Cassie Founder, Nicky Watson, Answers: 10 Questions for Every Startup Founder

1. What is your company in 2–5 words?

Cassie is a Consent and Preference Management Platform

2. Why is now the time for your company to exist?

When I founded Cassie back in 2000, we were one of the earliest pioneers of consent and preference management (CMP). In the nearly 25 years since then, the company has tailored solutions for some of the world’s top brands, helping them stay ahead of constantly changing data privacy laws and customer expectations.

With data privacy becoming more complex, businesses face increasing pressure to comply with new regulations, especially in the U.S. with new laws emerging nationwide. Cassie doesn’t just help businesses keep up—we stay ahead with reliable, always-on compliance solutions. Having a trusted CMP partner like Cassie is crucial for maintaining consumer trust and ensuring growth built on a solid compliance foundation.

3. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem?

I love that the Cassie team is all about collaboration, with a strong focus on customer success and listening. We value ideas from every team member, as everyone shares a passion for innovation and delivering top-notch solutions to the brands we work with daily.

We’re not just reactive - we’re proactive in shaping solutions that anticipate our customers' needs and finding creative ways to solve their challenges. It’s our talent, drive, and dedication that truly sets us apart in the CMP landscape, enabling us to make a positive impact for our customers.

4. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing?

My husband and I live in the hills of North Wales with our chickens, sheep, and bees. If I weren’t at Cassie, I’d spend all my time with our animals and tending to our garden!

5. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your metrics?

At Cassie, we measure success through client satisfaction, platform adoption, and compliance effectiveness. We look at metrics like client retention rates, user engagement, and compliance audit outcomes. This helps us measure our ability to meet customer needs and demonstrate our impact in ensuring regulatory compliance across industries.

6. In a few sentences, what do you offer to whom?

Cassie caters to any organization seeking a dynamic solution to help them meet compliance standards, with our platform centrally managing over 1.2 billion customer records for large companies. Our clients range across industries, including healthcare, higher education, and retail to name a few.

7. What’s most exciting about your traction to date?

The most exciting part of our traction has been seeing our team’s flexibility and innovation create tangible results for customers. Earlier this year, we rolled out our Cross-Domain Consent feature in response to a client's request for a seamless way to manage consent across different domains. We were the first to market with this solution, and it’s been a game-changer, simplifying user experiences by reducing repetitive consent requests. This shows how we’re committed to staying ahead in offering solutions that meet our client’s needs - it’s all about evolving to meet these opportunities head-on and bring our company to new levels.

8. Where do you think your growth will be next year?

I think we’ll be able to see a lot of growth in response to evolving U.S. data privacy standards. Businesses are looking for ways to stay compliant and keep up with state-by-state regulations without all the headaches.

With proposed data privacy standards like the American Privacy Rights Act bouncing around Congress, people are demanding more control over how their information is handled. There's a growing need for solutions that give individuals more say in their data. That's where we see a big opportunity to expand, helping companies navigate these regulatory changes smoothly.

9. Tell us about your first paying customer and revenue expectations over the next year.

Cassie continues to grow substantially each year. We are privately owned without debt, so don’t have to make decisions that are not advantageous for our product or our clients. Our client and employee retention are one of our proudest metrics! We
expect mid-double figure percentage growth again this year.

10. What’s your biggest threat?

Our biggest threat comes from the break-speed at which data privacy laws and customer expectations are evolving – both of which indicate there is a heightened need to ensure Cassie not only meets but exceeds compliance standards and
keeps earning consumer trust.

Recent Cassie research found that 93% of consumers are concerned about the security of their personal information online, with 59% also reporting that their concerns about data privacy have increased over the last 12 months. This is where we step in as a resource to help companies ease the worries of the public when it comes to data and consent. Especially in the age of AI, with vast amounts of user data being collected and used for training, many consumers aren’t fully aware of just how much information is being collected about them online. We’re all about being proactive and looking ahead, which helps us address any changes or challenges and implement top-notch solutions for our global customers.