How Jake Doran’s Lived Experiences and Love for Technology Have Combined to Create ‘Athlinq’

Jake Doran’s experience as a professional cricketer combined with his interests and skills away from the game have led to the development of an all-in-one platform for athletes, which is set to launch in February.

Jake has been in and around professional cricket for 12 years, signing his first rookie contract with New South Wales at the age of 17. Jake then made the decision to move down to Tasmania for the following 2015-16 season, and now has 87 First Class appearances, 33 List A and 10 BBL matches to his name.

Being thrust into elite cricket at such a young age provided Jake with some fantastic experiences, and those early days are now fond memories to look back on.

As a 17-year-old, rubbing shoulders with players like Michael Hussey and Jacques Kallis in the Sydney Thunder change rooms, and at Tasmania, Tim Paine, George Bailey and Xavier Doherty is “pretty cool” for him to look back on now.

“At the time when you're young, you probably don't realise the wealth of experience that you've got around you until you do get older and then you're that experienced head in a way.

“It's pretty cool to look back on.”

Jake is now using his experience as a professional cricketer alongside his passions and abilities away from the game to develop a platform for athletes, agents and brands – which has led to the creation of Athlinq.

Jake and the team at Athlinq are aiming to become the all-in-one platform for athletes first and foremost, but also agents and brands to create and manage partnerships, and organise contracts and invoicing, among many other features.

“How we're doing that is by creating purpose-built tools for each user, so that athletes can manage their full career in one platform, and the agents can give clear oversight of that.”

A key feature that Jake is excited about is called ‘Perks Locker’, where athletes can get discount codes and benefits from brands who want to create partnerships with athletes.

Jake has developed and built this all while playing professional cricket for Tasmania and the Hobart Hurricanes. On the balance of that, he said:

“I've always been a strong advocate for having something away from cricket.

“We are very fortunate with how the ACA give us education grants and access outside of cricket to further our careers.”

Elaborating on his personal experience in terms of education and upskilling alongside his natural all-round development through experiences as an athlete, Jake spoke about how his love for technology drove him to work hard at his learning and expertise in the space.

“Over the years I've built up my knowledge and education around this space, so it's really pleasing for me now to be able to put it to something that I'm really passionate about.

“I think being an athlete gives you the best advantage of building a platform for an athlete. One, knowing how to code and knowing the architecture and infrastructures of creating software, but then secondly, to be able to apply that from your own lived experiences I think is what sets us apart.”

Doran spoke glowingly about the support he’s received from the ACA throughout his career, and particularly the Player Development Managers (PDMs) throughout his time at Cricket Tasmania.

“The ACA's impact with the PDM’s and having on ground support there has been instrumental in my development off field.

“The role that they've been able to play in supporting me and understanding my commitments outside of cricket has been something that has allowed me to do what I've been doing.”

Jake feels strongly about current players pursuing any interests or passions they have away from the field, and spoke about how cricketers are naturally well equipped through their experiences in high pressure situations and careers as athletes:

"Find a passion and an enjoyment and dive deep into that and if it doesn't work, it's all good.”

One of Jake’s biggest learning curves in starting businesses and putting time and effort into projects is that just because it worked for someone else, doesn’t mean it will work for you. Coming to terms with the fact that off-field ventures, experiences and education can look different for everyone is something that helped Jake build confidence in what he’s trying to build with Athlinq.

James Fox, General Manager - Commercial and Communications at the ACA spoke about his excitement for Jake and Athlinq moving forward:

"It is truly remarkable what Jake has managed to build while balancing his commitments playing full-time professional cricket.

"The Athlinq platform has a slick user interface and I think it could transform the way players, agents and brands connect and communicate. Having all the functionality in one easy to use place will be powerful.

"We're excited to see where Jake and the team can take the platform."

Current Players that are interested in finding out more about how the ACA can support them with career exploration and study options are encouraged to reach out to their PDM or the ACA directly.

You can find out more about Athlinq here.