Fivecast

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Adelaide, Fivecast wanted to rapidly grow its operations and workforce while maintaining a strong company culture. The company wanted to build a strategic framework to guide its global expansion and ensure alignment across all of its teams to ensure sustainable growth.

“The nature of Fivecast already makes it a competitive and unique business. However, we wanted to engage the Australian Centre for Business Growth to fast track our expansion and learn from the experts in business growth. What we took away was far more than what our team had imagined ‘business growth’ to be, and as a result, Fivecast’s day-to-day operations have been changed forever.”
Duane Rivett, Fivecast Co-Founder and VP Strategic Growth

The Fivecast executive team first attended the Assessment Clinic in 2019 and then graduated from the Growth Modules program in 2020. Their executive team attended the advanced Execute & Grow program in 2022 and sent a second executive team through the Growth Modules in 2023.

During the Growth Modules, the Centre’s ‘three-year planning grid’, an exercise that lays out detailed milestones and goals for the next three years, was of huge benefit to the Fivecast team. Following the program, Fivecast executed this plan with the annual goals in mind, updated the three-year plan every year and leveraged its grid as the foundation of forward planning for the business operational plan each year.

“The three-year plan transformed Fivecast’s growth trajectory and was instrumental in helping the team look at the business holistically. We talked about building the organisation, financing growth, managing ‘me’ and key externalities, which are all the elements you need to grow a business, but aren’t necessarily understood by founders and executives. The comprehensive perspective, as opposed to a sole focus on revenue growth and company size, was what we needed for the business to skyrocket like it has today.”
Duane Rivett, Fivecast Co-Founder and VP Strategic Growth.

The Knowledge Framework for Growth led Fivecast to set clear objectives and key results (OKRs) that aligned with its growth strategy and implement monthly reviews.

Another key focus for the company was to equip the entire team to excel individually.

“You hire good people, you set a plan and then you empower them to deliver. When you know how to take care of your staff and teach them to back and take care of themselves, and delegate responsibilities they know you trust them with, you get a healthy workforce that is happy and motivated. The Growth Modules have taught our team to prioritise the most important things, and for Fivecast, it’s our staff.”
Duane Rivett, Fivecast Co-Founder and VP Strategic Growth

A focus on staff for Fivecast meant fostering a positive workplace culture through hosting regular staff events such as board game nights and quiz events, providing staff perks such as breakfast and grab-and-go snacks, implementing flexible working arrangements and introducing a paid internship program that attracted young, top-tier talent from local universities.

Moreover, the organisation prioritised diversity, aiming to increase female representation in technical and leadership positions, and investing in the next generation of women in technology by supporting female students in STEM as interns.

Since their pivot to a holistic business growth lens, Fivecast has achieved a remarkable 70%+ year-on-year revenue growth for the past two consecutive years. In November 2024, Fivecast won the Australian Export Award in Advanced Technologies. In 2023, Fivecast secured $30 million in Series A investment round for global expansion into the finance markets and the UK / Europe region, servicing federal agencies in governments to combat human trafficking, counter-terrorism, crime and protect people and assets.

In 2022, Fivecast was the fastest growing company in South Australia, both in revenue and employment growth in the Fast Movers SA Awards, a program celebrating South Australian businesses that have achieved extraordinary revenue growth and innovation. The same year, they won the Impact Awards as recognition for their potential to impact global markets.

Fivecast grew its headcount from less than twenty people in July 2019 to 50 in July 2021, then to 135 in July 2024. Demonstrating the power of the three-year planning grid system taught in the Growth Modules, the business is on track to reach their 2021 target of 150 full time staff in 2024.

This growth has seen Fivecast move its Adelaide headquarters from a co-working space to a custom building designed for the optimum employee experience. With additional offices in the US, the UK and Canberra, Fivecast is playing an increasingly important role supporting the global intelligence community to keep all of us safe.

“The Centre’s three-year planning framework was the key to our business growth since our first Growth Modules. Adopting a holistic view enabled us to reinforce various crucial pillars in our company, namely our vision, our people, our values and our culture. The principles of business growth taught at the Centre was the foundation Fivecast needed to grow integrally and sustainably and has personally helped me manage myself better.”
Duane Rivett, Fivecast Co-Founder and VP Strategic Growth