Spreading support

When the global pandemic hit, ACU alumnus Nicolas Hoban was determined to help people in need. His solution was Crisis Heroes, a free online community platform that has become a hub for sharing resources, as well as the place to go when you just need a friendly chat.

Building a foundation

Nicolas’ entrepreneurial career began with an arts degree at ACU’s Melbourne Campus where he studied Spanish and psychology.

“At the time, I was confused about to do with my life. I wanted to be able to study different things and keep my options open – and I knew an arts degree would give me those opportunities.”

After completing his Bachelor of Arts, Nicolas began studying law and spent the next few years committed to his second degree, which included studying abroad in The Hague in the Netherlands and completing a lengthy internship with the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

As satisfying as he found the work, when a friend introduced him to the world of tech start-ups, for Nicolas there was no turning back.

Starting out

“I was persuaded to join my friend in Madrid, Spain to work on his technology start-up event,” Nicolas said. “Even though we were pretty disorganised, I went all in and was working 18-hour days to help bring it all together.

“It was a smashing success and after this experience I felt fully drawn into the passion entrepreneurs share.

I had found my place in the start-up ecosystem.

I went on to work on larger start-up events, such as Slush in Helsinki, Finland, which had more than 20,000 annual attendees. At the same time, I reinforced my tech knowledge by learning basic coding and project management.”

When Nicolas returned home to Melbourne, it was onto the next project.

“I founded an engagement platform for uni students called Studychatr. And similar to many start-ups, we had a lot of growing pains.”

While he experienced many difficulties making this latest venture work, for Nicolas it was far from a failure.

“You don’t fail, you iterate. I have no regrets, none. It was like I was doing an unofficial business degree and I think in life you learn best by doing.”

After Studychatr, Nicolas went on to co-found Wicked Sites, a web development agency that creates affordable websites for small businesses.

“We found that most small business owners are too busy or lack the technical knowledge to effectively build and maintain their online presence. We aim to take the digital burden off their hands so they can focus on what they do best.”

 

Through these experiences, Nicolas’ start-up expertise has continued to grow.

 

“Over the years, I’ve learnt so much about tech, team building, marketing, and networking. In a start-up you have to wear all those hats and be the driving force. And every valuable thing I learnt from my past experiences has been applied to Crisis Heroes.”

Good in a crisis

Crisis Heroes sprang to life out of necessity. With the COVID-19 pandemic sending people home and away from family and friends, Nicolas started wondering how he could help.

“I was thinking about elderly people or people facing immunosuppression who might be isolated due to the lock-down laws. I didn’t know how they’d cope during a crisis without a big support network standing by.”

Knowing he could put his tech skills to good use, within five days, Nicolas and his team had their free community support network up and running.

“We put in 15-hour days to build the first version. Within a few days, we had more than 200 volunteers register and it’s only grown from there.”

Crisis Heroes is a free community platform where you can offer or seek help during a crisis. Volunteers can help people with simple tasks like picking up the shopping or making a friendly phone call to anyone feeling lonely during the shutdown. Users who require support like a dog that needs walking can also register for assistance.

Since the site launched in March 2020, more than 1,300 people have put their hands up to volunteer. Most are from Australia, but Nicolas said they’ve heard the call for help from as far away as Central Africa, Europe and Malaysia.

With a corporate sponsor now on board and high-profile media attention, Nicolas and his team plan on rolling out customised dashboards for not-for-profits with existing volunteer networks to keep the project growing.

“For me, the pandemic has been a humbling experience,” Nicolas admits. “I love start-ups and working in small business and creating things. I think this is the way you become wealthy in life – and I don’t mean in a monetary sense. I want to help people and I want to be in control of my time and my own happiness.”

Learn more about studying arts at ACU