Built by an Australian who knows the Filipino side.
SkillCloud started because every offshore platform sent people who'd never seen Xero, didn't know what an ABN was, and quit after a fortnight. The talent in the Philippines is incredible. The agencies in the middle were not. So we built a different kind of platform.
I was running a small Australian business. I tried Upwork. I tried two outsourcing agencies. I tried a Filipino "VA marketplace". Every single time the same thing happened.
The first hire didn't know Xero. The second one rotated out after a month. The third one quoted in US dollars and asked what an ABN was. I'd spend two weeks training them, then they'd leave, then I'd start over.
And every agency in the middle was charging huge margins for the privilege of giving me a freelancer who'd never spoken to an Australian client.
I knew offshore hiring could work because the talent was there. The problem was everything around it - the training, communication, consistency, and accountability. That’s what we set out to fix with SkillCloud.
Gabriel Dio
Founder, SkillCloud
How it started
The short version.
From idea to 200+ Australian businesses in under two years.
Late 2023
The frustration that started it
Burned by three offshore platforms in twelve months. Realised the bottleneck wasn't the talent. It was the agencies and marketplaces sitting between Australian businesses and the actual talent.
Early 2024
First five hires, all Filipino, all working with Australian businesses
Started with five vetted Filipino professionals already working with Australian companies. No marketplace. No agency markup. Direct booking. Daily rates. Same person every week.
Mid 2024
The first 50 Australian businesses signed up
Bookkeepers and admin assistants for the first cohort. Word of mouth from Brisbane to Sydney. Construction estimators added when builders started asking.
Late 2024 to 2025
Five roles, Brisbane and Manila offices, the platform built
Accountants, bookkeepers, admin, EAs, estimators, draftsmen. Brisbane HQ in Spring Hill. Manila operations in Makati. The booking platform launched. 100+ businesses on the books.
2026 and onwards
200+ businesses, scaling without losing the model
Same approach. Same person every week. Same direct rates. Just more roles, more talent, more Australian businesses figuring out that hiring offshore can actually work when there is no agency in the middle.
Our mission
Make hiring talent in the Philippines as predictableas hiring locally. Just faster and cheaper.
No marketplace chaos. No agency markup. No revolving door of freelancers. Just real Filipino professionals with real Australian experience, booked by the day, working as part of your team for as long as you keep them.
That's the entire premise.Everything on this site is built around that one idea.
Who hires us
Three kinds of businesses hiring bookkeepers with us.
Different stages, different reasons, same playbook.
Same person, every week
Not a marketplace. Not a freelancer rotation. Your hire learns your business once, then stays.
Show the talent first
You see the actual person, their experience, their skills, their day rate. Before you pay anything.
Tomorrow, not in six weeks
Book before 11am AEST. Your hire is at the desk by 9am the next morning. Speed is the product.
Honest, transparent pricing
Daily rates published. Platform fee is $15 flat per booking. No surprise margins, no hidden retainers.
The team
A small Australian operation. A bigger Manila one.
A lean Brisbane HQ runs the platform, vetting, and customer success. The bigger team in Manila runs talent operations and the actual recruitment.
Founder & CEO
Gabriel Dio
Filipino-Australian, born in Manila, raised in Brisbane. Spent his twenties running an Australian business and burning through three offshore platforms before deciding to fix the problem himself.
He runs SkillCloud out of the Brisbane office, talks to most clients personally in the first month, and still vets the senior talent intake himself.
Based:Brisbane
Speaks:English, Tagalog
Email:gabriel@skillcloud.au
Offices
Two offices, one team.
Brisbane HQ
Spring Hill, Queensland
Where the platform, vetting standards, and customer success team operate. If you want to meet, ask. We do coffees.
SkillCloud Pty Ltd
2/290 Boundary Street
Spring Hill, QLD 4000
Australia