What are the biggest mistakes companies make when they're scaling or buying other businesses? | Andrew Thompson, Co-Founder, West2East

Scaling a business is thrilling… until you realize you’re chasing every opportunity and losing sight of what really matters. Too many companies spread themselves too thin, making mistakes that could have been avoided with sharper focus.

In this episode of Straight to Voicemail, Rachel Elsts Downey hears from Andrew Thompson, Co-Founder of West2East, about the biggest mistakes companies make when scaling or acquiring businesses. Andrew shares how success comes from sticking to a proven process and focusing on what works, not reinventing the wheel. His advice is clear: stay strategic, focus on growth, and always optimize, don’t complicate.

You’ll learn:

• The importance of staying committed to your growth process
• Why you shouldn’t try to reinvent the wheel when acquiring a business
• How focusing on growth rather than perfection ensures long-term success

Jump in the conversation:
(00:00) Why we wanted to hear from Andrew Thompson

(01:44) Lack of process commitment

(02:00) Over-expecting and reinventing the wheel

(02:20) Predicting success via proven models

(02:39) Protecting profitability during acquisitions

Straight to Voicemail is for CMOs, CEOs, and Heads of Marketing in B2B tech who want insights from the people who’ve been there. Each episode centers on one big question answered like a voicemail you’ll want to play again.

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00:00:00]
[00:00:09] Rachel Elsts Downey: Scaling. Acquiring a business. Those are sometimes those metrics of success, right, where you feel like I'm on a fast track to the big leagues? I've made it. I am somebody.
[00:00:19] Rachel Elsts Downey: But here's the challenge.
[00:00:20] Rachel Elsts Downey: Here's the thing that I've been wrestling with.
[00:00:22] Rachel Elsts Downey: How do we focus and not chase every opportunity, and instead stick to a proven process to drive sustainable growth? What is the balance there? Okay, as I'm exploring this question, I reached out to Andrew Thompson. He knows this firsthand. He's the co-founder of West to East, which is a media platform centered on smart business conversations and strategic growth.
[00:00:46] Rachel Elsts Downey: He covers everything from history to acquisition, but beyond that, he spent over 17 years advising as a lawyer on M&A, and helping startups navigate some of these complex growth strategies. His experience has shown that success is not about jumping into every deal.
[00:01:03] Rachel Elsts Downey: Sometimes it's about saying no, staying focused, learning what works and taking the long view. In other words, be the turtle, not the rabbit sometimes. And so as I'm thinking about growth and how Share Your Genius gets from here to there, I called him. What are the biggest mistakes companies make when they're scaling or buying other businesses?
[00:01:28]
[00:01:37] Andrew Thompson: Thank you, Rachel. I appreciate the opportunity to share this with you.
[00:01:42] Andrew Thompson: I've seen a lot of mistakes that people make.
[00:01:44] Andrew Thompson: The biggest one is often the lack of commitment to the process that you lay out, which comes from not creating a process initially that is one you can be faithful to. If you're buying a business that somebody else has, then I would say, trying to reinvent the wheel or expect too much in the beginning. Those are two different types of mistakes. Then you raise the question about how do you know if you're going to succeed? The best way I've seen to predict success is to look at success other people have had, trying to do something as similar to you as possible, yet always putting your own unique trademark and personal thumbprint on what you're doing.
[00:02:39] Andrew Thompson: Understand you're buying a business because it's already profitable. You are buying your income when you buy a business and keep your focus on that, so you don't want to lose what the other person, the seller, already has. What you do want to do is to make sure to be focused on growth, and that's where your own personal trademark comes into play.
[00:03:04] Andrew Thompson: I hope this is helpful to you and I'd love to have a follow up conversation and explore more how we can help and potentially work together. So you've got my number.
[00:03:15] Andrew Thompson: Please call me back when you have time. Thank you.