Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business

Tired of the daily "what's for dinner?" struggle and the mental gymnastics of healthy eating? Sushmitha Kanukurthi, a data scientist with over 20 years of experience at companies like Meta, turned this universal problem into her mission. She founded Nuven, a health-tech platform that acts as your personal AI kitchen assistant. This episode is a masterclass in leveraging deep professional expertise to build a unique, data-driven solution in a crowded market. For any wantrepreneur or entrepreneur, Sushmitha’s story is packed with invaluable lessons on listening to user feedback, the power of pivoting, and why being married to the problem—not your initial solution—is the ultimate key to success.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
Leverage Your Unique Expertise: Discover how Sushmitha’s 20-year career in data science gave her a unique edge in identifying signals and building a tech solution for the food industry.
Solve the Mental Load: Learn how to identify and solve the "mental load" for your customers to create an indispensable product they'll use daily.
The Power of the Pivot: Understand when to listen to the "buts" from your users and have the courage to pivot away from your original idea to build something truly valuable.
Win in a Crowded Market: Find out how focusing on a niche (culturally relevant food) and a unique value proposition (end-to-end kitchen management) can help you stand out.
AI with a Purpose: See how to integrate AI intentionally to solve core user problems, rather than just using it as a buzzword.
Build a Real Feedback Loop: Learn how to create a direct line to your users and use their insights to drive every product iteration.
📝 About Sushmitha Kanukurthi
Sushmitha Kanukurthi is a 20-year veteran of data science and analytics who has pivoted her extensive expertise into the world of health tech. She is the founder of Nuven, an AI-powered platform designed to make healthy home cooking simple, personalized, and culturally relevant. After becoming a mother and growing concerned about the food system, Sushmitha combined her professional skills with her personal passion to solve the daily mental load of meal planning for families. Her data-driven approach offers a unique perspective on building a consumer-facing product that truly listens to and evolves with its users.
🎯 Sush’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Don't be married to the solution, be married to the problem."
📢 Memorable Quotes
"When you see the signal across the board and you see that there is no real solution to this problem yet... now is the time for me to take a plunge." – Sushmitha Kanukurthi
"When you give people culturally relevant foods, foods that are familiar to them, that they grew up eating and help them figure out how to make that healthier. That's what will make it sustainable for them." – Sushmitha Kanukurthi
"I was very married to the solution I was building... every time I talk to the user, I would get feedback that, hey, you know what, this is great, but... by the fifth or sixth time, I was like, okay, these buts seem to be never-ending, so we gotta figure out a way to nip this in the bud." – Sushmitha Kanukurthi
💡 Actionable Takeaways
Listen for the "Buts": When gathering user feedback, pay close attention to qualified praise ("it's great, but..."). Consistent "buts" are a clear signal that a pivot or iteration is needed.
Audit Your Professional Skills: Identify the unique skills from your career (like data analysis, marketing, or project management) and consider how they can be your unfair advantage in a new venture.
Start Marketing Yourself: Even without a budget, embrace the role of a marketer. Start building a social media presence for your brand and enjoy the process of connecting with your audience.
Focus on a Niche: Don't try to be everything to everyone. Find a specific, underserved angle (like cultural relevance in food) to build a loyal early-adopter base.
🔗 Links & Resources
Website: https://www.gonuven.com/
Connect with Sushmitha on LinkedIn
Follow Nuven on LinkedIn

Ever feel like the evidence is stacked against you? A failed proposal, a critical email, or even that voice of self-doubt in your own head can feel like proof that you’re on the wrong track. In this Solo Sunday episode, Brian Lofrumento dives into a controversial but essential trait for every founder: delusion. He argues that in a world overflowing with evidence that you’ll fail, the only way to succeed is to be delusional enough to believe you will win anyway. Brian breaks down why this mindset is critical, how the most successful founders use it to their advantage, and why you need to stop looking for criticism and start looking for reasons to believe.
✨ Why This Matters for You
Embracing a healthy dose of delusion is a game-changer for entrepreneurs:
It’s your shield against the constant negativity and criticism that can paralyze your progress.
It empowers you to keep moving forward when the data, the feedback, and the circumstances all scream "stop."
It helps you understand that your belief in your success is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It frees you from the trap of constantly seeking validation and allows you to build based on your vision.
It’s the fuel that gets you over the mountain of obstacles to the other side where your supporters are waiting.
📝 Key Takeaways
Delusion is a Prerequisite for Success. It’s the ability to believe in your vision despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Negative Evidence is Everywhere. From failed pitches to your own self-doubt, reasons to quit will always be abundant. The key is to consciously ignore them.
Your Belief Determines Your Reality. As Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right." You have to choose to believe you can.
Beware of Over-Seeking Criticism. If you ask for negative feedback, you will always get it. Successful founders protect their delusional mindset by surrounding themselves with believers, not just critics.
Find Your "Green Team" Evidence. For every piece of "red team" evidence that says you'll fail, there's "green team" evidence that says you'll succeed. Your job is to find and focus on the green.
The Market Will Test You. The world will provide plenty of criticism and negative feedback on its own. You don’t need to go searching for more of it.
🚀 Put It Into Action
This week, conduct a "Green Team" audit of your own business:
Identify one area where you've been focused on the negative evidence (e.g., low conversion rates, a critical comment).
Now, actively search for three pieces of "green team" evidence in that same area. This could be a single positive customer review, one successful sale, or even just your own unwavering belief in the product.
Write them down and make them your focus for the week. Choose to be delusional and act as if that green evidence is the only thing that matters.
🔗 Stay Connected
Subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode
Connect with Brian on Instagram @imetbrian
Share this episode with a fellow entrepreneur who needs permission to be a little more delusional

In this special Collab Week episode of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, 13 founders come together to answer one deceptively powerful question:
Tell us about something you picked up during your school years that had nothing to do with the actual coursework, but has helped you in day-to-day as a business owner.
From a nightly outfit ritual that taught preparedness, to a rugby final that taught the difference between the right action and the right outcome, to a boss's two-word correction that reframed an entire philosophy of customer service, this is a wide-ranging episode that's a reminder that the most useful business lessons rarely show up on a syllabus.
For any wantrepreneur or entrepreneur who's ever wondered whether their "unrelated" hobbies, jobs, or offbeat professors actually mattered, this episode is proof they did — and a nudge to go looking for the lesson hiding in whatever felt like a distraction at the time.
✨ What You'll Take Away
In this episode, you'll learn how to:
How sourcing advice from total outsiders gives you unbiased market intel
Why knowing when you're being told something wrong matters more than ever in the AI era
How getting comfortable around smarter people builds stronger partnerships
Why arguing both sides of an idea (respectfully) leads to better decisions
How choosing the right action over the desired outcome protects your progress
Why choosing the pain of discipline beats the pain of regret, every time
Why realistic workloads (not cramming) make you a better manager and leader
🎙️ Meet the Collab Week Contributors
Patricia Ballivian — Altura Strategies
Founder of Altura Strategies, helping founders bring clarity and structure to the messy realities of scaling.
Website: https://www.alturastrategies.net/
Drew Mehta — ThinkFraction
20+ years in corporate; now helps owner-operators grow revenue by fixing back-end workflow leaks and applying AI the right way.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhroovmehta/
John Lunsford — Tethral
Engineer, anthropologist, and PhD in tech adoption; formerly led AI and personal safety at Uber, now founder/CEO of Tethral.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-lunsford/
Arjun Bidesi — Orcana.AI
Co-founder/CEO of Orcana.AI, closing the gap between operating plans and actual performance with AI-driven insights.
Website: https://www.orcana.ai/
Stephen Custer — Dry Humor Marketing
Owner of Dry Humor Marketing, pairing serious strategy and data with authentic storytelling that gets people to act.
Website: https://www.dryhumormarketing.com/
David Beltran — Accord Intelligence
Founder/CEO of Accord Intelligence, building the decision layer that keeps humans accountable for AI-driven decisions.
Website: https://www.accordintelligence.ai/
Zeyno Dodd — AlgiSense
Co-founder of AlgiSense, developing AI-driven EEG biomarkers to objectively measure pain.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zeynoaygendodd/
Raamon Newman — New Mavericks
Co-founder of New Mavericks, a CEO leadership development partnership; co-author of The Science of Protection.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raamonnewman/
Mike Gross — Michael J. Gross, LLC
Trainer, consultant, and auditor helping organizations apply ISO standards practically, with 35+ years of experience.
Website: https://mj-gross.com/
Nicholas Cook — Money 101 Academy
Founder of Money 101 Academy and owner of Prime Land Properties; also writes at The Place Blog.
Website: https://money101academy.com/
Erik Berglund — Loominary
Founder of Loominary, building skill simulation systems for practicing business's hardest conversations.
Website: https://www.loominary.io/
Nate Hebbert — SelfWare Consulting
Founder of SelfWare Consulting, helping small business owners beat burnout without pressing pause.
Website: https://selfwareconsulting.com/
Brandon Pankey — Blue Pine Works
Co-owner/Operations Lead at Blue Pine Works, an arboriculture and land stewardship company in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area.
Website: https://bluepineworks.com/

Tired of wrestling with clunky spreadsheets or paying a fortune for software that doesn't quite fit your business? James Edgell, a former technology leader at giants like McDonald's, IBM, and Deloitte, is here to show you a better way. He shares how his new venture, SoftExit Studio, is using AI to make custom business software accessible and affordable for everyone. This episode is a masterclass in leveraging technology to solve real-world business problems without a team of developers or a venture capital budget. James breaks down how any entrepreneur can now build the exact tools they need to scale, automate, and finally get out of "spreadsheet hell."
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
 🔧 How to escape "spreadsheet chaos" and the growth plateau it causes for so many small businesses.
 🤖 Why AI-driven configuration (not code generation) is the key to building stable, bug-free custom applications quickly and affordably.
 🚀 The single most powerful (and boring) concept James learned in big business that you can apply to scale your small business.
 💰 How to build powerful, custom tools like CRMs and inventory systems without paying for expensive AI tokens or hosting fees.
 📈 A framework for identifying the hidden gaps in your operations that are perfect candidates for a custom software solution.
 🤝 How to use AI as your "brutally honest" co-founder to pressure-test ideas and build a rock-solid business plan.
 🛠️ Why bootstrapping a powerful tech-enabled business is more achievable now than ever before.
📝 About James Edgell
James Edgell is a seasoned technology executive, entrepreneur, and the founder of SoftExit. With a high-impact career spanning roles at IBM, Motorola, and McDonald's, he was a key leader behind the digital platforms that served millions of customers, including the McDonald's mobile app. James has a unique talent for transforming complex business challenges into practical, scalable technology solutions. Now, he's on a mission to empower small and mid-sized businesses with SoftExit Studio, an AI-enabled platform that makes custom software a reality for entrepreneurs everywhere.
🎯 James’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
“This is the most exciting time for entrepreneurs… AI can be your co-founder. I mean, you finally have somebody you can bounce ideas off of that knows everything… Get out there and try it and do it… This is the time where bootstrapping actually makes sense.”
📢 Memorable Quotes
 “I learned something that was incredibly boring, incredibly powerful, and it's called process. And it is absolutely amazing.” – James Edgell
“A lot of companies… end up dropping back to spreadsheets. And then when they start to grow, that kind of plateaus their success because now they're in all these spreadsheets up to their neck and none of them work together.” – James Edgell
“We're going to provide a great service to a lot of companies at an affordable price for our entire existence.” – James Edgell
💡 Actionable Takeaways
 ✅ Audit Your Spreadsheets: Identify the one spreadsheet in your business that is the most complicated, error-prone, or critical to your operations. This is your first opportunity for a custom solution.
 ✅ Think Like a Change Agent: Step back and work on your business. Ask yourself: "If I could build any tool to solve my biggest daily frustration, what would it do?"
 ✅ Use AI to Challenge Your Business: Go to your favorite AI chatbot and prompt it with: "Be brutally honest and attack the weaknesses in this business idea..." See what you uncover.
 ✅ Explore No-Code First: Before assuming custom software is too expensive or complicated, explore an affordable platform like SoftExit. You might be surprised by how quickly you can solve a major business problem.
🔗 Links & Resources
Website: http://www.softexit.com/
Connect with James on LinkedIn
Follow SoftExit on LinkedIn
Follow SoftExit on Facebook

Tired of hearing about AI as a novelty? This episode cuts through the noise. Serial entrepreneur Marty Reed joins the show to reveal how to implement AI with a founder’s mindset, focusing on one thing: a tangible return on investment. He explains why simply chatting with an LLM is the lowest bar and shares how to build custom AI agents that automate complex workflows, multiply your team's productivity, and directly impact your P&L. For any wantrepreneur or entrepreneur feeling overwhelmed by AI, Marty provides a clear, strategic playbook for leveraging this technology to build a more efficient, scalable, and profitable business. This isn't about AI for AI's sake; it's about making AI work for you.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
Beyond the Chatbot: How to move from basic AI prompts to building "agentic tooling" that automates repetitive, time-consuming tasks across your business.
The 5X Productivity Formula: Learn how AI can analyze thousands of data points (like customer emails) to create automated workflows that make your team five times more productive.
The Founder’s ROI Playbook: Discover how to identify the highest-impact areas for AI implementation and calculate the financial return before you invest a single dollar.
Context is King: Understand why giving AI access to your unique data (emails, meeting transcripts) is the secret to making it an invaluable, personalized executive assistant.
Human Capital Multiplier: Reframe your thinking from AI as a job "displacer" to a powerful "multiplier" that frees up your team for high-value strategic work.
Winning Over the Skeptics: Learn the strategy for turning AI naysayers on your team into your biggest advocates and drivers of adoption.
From Two Weeks to 20 Minutes: Hear a real-world example of how AI condensed a complex, two-week reporting process into a 20-minute automated task.
📝 About Marty Reed
Marty Reed is the managing partner of Apex AI Advisors and a seasoned serial entrepreneur who has founded seven companies and successfully exited four. With a deep background in finance and operations, Marty approaches technology from a business-first perspective. His last venture, an edtech company called Aranda Solutions, deployed statewide data systems in 35 states and 7 countries. Marty’s unique expertise lies in his ability to look past the AI hype and pinpoint exactly where it can deliver measurable ROI, making him an invaluable guide for founders looking to build smarter, more efficient companies.
🎯 Marty’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"I don't know where we're going and I know exactly how to get there."
📢 Memorable Quotes
“Adoption is ROI, period. And as long as you have adoption, ROI will follow.” – Marty Reed
“[AI is] a really smart executive assistant that has no idea what you do or how you do it... How do we leverage this tool... to really have impact on our business?” – Marty Reed
“This is all about multiplying, right? All about multiplying capital, all about multiplying human capital. And how do you leverage those really, really smart people?” – Marty Reed
💡 Actionable Takeaways
Audit Your Workflow: Identify one repetitive, time-consuming task you do daily or weekly. This is your first target for AI automation.
Give Your AI Context: Instead of re-explaining your business in every prompt, connect your AI tool to your emails or meeting transcripts to create a personalized assistant that understands you.
Calculate the ROI First: Before building a complex AI solution, ask yourself: "If this task was automated, how many hours would it save my team per month?" and "What is that time worth?"
Convert a Naysayer: Find a skeptical team member and offer to build a simple automation that solves one of their biggest daily frustrations. Their success will drive wider adoption.
Schedule Your Learning: Create a recurring task in your calendar to spend 15 minutes testing the latest AI models with a baseline question to see how they’re improving.
🔗 Links & Resources
Website: https://apexblueprint.ai
Connect with Marty on LinkedIn