Former professional footballer Jim Rae, who started playing for Dundee FC at the age of 16 in 1985, speaks to Business HQ Monthly about the achievements and ambitions of his docs24 business, and its culture of teamwork. He declares: ‘There is not a part of my job that I don’t enjoy’

 

What is your business called?

docs24.

Where is it based?

Edinburgh HQ and Greenville, South Carolina.

What does it produce/do?

docs24 is a full service clinical documentation partner working with the world’s top CROs (contract research organisations). Our mission is to support our clients in making the world a healthier place.

We remove the need for expert and highly-qualified personnel who play critical roles in drug trials to allocate time and attention to administrative tasks.

We recognise that our clients undertake critical work that can change the world and quality of life for millions of people globally. It is vital that docs24 acts as a trusted document services partner to ensure every trial runs smoothly, while reducing costs, waste and giving time back to your team.

To whom does it sell?

docs24 sells its solutions to pharma, biotech and CROs. Most of docs24’s clients are based in the USA, with a couple also based in central Europe.

What is its turnover?

$3 million turnover, $5m in orders, and four new global clients just won, which we should also see the benefit from in 2025.

How many employees?

We have 16 employees, including one in Poland, and are currently recruiting to fill vacancies in the USA.

Tell us a bit about the history of the business?

The business was created in 2013 to combat a problem within financial services. Every customer was being sent the same documents even though the company had good data on the individuals.

We built branded client platforms, and created commonly used templates and algorithms which could auto-drop images and text into the content to create highly bespoke documents.

These one-offs created a much better impact and greater ROI (return on investment) for our clients. The project went well and I thought who might also have these problems. The answer was: everyone. From there, docs24 was developed.

Over the years, it has changed significantly and while we still develop these platforms, our focus is now solely on clinical trials, where we currently manage over 650 global trials in 70 countries and distribute to over 6,000 clinical sites.

We are still developing tech, however, and our newest release, docsHUB, has been getting amazing reviews from the clients who are trying this for us.

What attracted you to your current role?

Well, I founded the company and it is my baby. I love being part of our amazing team. The culture we have created is one of teamwork, trust and empowerment, and I firmly believe that this is the reason we have grown and major blue-chip companies love working with us.

What were you doing before?

I have owned my own businesses since 2003/2004 so prior to developing docs24, I also ran a large digital printing company.

What do you least enjoy?

There is not a part of my job that I don’t enjoy. Everything has to be done and all aspects of the job need to be embraced and looked at equally importantly.

If you were to push me, however, the formal process of speaking to and dealing with VC (venture capital)/PE (private equity) businesses can be quite tedious.

What do you consider to be the main successes of the business?

Our team and culture for sure. We are very careful of the people who come and join our team. We only recruit on the cultural fit to the team and never just on skill set and this has meant that we have had longevity from everyone in the business. This principle has also extended out to vendors, partners, investors and clients. If anyone does not have the same principles, behaviours and values, then they are probably best suited with other amazing businesses. Sticking to these principles has made it easier to manage our business and have everyone around us who absolutely value each other.

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What are your ambitions for the firm?

Our ambition is to become the “go to” business for life sciences companies who need help and assistance to manage the solutions related to global clinical trials. We want to be part of the eco-system which helps get drugs to market faster, ultimately helping people like us to have a longer and healthier life.

What are the challenges facing the sector and market, and what could be done to overcome or address these?

The challenge in the market is that, while it is a sector which grows year on year, the way in which some companies run is fairly traditional and convincing them that there is a better and more efficient way to manage some of the services they need to provide can take time, as they do not always see this as a top priority.

Unless you have people with contacts into these large organisations, it can be quite difficult to find the right people.

Consolidation in the market is going to increase also and the bigger companies will get bigger with the smaller ones finding it tougher to compete.

What single thing would most help?

I am not sure there is a single thing that can help. The life sciences market has annual revenues in excess of $1.8 trillion and is extremely complex and highly regulated. That said, if we could find a way to reduce the time in getting a drug to market, which is currently over 10 years, that would help. We did it with Covid so there is no reason that this could not be improved for specific drugs.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learned?

Focus on the vital few things which will move the needle for the business. Too many people focus on being busy without being busy on the right things. Also get people around you who are amazing at the things that you are not great at and build the team around that.

What was your best moment?

Wow, I am hoping that my best moment is still to come within the business. However, from a personal point of view, being awarded Inspiring Leader of the Year from WeDO Scotland was a surprise and quite humbling, especially as the winner prior to me was Doddie Weir, who of course was on a completely different level to me or anyone else for that matter.

What has been your most challenging moment in life or business?

The failure of one of my companies was a nightmare for me, my team, but most importantly for my family. The brutal lessons learned from that experience will live with me for a long time but now drive me to be a success. Learning from the mistakes I most definitely made at that time have most certainly helped me over the last 11 years of docs24.

How do you relax?

I still play football twice a week but love my golf and I try to play twice a week also. The only place I truly relax, though, is when I am out of the country with my wife on holiday.

We are in a place now that the team is so well set up that everything runs smoothly if I am in or out of the business, which definitely helps me relax when I am away.

What phrase or quotation has inspired you the most?

The Adidas advert: “Impossible is nothing.” I still have this on my wall.

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What is the best book you have ever read? Why is it the best?

I read lots of books and spend more time on fiction now. However, the book I took most out of was Richard Branson’s autobiography. He made it, lost it and made it again with determination, vision and absolute belief in what he was doing. It is very inspiring.

Where do you find yourself most at ease?

Around my family, 100%. In terms of a place, Fuengirola, in southern Spain. It is like a home from home for us.

If you weren’t in your current role, what job would you most fancy?

What an interesting question. Although I played pro football much earlier in my life, I think I would like to be a top golfer. Following the sun all year would be amazing and being incredible at that sport would be fantastic.

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?

For business, I travel to the US every eight to 10 weeks and have got to love being in South and North Carolina. Amazing places, great people, and I love the way people do business in the US.

South Africa was also a really interesting place business-wise.

Leisure wise, I have been to Thailand seven times with the Scotland Seniors football team, playing in vets’ World Cups and raising money for displaced children. The people of Thailand are so polite and friendly, and the country is stunning.

As mentioned earlier, the south of Spain or Cyprus is where I spend most time with the family and they are both areas I enjoy very much.