Meet Dr. Ashley Blackington, the Founder and CEO of Dovetail®, the first family customer relationship management platform to streamline the logistics of caregiving.
As an occupational therapist, Ashley recognized firsthand the lack of resources available for caregivers balancing both family and work life. So she decided to create a solution using the expertise she garnered while supporting her elder adults. The result was Dovetail®, an app that helps simplify the complexities of caregiving. Through her company, Ashley is providing caregivers with a much-needed tool to manage and optimize their responsibilities.
Below, Ashley shares the founding story of Dovetail®, how taking risks has paid off, and the achievements she’s most proud of thus far.
Tell us the story behind your company’s founding. How and why did you start working on Dovetail®?
My journey into entrepreneurship started while I was still working as an inpatient occupational therapist, juggling two kids, and pregnant with my third baby. Working with families in the hospital and in my own life, the management of logistics was relentless. I worked with patients, typically over the age of 70, who were coming into inpatient rehab after a serious illness, injury, or surgery. They were going to need help from either family or other caregivers when they were ready to go home. Their adult children, who were often their caregivers as they recovered, were usually in the midst of raising their own children and at the “peak earning” years of their careers. Over and over I had conversations with these caregivers about the impact of adding the logistics of caregiving for another generation on top of their full schedules. This was long before the pandemic. There was no product to recommend, so families managed with binders, spreadsheets, text chains, and group emails—none of which interfaced with each other. It was all overwhelming for family caregivers, but there was a sense of “this is just the way this works.”
With all the technology and organization-focused tools we’ve seen come on the market for workplace productivity and organization, caregiving platforms were still underrepresented. Family-focused apps were geared toward families with young children. Caregiving looks different than it did even a few generations ago. Families are smaller and more spread out. Parents are living longer and with more chronic illnesses, requiring more intense care. Adults are waiting longer to have children, so there’s an increase in the number of sandwich caregivers who are caring for aging adults while raising children. They are forced to manage it all while continuing to work because the cost of living has also risen dramatically. As a therapist, not a developer, I started with paper products as a way to flesh out ideas and piece together management tools. Eventually, I transitioned to tech with help from developers to create the Dovetail® app.
What problem does Dovetail® solve?
Dovetail® is the platform for caregivers that eliminates the opportunity for care to fall on one person’s shoulders. Caregiving involves physical care and logistics management. In the majority of families, the administration defaults to one person. Dovetail® is designed for collaboration so one person does not bear the burden alone. We focus on communication and task demarcation so caregivers are able to see what needs to be done and track progress and events. Each person can access relevant task information without searching text messages, emails, group chats, and voicemails to streamline communication. The problem with care logistics is not in the list-making but in completing the items on the list. The load on one person is not sustainable as the care demands for an aging person increase, children get older and get into school and activities, and parents are still trying to be present and effective at work.
What were the most difficult and most impactful lessons you’ve learned starting and running a company?
For every entrepreneur trying to build a company, there are 10 people trying to sell them a service that they can probably figure out how to do themselves. Be wary of those promising they are the only ones who can solve your marketing, sales, website, SEO, or course development problems, especially if the cost is outside of your budget. Marketing takes time, especially organic traffic. You can build a simple website to launch your product. It’s easy to be tempted to sign up for courses and work with “experts,” but is it distracting from the work you need to do as the CEO of the business? Launch your product or business before it’s perfect, and iterate as you go. There is no perfect time and getting bogged down in the details will delay your ability to start making sales and generating revenue.
Also, if you want to build a company that changes the way something has been done—that truly disrupts the way we think about something—prepare to be misunderstood. Put yourself out there; it’s the only way people are going to find you and your company.
Can you share a pivotal moment where taking a calculated risk led to significant growth or innovation?
Dovetail® started with paper-based products for families to use as home management tools, which went beyond the basic calendar most people were using at home. Like many entrepreneurs, I started designing the products because there wasn’t a way for my husband and I to actually share the mental load associated with caregiving.
During the pandemic, when people were home, my products addressed many of the pain points that came to the surface during that time. They were really well received almost immediately after the products were launched in the spring of 2020. The feedback was amazing and we were building products people were looking for in their homes. Even so, our customers were also asking for a digital option. I started developing what would eventually become the Dovetail® app with the beta launching for individual download at the end of 2023. Our roots in families meant that privacy was paramount. So the platform was developed with that in mind, making us HIPAA-compliant by design while continuing to focus on collaboration and communication. We still offer some physical products, but we’ve transitioned to tech and addressed the logistical burden of caregiving, allowing the company to grow significantly in the last two years.
We dare you to brag. What achievements are you most proud of?
I don’t think people give themselves enough credit for how companies start. I’m proud to say we are a revenue-generating, bootstrapped company. We have built a full physical product line and digital courses, are launching corporate workshops, and developed the Dovetail® app without taking outside investment. I also started this company at the beginning of the pandemic with two kids at home doing remote school, a preschooler, and a newborn.
Dovetail®, as a company, is structured around the lived experience of parenting and entrepreneurship. I talk a lot about it on other platforms because I want to normalize that for mothers wanting to start businesses. Doing both—family and starting a business—is a juggling act, not a balancing act. The long-held perception of the “have it all” woman keeps people from either starting a business or giving themselves the compassion they deserve as they work through the chaotic beginning that all founders face in one way or another.
Have you discovered any underappreciated leadership traits or misconceptions around leadership?
As an entrepreneur, we are hard on ourselves and that level of expectation can easily transcend to employees as part of the company culture. I think authenticity and empathy are fundamental to great leadership, great company culture, and a vision for the future. As a mother, I show up for work the way I show up in my life. There’s no distinction between the work version and the home version. It means sometimes a Zoom call happens with one of my kids sitting in my office coloring or stepping into the room to ask a question. Being 40 years old, I work with a lot of parents and I’m usually the first to say something about having kids. If you’ve had a long night because one of your kids is sick, it’s going to impact how your workday goes. When someone feels like they have to hide that part of their life, it’s alienating.
I’m also learning as I go and being transparent about that is important to me. If I can’t stumble and ask questions or for help, the people I work with will assume that’s the expectation. This doesn’t benefit anyone; collaboration comes from open communication, and communication comes from respect and authenticity.
What is the advice that has had the biggest impact on your entrepreneurial journey?
My grandfather started a paving company in the 1950s with a shovel and a pickup truck. He lived on a farm in Canada and drove into the nearest city to go to school from gravel roads to paved roads. When I asked him why he decided to start a paving business, he said, “I saw how terrible the roads were on cars where I lived and the difference between the farm and the city. There weren’t many people who knew how to pave or had the equipment, so I started with what I had and grew from there.”
It’s one thing to read advice about launching before you feel ready or to put yourself out there, but to be able to sit across the kitchen table from someone who knows that feeling, who you can ask questions of, and learn from is invaluable.
What’s next for you and Dovetail®?
We are excited to launch the corporate pilot for Dovetail® later this year. Participating companies will be able to offer a platform to meet the specific needs of their employees with caregiving responsibilities and have first access to new features as they are rolled out over the next year.
Ashley is a member of Dreamers & Doers, an award-winning community that amplifies extraordinary women entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders by securing PR, forging authentic connections, and curating high-impact resources. Learn more about Dreamers & Doers and get involved here.
