave me confidence. And recognising it was a shared unmet need gave me purpose. This journey isn’t just about building an app. It’s about answering a need that, for too long, no one truly listened to. Because the truth is: Sometimes, the person who understands the problem best is the one no one expected to lead the solution. And sometimes — she builds it anyway, despite the odds.

inCharge App is currently in testing with five fabulous family-led support teams across UK and Ireland. Big news coming soon. Sign up for more details.