How to Scale Your Agency with Smart Acquisitions (and the Courage to Say No) with Gilad Bechar | Ep #850

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How would you go about making acquisitions to accelerate your growth? Would you buy for revenue, culture fit, or client roster? Would you be willing to fire big clients that are holding your agency back? Most agency owners chase growth by saying "yes" to everything, from new services, new clients, and every new opportunity. Today's featured guest built one of the fastest-growing mobile and digital agencies in the world by narrow focusing, firing bad-fit clients, and mastering the art of strategic acquisitions. Today he'll unpack how his agency evolved from a small mobile startup in Tel Aviv to a global digital powerhouse working with brands like Google, Uber, Samsung, and Microsoft.

Gilad Bechar is the CEO and founder of Moburst, a mobile-first marketing and digital transformation agency with offices in Tel Aviv, New York, and San Francisco. Since 2013, Moburst has helped startups and Fortune 500s alike scale their reach through creative, data-driven, and tech-forward strategies.

Under Gilad's leadership, the agency has raised capital, acquired multiple specialized firms, and built proprietary technology that keeps them ahead of the curve in AI, mobile UX, and cross-platform performance.

In this episode, we'll discuss:

• The similarities between the mobile boom and the new AI era.

• Raising capital without losing control.

• Using acquisitions as a growth strategy.

• The power of saying no and focusing on fit.

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From A Mobile-First Niche Focus to Global Agency Powerhouse

When Moburst launched in 2013, the agency world was flooded with "digital experts" who claimed to understand mobile. Most didn't. Gilad noticed that agencies were simply repurposing desktop experiences for smaller screens without real mobile UX thinking, no data-driven optimization, and definitely no understanding of how users behaved differently on apps.

That insight became Moburst's edge. Instead of trying to compete as another full-service digital shop, they doubled down on mobile-first marketing. They mastered app store optimization (ASO), performance tracking, and mobile UX design. That focus helped them land early wins with major clients who were desperate for expertise in a fast-changing environment.

As Gilad puts it, "When you show big clients that a critical piece of their marketing is being ignored, and you can fix it, that's your entry point."

The AI Parallel: Most Agencies Talk, Few Deliver

Gilad sees history repeating itself with AI. Just like the early mobile days, everyone's suddenly an "AI expert." But the difference between hype and real expertise shows up fast in a conversation.

He believes the proof lies under the hood. Real experts can answer deep implementation questions: which tools integrate best, how to handle data