"Not Deciding is the Worst Thing": Patrick Andrae's CEO Mindset at HomeToGo

From Meta-Search to B2B Platform: HomeToGo's Radical Transformation

More than 15 acquisitions in just a few years, including one worth hundreds of millions – Patrick Andrae, Co-Founder and CEO of HomeToGo, has radically transformed the publicly listed company. The Interhome acquisition nearly doubled revenue, workforce, and profitability while completing the transformation from vacation rental meta-search engine to full-stack B2B platform company.

This story demonstrates how strategic acquisitions can fundamentally change a business – if you're willing to act decisively and place big bets.

M&A as Growth Strategy: Making Buy-or-Build Decisions Opportunistically

HomeToGo's acquisition strategy follows a pragmatic principle: "We're not dogmatic about buy-or-build," Patrick explains. Instead, the company uses existing partner relationships as implicit due diligence over years. This long-term observation builds trust and conviction for future acquisitions.

For the Interhome acquisition, HomeToGo systematically built conviction: first a small test on the Baltic Sea coast, then validation of the hypothesis, finally scaling to a nine-figure sum. The entire process took over 1.5 years – time that was essential for conviction-building.

The competitive bidding process was structured together with DER Touristik (Rewe), illustrating the complexity of such mega-deals. The key was strategic vision: not just buying assets, but redefining the entire value chain.

Business Model Evolution: From Meta-Search to B2B Dominance

Originally launched as a vacation rental meta-search engine, HomeToGo evolved into a marketplace and eventually into a B2B provider. Today, HomeToGo Pro already accounts for 66 percent of revenue – a fundamental shift in the business model.

The central insight: "Property Lifetime Value" is more important than Customer Lifetime Value. While guests come and go, vacation properties remain in the ecosystem – even when ownership changes. This perspective transforms the entire valuation of assets and customer relationships.

The combination of Smoobu (self-service software) and Interhome (full-service) covers the complete value chain. Clever side effect: churn becomes migration instead of loss. When customers switch from one service to another, they remain within the HomeToGo ecosystem.

Post-Merger Integration: Radical Migration as Principle

After the Interhome acquisition, HomeToGo pursued radical software migration. The Interhome frontend was replaced by HomeToGo technology within just two months after closing – an ambitious timeline that demonstrates decisive action and execution power.

Organizationally, HomeToGo functions as a lean holding company with independent business units. Each unit has its own CTO, but with an overarching Global CTO in a matrix structure. This balance between autonomy and coordination enables quick decisions without resource conflicts.

The principle: autonomous teams are faster than central prioritization. Each business unit gets its own product teams instead of competing for shared resources. This creates focused innovation without internal friction.

AI Strategy: AI University and Physical Businesses as Protection

HomeToGo has built an internal AI University that turns employees into "half techies" beyond simple prompting. Important insight: you can't force adoption – it must emerge organically.

Interesting is Patrick's observation about the investor market: physical and service businesses offer natural protection against AI disruption and are now valued higher than they were two to three years ago. While pure software companies might be threatened by AI, physical assets and human services remain relevant.

For founders, Patrick recommends finding a niche that's too small for frontier labs but large enough for a company. This "Goldilocks zone" offers protection from Big Tech while still providing sufficient market size.

The Most Important CEO Learning: Making Decisions

Patrick's most important insight as a CEO: "Not deciding is the worst thing you can do as a founder." Even bad decisions are better than no decisions because you learn and can correct course faster.

This philosophy permeates HomeToGo's entire transformation: bold acquisitions, radical integrations, opportunistic buy-or-build decisions. At a time when many companies are paralyzed by analysis paralysis, HomeToGo shows how decisive action becomes a competitive advantage.

The HomeToGo story is a case study in strategic transformation through M&A – and why conviction and decisiveness matter more than perfect planning.