An advice app created by and for parents of autistic children? GP Tony and distance learning expert Beth, who are both autistic themselves, realised that there was a gap in the market – and combined their experience and expertise to create the new ‘fraut’ app! They are now working on a new range of healthcare apps, and will also be offering their app development services to businesses across the northeast. Read on to find out more.
Please introduce yourselves and your business.
We’re Beth and Tony, and we run a software business designing and building apps. In the future we’ll be open to app-building commissions – but for now we have a long list of software projects that we really want to see in the world, so we’re busy creating our own apps!
Our first major project is called ‘fraut’. Fraut is an autism support app for the parents of autistic children. It’s full of advice, suggestions, tips and resources – all contributed by parents of autistic kids! And because we’re both autistic ourselves, fraut is jam-packed with insights into how autistic people see the world.
What was the inspiration for your business idea?
Tony has worked as a GP for the last 20 years, and he was becoming increasingly frustrated about how little support was available to the families who came to him for help with their kids. Beth was raising an autistic son and had recently been diagnosed with autism herself, and she wanted to find a way to pass on to other parents all the things she’d learned over a decade of research and experimentation.
When we got together we realised that we had exactly the right combination of skill-sets to create a solution! Beth’s an award-winning distance-learning expert, and she’s also a writer who does her own art and graphic design. Tony used to work in IT before he became a GP, and he loves to use his coding skills to solve challenges. Between the two of us we had all the skills we needed to design and build an app to empower parents and change children’s lives.
All we needed was some business knowledge!
Which BIPC services did you access?
We received lots of help and encouragement from the brilliant Hannah Hoare (BIPC Library and Enterprise Outreach Officer), who first helped us to find our feet in working with the databases at Newcastle City Library to prepare our market analysis, and then helped us to access the information we needed at The Word in South Shields, where we’re based.
We also attended a Creative Business Brunch in the summer, which gave us the chance to hear from experts in publicity and marketing. There was a talk on Neurodiversity in Business which was inspirational, since our whole team is neurodivergent!
We tapped into BIPC help again when we wanted to know more about Intellectual Property. Matt Ginnelly at City Library talked us through all the options and processes. With his help we registered ‘fraut’ as a trademark – and we were very excited when we received our first ever Registration Certificate to confirm it!
How did the BIPC support you?
Everyone we talked to from BIPC North East gave us another piece of the puzzle. When we started out there were so many choices to be made, from the structure of our company to the details of our branding. Each conversation helped to clear up a mystery and allow us to make an informed decision.
It felt like forever – but really it’s only been just over a year since we first got in touch with BIPC through TEDCO Business Support in our home town of South Shields. In that time we’ve learned so much – but we could never have come this far without the help we’ve received.
What are your plans for the future in the shorter and longer term?
Our flagship app, fraut, is now available to buy on Google Play for Android phones and tablets, and is on the Apple App Store for limited testing before its official release early in 2026. While we roll that out, we’re also hard at work on expanding the fraut range with more apps – this time for autistic adults. So 2026 is going to be an exciting year for the fraut brand!
Long term, we have several healthcare and psychoeducation apps we want to develop; and we’ll also be offering our services to other North-East people and businesses who might want to build an app (for Android, Apple or desktop) but might not have the in-house skills to do so.
What is your advice for those who are thinking of starting their own business?
Establishing a business from scratch feels like having a mountain to climb. It’s daunting. But if you start by putting one foot in front of the other, you’ll be at the top before you know it, because someone from the business community is always there with a helping hand!
