Jo Condon Autism Assessments, based in Tredegar and founded by Clinical Lead and Director Jo Condon in 2024, provides private autism and combined autism and ADHD assessments for adults and children aged two and over, with no GP or school referral required. After more than 20 years in the autism field, including a spell as Autism Lead for Wales and senior leadership of NHS assessment services, Jo set up the business to deliver expert autism assessments and support, grounded in clinical excellence and best practice.
With support from the Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme (AGP), the business has doubled turnover, grown web enquiries fivefold and recruited six new staff in the first six months of its second year.
Here, Jo discusses the support provided by AGP and the role it has played in the growth of the business.
What inspired you to start Jo Condon Autism Assessments?
I'd led autism assessment services for years and wanted to offer something better: a service that values people, responds quickly, upholds clinical standards and delivers assessments with care, depth and integrity. I wanted to create an inclusive service able to assess the most complex clients, where staff have time to do things properly and feel supported. I was confident I could run my own service and the staff I worked with at the time encouraged me to go it alone, so I decided to give it a go.
What challenges did you face in starting and scaling the business?
Running a service and running a business turned out to be very different. A good friend helped me register the business and get staff on payroll and I commissioned a company to build a website. Then I waited for leads to flood in, but they didn't. Despite a significant market for our services, I realised nobody would access them if they didn't know it existed. That's when I reached out to the AGP for help.
How has AGP supported your growth journey?
I met Nicola Rylett Jones, my AGP Relationship Manager, who asked to see my business plan early on. I didn't have one, so with her support, I developed a three-year business plan, set clear goals and started to understand and plan for the barriers to growth. We also attended AGP workshops, including an AI Prompt-a-thon that helped us streamline our internal processes.
The turning point was AGP matching us with a digital marketing agency to carry out an SEO audit and build a strategy. I explained the issues I was facing, and within a few weeks they came back with their findings and a step-by-step playbook on how to fix them. It was clear our website structure was the biggest problem, so I trusted their expertise and invested in rebuilding it around their advice.
What impact has this support had?
After launching the new website, we saw a huge jump in leads and had our highest-performing month yet. In the first six months of our second year, we've doubled our turnover, increased web clicks from 325 a month to 1.55k a month and recruited six new staff members.
What milestones are you most proud of?
Being able to offer this high-quality service to a growing number of people who are struggling day-to-day and need understanding, and often the answers, that follow an autism diagnosis. Moving from running a busy service to running a proper business, with a plan, a strategy and the structure to grow it, has been a milestone in its own right.
What advice would you give other entrepreneurs?
Take the plunge but be honest with yourself about where your gaps are, and get support to fill them. To get the most from AGP, be completely honest with your Relationship Manager. There's a huge amount of support available once they understand exactly where you're struggling.
What's next for Jo Condon Autism Assessments?
We're moving into our next phase of growth with real confidence to explore new opportunities and think bigger about the future. We're also excited about the chance to collaborate with other Welsh businesses, building connections that can help drive mutual growth and success across the region.
Find out more about how the Accelerated Growth Programme can support your business.
Find out more about Jo Condon Autism Assessments.