Jordan O’Reilly took a leap of faith when he and his sister Laura set out to improve the way people with disability receive support. They founded Hireup - a tech startup for people with disability to find, hire and manage support workers who fit their needs and share their interests. Hireup has grown substantially since starting in 2015, and now supports more than 10,000 people with disability each year. It employs a similar number of support workers.
As a result, people with disability on Hireup have full control over choosing who supports them, when, where, and the type of support they'd like.
For someone who admits he didn’t know much about building a technology platform before he started Hireup, Jordan’s achievement is impressive.
As the CEO and co-founder of Hireup, Jordan’s success began with the desire to give people like his late brother, Shane, who had cerebral palsy, agency over their own lives.
Growing up, Shane often had support workers who weren't the right fit for him. But sometimes the connection with his support workers was wonderful. The problem was it was all out of Shane's control. The family knew there had to be a better way, one where Shane could hire a support worker he wanted, who he could connect with.
Jordan knew he wanted to enter the disability support sector. He studied occupational therapy at university and, at the same time, worked as a support worker with a traditional disability agency. Jordan found himself being the worker showing up to a stranger's door. Seeing the problem was just as challenging on the other side, Jordan made the leap into becoming an entrepreneur.
For Jordan and Laura, success was never about money or size. It was about improving a system that disempowered people with disability, and giving them dignity of risk, choice and control over their own supports. With no formal business know-how, it was gut instinct and faith in themselves that led Jordan and Laura to build what is today one of the biggest NDIS providers in the country.
Jordan’s successful transition to a new career as an entrepreneur in 2015 was challenging.
While being around the sector for most of his life, there was still a steep learning curve around understanding the nuances and complexities of the NDIS - which at the time was a brand new, revolutionary system.
Jordan remembers a lot of self-doubt in the early days. In fact, there were so many risks that Jordan didn't know where to start. Leaving formal employment to start something new was the biggest risk in retrospect.
One strong memory is nervously signing a three-year lease for an office to house a not-for-profit organisation, Fighting Chance, which Jordan and Laura first started in 2011. Like Hireup, Fighting Chance also turned out to be a great success, and today provides services to over 1,000 people with disability in 13 locations across Australia.
In short, Jordan will tell you: the bigger the risk, the greater the reward.
Jordan's advice for young people or those starting something new is to dig deep and listen to what you really want - not what others want for you. Look for the opportunities in front of you and go with your passions.