Dane Meah’s first business adventure was at aged 18 where he developed and sold digital information products from his home, via online stores. This experience gave Dane a taste for business and pursued a career in sales.
After several years in the recruitment and pharmaceutical sectors, Dane relocated to Australia and entered the cybersecurity industry with an early cloud provider called MessageLabs.
In 2014, Dane identified a gap in the market in the way organisations were addressing security management and co-founded InfoTrust. InfoTrust are a specialised cybersecurity practice, that supports their clients to become secure and more productive. InfoTrust has evolved to develop deep expertise that combines internally developed products, professional services, managed
services and third party technologies, across a range of cybersecurity domains.
In this episode Dane discusses the evolution of InfoTrust and the impact of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) has had on the business. Having graduated from his EOS implementer, the business continues to grow. He now has the opportunity to explore other opportunities and to live his ‘EOS Life’.
Transcript
Murray Smith: Dane Meah, welcome to Gripping Business Tales.
Dane Meah: Good morning, Murray. How are you?
Murray: I’m good, thanks. I appreciate you coming on the show. There’s a lot to cover—your journey with InfoTrust and what you’re doing now—so let’s get the show on the road. As always, we start with two questions: what’s one personal success and one professional success you’ve had recently?
Dane: Personally, it’s been a big year. We had our third child, and seeing the kids grow together has been pretty special. One of the positives of COVID has been spending more time at home with the family.
Professionally, through a challenging economic and global climate, the business has come through well. We’ve just appointed a CEO—something I never imagined seven years ago. It’s a big moment for me, and it’s given me time to pursue other business interests. So, very exciting times.
Murray: Fantastic. Let’s go back a bit—tell us about InfoTrust and how it all started.
Dane: I’m originally from the UK and arrived in Australia 14 years ago. On day one, my accommodation fell through, so I was effectively homeless. I sent off an email while at an airport in Korea asking if anyone had a place I could stay. By the time I landed, someone had offered me a place—and that person introduced me to a cybersecurity company.
I started working there a week later and stayed for seven years. That’s where I learned my trade and what a good SaaS business looks like. At the time, “SaaS” was still a new term, but I saw a shift—businesses were demanding more than just technology. Service providers had a bit of a bad rap for being transactional, so in 2014, we launched InfoTrust to change that.
The idea was to create a truly “as-a-service” offering—taking customers by the hand and continually assessing how to get more value from their investment. It wasn’t a revolutionary concept, but it worked. In our first year, we had 100 customers, from tier-one banks to local councils. Within two years, we had 200 customers and just six staff.
Murray: That’s a remarkable rate of growth. What came next?
Dane: After two years, we realised we’d done a great job taking SaaS to market and wrapping value around it. It was time to mature and start building our own IP. We invested in people and started ideating and experimenting. We’ve since developed a range of security offerings—some to augment third-party tech, some consulting and professional services, and now even our own software.
Today, InfoTrust is a 40-person business with about 350 clients across Australia.
Murray: What gave you the confidence to take that leap?
Dane: I’d always wanted to start a business. I tried before—in recruitment—but realised I hated it. That failure prompted me to come to Australia and learn my trade. Over seven years in cybersecurity, I saw increasing dissatisfaction with the transactional nature of service delivery.
So we pitched a new model to a vendor I’d worked for: “Let us handle the service layer you’re missing.” They were supportive, and we launched. Early on, my co-founder and I spent a day mapping out all our stakeholders and how we’d add value for each. That clarity helped us create scalable, high-touch engagements.
Murray: But scaling to 200 customers with just six people isn’t easy. How did you manage that?
Dane: Honestly, we didn’t always cope. But it helped that the business was initially one-dimensional—we focused on one core product with a value-add layer. That simplicity made things easier.
We also invested early in scalable systems—CRM integrations, revenue tracking, automation. That meant we could grow without being bogged down in admin. And over time, instead of chasing more customers, we started offering more services to the ones we already had. That helped us remain relevant and defensible.
Murray: Let’s talk about EOS. When did you first come across it?
Dane: Three months into the business, my co-founder and I realised we were stepping on each other’s toes—or worse, missing things altogether. We were both good at our jobs, but we needed structure.
We started exploring coaching options and met Daniel Davis. At the time, he wasn’t yet using EOS, but a simpler model. It helped us get off the ground. But by the three-year mark, we’d plateaued. That’s when Daniel gave us the Traction book. It clicked instantly. EOS had both strategic vision tools and operational structure—exactly what we needed.
Murray: What changed once you implemented EOS?
Dane: Everything. We defined and communicated our vision more clearly. We identified key metrics across all functions and used a weekly scorecard. We rolled out Level 10 Meetings across the company—not just at the leadership level.
The Accountability Chart gave clarity on roles. And personally, I had metrics I was accountable for—something that often goes missing when you run your own business. One unexpected win was the People Analyzer. We stopped using it for two years but brought it back last year, and it gave us huge insight into who needed help or different roles. That was a big moment.
Murray: You’ve since graduated from EOS. What does life look like now?
Dane: InfoTrust is running well, and I’ve stepped into a board role. My co-founder and I asked ourselves what roles we actually wanted to play going forward. We brought in a new CEO—someone who was once my boss, actually! Highly trusted, well-regarded, and the right person to take the business from “established” to “scaling.”
This has allowed me to focus on a new venture—building a SaaS tool that helps small businesses assess their cybersecurity posture without needing expensive consultants. Most small businesses can’t afford a weeks-long engagement. We want to give them a fast, affordable way to build a strategic roadmap.
Murray: That’s a great mission. What’s your advice to other business owners—not just EOS-specific?
Dane: Hire the best people you can afford. There’s no substitute for talent. Sometimes it’s hard to justify the cost early on, but when the time’s right, make the investment.
Also, stay connected to the numbers. Even if you delegate and elevate, no one cares about your business like you do. Build a scorecard that lets you step back while staying in touch with what matters. In hindsight, when we’ve gone off-track, it was usually due to a lack of clarity around roles or metrics.
Murray: Great insights. If someone wants to get in touch with you?
Dane: Visit infotrust.com.au or connect with me on LinkedIn. Whether you’re interested in InfoTrust, our new SaaS tool, or just want to chat about growing a business—always happy to talk.
Murray: Dane, thanks so much for sharing your story. It’s always inspiring to hear from someone who’s built something great and is now empowering others to do the same.
Dane: Thanks, Murray. Really enjoyed it.
“We have taken InfoTrust to a scale that has huge potential to continue to grow.”