From Caregiver to Codebreaker How personal experience shaped a home care revolution

In an era where technology often seems disconnected from human experience, the journey of Josh Hough, CEO of West Sussex based home care software company CareLineLive, stands as a compelling reminder of the power of empathy in innovation. Born with a rare genetic condition that required constant care, Hough transformed his personal struggles into a groundbreaking software solution for the home care sector. Through CareLineLive, he aims not only to streamline care delivery but also to instil a sense of compassion and connection in an industry that desperately needs it.

What inspired you to start your business?

I was born with a rare genetic condition called Minicore Myopathy which weakens the muscles. I was visited by countless nurses, doctors and healthcare professionals and every time I met someone new, I had to go through the same routine – answering the same questions, explaining my condition. It was very repetitive, boring and inefficient and, even as a young child, I was thinking: 'this could be done better'.

Years later, I was running my own information technology (IT) services company and had a client in the home care sector. They had teams of carers looking after clients and were struggling to keep track of it all. They asked us if we could create a system for them and so we developed an app which later became CareLineLive, an all-in-one solution for home care companies.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?

Staff turnover is an issue, especially in tech, and that can be quite detrimental to the company's growth. If you have people joining and leaving then you're going to spend a lot of time recruiting and training and neither of those things help you to grow. So we try to keep people and the only way you can do that is with a strong culture.

We look after people, value them and support them if they are going through a hard time. If someone needs to go to a medical appointment then, my view is, they should just go. If someone needs an advance on money then we'll try to make that happen.

We've had people leave but then come back to us as they liked it here better. That says to me we are doing something right."

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How did you secure your initial funding?

I've taken a lot of risks with funding. Our first funding was a grant for £15,000 but this had to be match funded and resulted in one of the scariest loans I've ever taken – an 18 month finance deal with an annual percentage rate (APR) of over 50%. I also used credit cards and personal loans to keep the company going during the early stages when funding was scarce. Since then, we've gone through three funding rounds and raised £7m from various sources including friends, family and private equity."

How do you handle failure or setbacks?

Building a software company means failures and setbacks are built in. You just have to keep going. But also you have to recognise when you need more help. I've recruited some very experienced and talented people to work with us at CareLineLive. Entrepreneurs have to recognise when there are others who can do the job better than they can. What advice would you give to someone starting their own business?

Your customers' opinions are incredibly important. What they say guides your product's development. We started with a customer problem, fixed it and then sold the solution to 600 other companies that were going through the same thing.

For a business to be able to grow, you need a market that is big enough. We know the home care sector is big and there's plenty of research to show that. But, ultimately, it started with a customer that had a problem that we were able to solve in a very interesting way."

How do you stay motivated during tough times?

I think growing up disabled made me very determined and single-minded. From an early age, I learned I could prove people wrong. Sometimes, progress is slower than you want it to be, but you have to accept that and keep going. We have a sense of mission and purpose. We are very ambitious and we want to transform home care globally. I know from personal experience how important that is and having that personal sense of mission keeps me going."

Share your tips for achieving success

The most important lesson I've learnt in business is that I needed to work on the business and not in the business. So I try not to get involved in the minutiae of the day-to-day stuff. I don't micromanage – I trust our teams to do all the small things well.

My role is more about strategy direction, investor relations and overseeing staff as opposed to doing a job. I also spend a lot of time working on ways we can innovate that the market might not expect. Staff happiness is also incredibly important. If your team isn't happy then you're not going to succeed.

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