Season 2 Episode 3 | 2.12.2026

They Never Planned With Geoffrey Kent

This episode reveals why thinking through worst-case scenarios creates competitive advantage, how ignoring competition signals blind spots, and why you only need one validated customer to build something scalable. You’ll understand how reactive building leads to burnout—and how strategic planning creates stability before scale.

If you’re serious about building something that lasts, not just something that launches, this conversation will shift how you approach your business from the ground up.

Takeaways:
● Most founders don’t fail from lack of effort — they fail from lack of foresight. Planning creates mental muscle memory so you can act under pressure instead of react emotionally.● One validated customer answers the questions your next 100 will ask. Scale begins with clarity, not volume.● If no one else is solving the problem, that’s not innovation — it’s a warning sign. Competition proves the market exists.● The traits that make you uncomfortable in corporate may be the exact traits that make you effective as a founder.● You don’t always get to “try again” with the same business. When you skip steps, you don’t rewind — you restart.
Sound Bites:● “Business happens in real time. Planning happens before it.”● “A business plan isn’t for investors. It’s for pressure.”● “If you didn’t think it through, you’ll have to live it through.”● “Preparation is how you control risk before it controls you.”
Projects:Entrepreneur Academy
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📌 Timestamps:00:00 — Why Most Entrepreneurs Fail
01:12 — Planning as Prevention
04:26 — The Blueprint Analogy
06:31 — The 95% Rule
10:55 — Scaling Requires Letting Go
16:24 — What It Really Takes to Scale
26:39 — The Competition Myth
40:46 — Corporate vs. Entrepreneurship
1:01:48 — Security vs. Uncertainty
1:06:25 — You Only Need One Customer
1:10:49 — The One Thing to Do First

Michelle Mitchell

Geoffrey is a serial entrepreneur (having launched 20+ entrepreneurial ventures over the last 5 decades), who took his last tech venture (Cognis IT) from launch to successful exit in 6 years over a decade ago. In addition to an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Geoffrey has been an executive at Xerox Corporation, AT&T, the Erving Group (a holding company owned by NBA Hall of Famer Julius “Dr. J” Erving), and Deloitte Consulting, has taught entrepreneurship at Lincoln University, has judged Drexel University’s annual business plan competition, and has served on multiple corporate boards of directorships. Geoffrey now teaches entrepreneurs how to build fundable plans that get the money they need to grow their business and exit when and how they want to.
Website: Think Big with Geoffrey Kent