Jason Gavranic
I've spent over thirty years building things that had to work: bridges, freeways, rail, defence bases, a prison and gas plants. For the last decade I've been doing the same thing with businesses, including my own.
Never be that engineer
My dad came out from Croatia in 1970 and worked as a concrete labourer until he retired. When I was about sixteen, I spent the school holidays on site with him.
One day an engineer turned up and tore strips off Dad's crew. Most of them were migrants with limited English. Every one of them knew more about finishing concrete than he did.
On the way home, Dad told me in Croatian that if he ever heard me talk to people like that, he'd knock my teeth out. He wasn't a violent man. He was making a point.
I've carried that into every role since. It's also why I chose engineering and commerce at UWA: I never wanted to sit behind a design desk. I wanted to be on site, running projects, and understanding what every decision did to the numbers.
Thirty years of getting it built
From graduate engineer to General Manager and Alliance Director, across defence, justice, rail, roads, bridges, energy and resources, in Australia and the UK.
Thrown in the deep end
Four weeks into my first project, a rail bridge five kilometres from home, the project manager was moved to another job and never replaced. The site supervisor and I ran it between us. It finished ahead of time and under budget. That's when I knew project delivery was what I was built for.
Defence and justice
An operational upgrade of RAAF Base Learmonth, which went through Cyclone Vance in 1999. I stayed on to help rebuild the town. The project was a finalist in the Engineers Australia Excellence Awards. Then a 750-room prison in the Perth hills, my first major building project.
London
Ran my own project in the UK. Nothing fast-tracks your ability to deliver like being on the other side of the world without a safety net.
Rail, gas and a hard lesson
Section Manager on major freeway interchanges for the Perth to Mandurah railway, then a move to Karratha for the North West Shelf gas project. Then General Manager of a formwork business that was in far worse shape than anyone had let on. I learned what it feels like when payroll is a question mark, not a given.
Senior leadership
Construction Manager, Operations Manager and General Manager roles across bridges, water infrastructure and resources projects. I led a Pilbara construction camp project that won Best Commercial, Industrial and Civil Building over $50M at the Kimberley-Pilbara Excellence in Construction Awards.
Prizstine and major infrastructure
Founded Prizstine Consulting. Helped deliver Perth's Matagarup Bridge, then served as Alliance Director on major freeway upgrades, including Perth's first Smart Freeway.
The final concrete pour on the Matagarup Bridge landed on a Monday of torrential rain, three days before the official opening. There was no room to delay. I made the call to pour, put on the wet-weather gear and stood out there with the crew until it was done.
A young engineer asked me afterwards why I didn't just stay in the office.
Great idea. Shit plan.
By 2015 I'd watched too many good small businesses get screwed by bigger players, usually through the contract. So I left corporate life to help them fight back.
The idea was right. The plan wasn't. The timing was terrible, the income was patchy, and some of the businesses I was helping couldn't pay me on time because they were in the same trouble I was trying to get them out of.
I learned more about running a business in those first few years than in the eighteen before them. Every one of those lessons is now built into how Prizstine works, so the owners I work with don't have to learn them the hard way.
Born on the Kwinana Freeway
December 2018. I was driving to day two of Pat Mesiti's Celebrity Evolution event, three months into an Alliance Director role, with a two-minute business presentation to deliver that morning. I was looking at the pavement works around me when four letters landed: PAVE your way to Freedom.
The room loved it. The next morning I asked who remembered what PAVE stood for. Everyone did. That's when I knew I was on to something.
The P originally stood for Profit. I changed it to Purpose, because profit is the result of the pillars working, not a pillar on its own. Almost every business owner I'd worked with had started without real clarity on why the business existed or what they wanted from it.
Purpose
Clear direction. Knowing where the business is going and why.
Accountability
People doing what they're supposed to do without constant supervision.
Visibility
Real numbers, and being visible to the right clients and the best people.
Efficiency
Systems, processes and delegation that remove you from the day-to-day.
I don't just advise owners. I am one.
The same month PAVE was born, I co-founded JDN Contracting and Electrical Services with my brother Daniel and our business partner Nik, in the house we grew up in.
In January 2020, COVID hit while Nik and two of our team were working in Wuhan, China. I negotiated to get them out, and they came home on a US government evacuation flight alongside American citizens. We lost that entire line of work overnight.
We rebuilt on renovations, air-con installs and small jobs, then kept climbing. Today JDN is an eight-figure business delivering projects in the $5 million to $10 million range, and I'm still its Managing Director.
Why that matters to you
When I talk about cashflow, tenders, people and pressure, I'm not quoting a textbook. I'm describing my week.
Everything Prizstine asks of you, I've had to do in my own business first. If it doesn't work there, it doesn't make it into PAVE.
I'm also building beyond my own businesses, taking ownership stakes as an operator, not a passive investor. Knowledge first, capital follows.
The paper trail
Qualifications matter less than results, but here's the record.
Education and Membership
- Dual degrees in Civil Engineering and Commerce, University of Western Australia
- Member, Australian Institute of Company Directors
- Member, Institute of Advisors
- Diploma of OSH for Project Managers
- Diploma of Front Line Management
Recognition
- Finalist, Leader of the Year and Entrepreneur of the Year, Sansoniverse Awards 2026
- Winner, Best Commercial, Industrial and Civil Building over $50M, Kimberley-Pilbara Excellence in Construction Awards
- Finalist, Civil and Construction Projects over $50M, Engineers Australia Excellence in Engineering Awards
Author, Speaker, Mentor
- Author of Stop Screwing Your Business (2020), Amazon bestseller, foreword by Pat Mesiti
- Speaker, Thailand Internet Summit 2023 and 2024
- Keynote to 200+ business leaders; business stages in Melbourne and Sydney
- Trainer and Mentor in a national business growth and acquisition program, with 30+ business owners coached
What I believe
Structure beats effortMost owners don't have a work ethic problem. They have a structure problem.
Profit is the resultGet purpose, accountability, visibility and efficiency right, and profit follows.
Respect the people doing the workYour team knows things you don't. Use it.
Lead from the frontNever ask your team to do something you won't do yourself.
The rest of me
Home is Perth, with my wife Angeline and our three kids, Gaby, Alex and Natalya. We head back to Croatia every few years, to Korčula and Hvar, where both sides of the family come from.
I've played football for Spearwood Dalmatinac every season since 1982. I've served two terms as President of the club's Soccer Annexe and was made a club Legend in 2025. Some of my best mates came out of that club.
And I paid my way through uni playing guitar in bands three nights a week. Turns out a pub crowd on a Saturday night is decent training for a boardroom.
Ready to take control?
Start by finding out exactly which pillar is holding your business back.
Unleash Your Business Brilliance.
Purpose | Accountability | Visibility | Efficiency | Freedom
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