EP303: Wendy McDougall, Founder of Firefish - Predictions for 2026 from an Exited Female

This Week’s Episode: Predictions for 2026 from an Exited Female Founder with Wendy McDougall

This week's episode is with the incredible Wendy McDougall, founder, trailblazer, and the powerhouse behind Firefish, one of the most respected CRMs in the recruitment industry. Wendy has built, scaled, and successfully exited a business in a space where few female founders have paved the way, and in this episode, she opens up about the realities behind that journey.

We dive into Wendy’s story, how she built Firefish by putting data at the heart of the recruitment process, and why a CRM isn’t just software, but the engine that drives a modern recruitment business.

Key topics we explore:

• Buying behaviours in RecTech

• The true value of data - and why most agencies still aren’t leveraging even half of what they have

• What the cost of candidate acquisition really is - and what recruiters overlook when calculating ROI

• Predictions for a successful 2026

Connect with Wendy here https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendymcdougall/

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The Recruiter's Recruitment Podcast is proudly sponsored by Paiger and partners to Needi, Keybridge IT, Bristol & Hardy and Diversity and Inclusion .

Our Sponsor:

Paiger - Making Recruiters Smarter and Faster. Paiger helps recruiters build personal brands, identify new business opportunities, attract candidates, and have better conversations.

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Diversity in Recruitment helps recruitment businesses understand diversity, equity, and inclusion in a way that makes sense. Our training and advisory work is designed anidence to attract diverse talent, recruit inclusively, improve your candidate journey and confidently partner with their clients. DE&I doesn’t have to be complicated and scary - it’s simply about fair, ethical and high-quality recruitment.

Keybridge IT Solutions is a London-based Fully Managed IT Support and solutions Provider - Providing 24×7 Support to all Customers. Specialities include Microsoft Cloud, including Office 365, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, Security, Internet Connectivity, VoIP, and much more didence to attract diverse talent, recruit inclusively, improve your candidate journey and confidently partner with their clients. DE&I doesn’t have to be complicated and scary - it’s simply about fair, ethical and high-quality recruitment.

Bristow & Hardy partners with SME recruitment agencies to accelerate growth through sales enablement and recruitment marketing. With over 7 years’ experience, we specialise exclusively in the recruitment sector, delivering strategy, branding, websites, marketing campaigns, and sales support. Our proven growth suite of products helps agencies attract more clients, win more business, and scale efficiently. Find out more here – https:// bristowandhardy.co.uk