What 30 Years of Indie Agency Ownership Taught Me About Growth

DIY or acquisitions—it all comes down to shared values

Most 27-year-olds are eyeing the next steps of their careers and consider themselves somewhat familiar with their chosen industry. My year at 27 played out a bit differently. By then, I founded Tetrick Marketing Design and merged with my mentor’s agency, Travis Walz, to launch Walz Tetrick Advertising. Unfortunately, one year later, Travis Walz passed away. I held the reins of an agency now fully under my leadership before I turned 30 and felt doubly responsible for making sure I could keep this living, breathing entity thriving as it had before.

That was over 30 years ago. Today, Walz Tetrick Advertising—rebranded WTA in February—remains independent. But now, we work with national brands while maintaining our Kansas City community roots.

I want to talk about the growth decisions I made to strengthen the business over time, without sacrificing what made it distinct, and how to protect independence as a competitive asset.

DIY vs. Do I Buy?

We have a sizable agency, but the goal was never “be bigger.” Leading M&A and growth, I spent my time asking: What kind of scale makes us stronger? Indies already know that size and scope allows them to compete for work traditionally earned by holding companies. The key is knowing when to buy and when your resources are better spent building your offerings from the inside.

Here’s the short version: When we could identify a company with talent and capabilities that meaningfully complemented our offering, acquisition was the right approach. However, when an emerging capability—like AI—stood to impact the entire organization, we built it internally, to better integrate the technology into our company and preserve our existing culture.

In March 2025, we acquired Outrider, a Kansas City-based production company with incredible clients like Gatorade, Wendy’s and Omaha Steaks. We already had a production unit called TorchHouse—so why the purchase? The goal was to retain and expand our talent as much as adding clients. Outrider’s principal Frankie Oviedo became our ECD, and they integrated their capabilities with TorchHouse alongside Ron Berg, our executive studio director.

On the other hand, Fuel Labs, WTA’s AI strategy division launched last year, was partly an internal initiative. We acquired InQuest Marketing in 2022, a digital and media agency, and fused some of its leaders—including our CSO Brian Olson—into Fuel Labs. We didn’t want to silo Fuel Labs’ technology. We wanted the whole agency to be able to make use of its work, findings and tech, to benefit all clients. Hence, we built.

Scale Shouldn’t Cost Culture

We spent dedicated time acquiring and scaling enough offerings, with enough talented people, to compete nationally. But we’re not a holding company. We don’t choose partners that will operate under our banner, in their own silos, like a patchwork quilt. Growing as an indie means choosing partners whose goals and culture mesh with your own, down to their values as people. We work in the Heartland, which means we’re used to treating our colleagues and clients like neighbors, with a touch of southern hospitality. That lifestyle complements finding the right business partners. It’s easy to identify who cares about the people and the values you share, and who doesn’t.

I believe in preserving the year-one core of a company, which is often the root of its character and values. We don’t perform massive acquisitions only to wave goodbye to the highly talented people within each company. Their presidents become division leaders and their colleagues become our colleagues.

I love the scrappy independent agency archetype and mostly I don’t think indies should lose this characteristically nimble quality. It’s a strong selling point against much larger, more rigid companies. But after 30 years scaling, with and without purchases, independence isn’t always synonymous with being the quirky little guy.

Indies can keep their best qualities and still expand. The real measure of growth isn’t in size, but the amount of freedom agency leaders have to decide what comes next.