Remember Tetris? The pioneering video game of your adolescence has been making headlines lately as a study published in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience reported that playing the puzzle game created in 1985 “may be useful as an adjunct therapeutic intervention for PTSD.”
In the business space, a Tetris comparison is also applicable. If you’ve ever played, you know the feeling. At first, the blocks come down slow and steady. You place them carefully, creating neat rows. But as the game speeds up, as new shapes drop in unpredictable ways, the challenge intensifies. Success depends on your ability to think ahead, to pivot, to make the right decisions under pressure.
Scaling a business? It’s the same game. And investor Dr. Tony Jacob knows that game like the back of his hand.
At first, it’s simple. You’ve got one location, one product, one core team. You place your first block. Then another. Then another. Before long, you’re in motion, building, stacking, fitting pieces together. And then comes the speed, the complexity. If you don’t plan ahead, you’ll find yourself scrambling, making desperate moves just to keep up. But if you understand the game, if you see how the pieces fit together, you can create something strong — something that lasts.
Here, Dr. Tony Jacob answers questions about his successful scaling game plan.
When did you first realize that scaling a business was an entirely different challenge from just running one?
“The moment I opened my second location, everything changed. Suddenly, it wasn’t just about making one office run smoothly. And let me tell you, what worked for one location didn’t necessarily work for another. I had to shift my mindset from just being a business operator to actually being a business leader. It’s a humbling moment when you realize that your ability to scale depends not on how good you are at your craft, but on how well you can build systems and lead people.”
What’s the first step to making sure your business doesn’t become a chaotic mess?
“Get clear on what you’re actually building. Too many entrepreneurs get caught up in daily operations and lose sight of the bigger picture. You’ve got to ask yourself, what’s the endgame? Are you building something to scale, something to sell, or something to own and run forever? Once you have that clarity, everything else falls into place. You start hiring differently, making decisions with long-term vision, and prioritizing efficiency over quick wins. The key is to put the right structure in place before things get out of hand, because if you don’t, you’ll be spending all your time fixing problems instead of growing.”
What role does team building play in scaling a business?
“It’s everything. You can have the best business model in the world, but if you don’t have the right people, it’ll never work. When I first started, I was doing everything: managing patients, handling operations, making hiring decisions. But at a certain point, you have to let go. And that’s terrifying for a lot of entrepreneurs. You have to trust other people to make decisions, and that only works if you hire well and put them in the right roles. [Assessment tool] Culture Index helped me tremendously. It gave me a data-driven way to understand how my team operates and how to align their strengths with the business’s needs. When you hire right, everything else starts running smoothly.”
Have you ever had moments where you felt completely overwhelmed by growth?
“Oh, all the time. I remember when we hit multiple locations and I felt like I was drowning in decisions. Every day, it was something new — hiring issues, operational problems, unexpected costs. I had to step back and start implementing systems. [Entrepreneurial Operating System] was huge for us. It gave our business a rhythm, a structure that everyone could follow. Now, I wasn’t making every decision alone. Our leadership team had a clear framework to operate within.
How do you decide when it’s time to step back or sell?
“The biggest mistake business owners make is not knowing when to let go. It’s easy to get attached to what you’ve built, but at some point, you have to ask yourself, ‘Am I still the best person to run this?’ Selling my business wasn’t about walking away. The opportunity came at the right time, the right price, and with the right strategic fit. Knowing when to step back is just as important as knowing when to push forward.”
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about scaling a business?
“Think ahead. The biggest advantage you can have as an entrepreneur is foresight. If you’re always reacting to problems, you’ll never get ahead. You need to anticipate what’s coming. That means hiring before you need people, building systems before you feel overwhelmed, and making financial decisions based on where you’re going, not where you are. Too many business owners wait until they’re in crisis mode to make big moves, and by then, it’s too late. The smartest thing you can do is always be thinking three, four steps ahead.”