Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business

In an era where AI tools like ChatGPT are making it easier than ever for students to cheat, how can we ensure real learning is still happening? This episode dives deep with Kevin Doshi and Patrick Roscio, the co-founders of Scholera, an AI-native platform designed to solve the biggest problems plaguing education today. They share their incredible journey from identifying a critical issue in academia—partly from their own experiences—to building a sophisticated tech solution from the ground up. This isn't just a story about EdTech; it's a masterclass in how to tackle a complex societal issue, find a co-founder with a shared vision on LinkedIn, and navigate the challenges of selling a disruptive product to a traditional industry. For any entrepreneur looking to solve a meaningful problem, this conversation is packed with insights on product development, market positioning, and the relentless drive required to build something that matters.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
How to spot a massive business opportunity by analyzing the unintended consequences of new technology (like AI in classrooms).
The framework for turning a personal pain point into a scalable, tech-driven business idea.
Why building a "memory layer" for your platform can create a deep, analytical moat that competitors can't easily replicate.
Strategies for navigating a long sales cycle in a traditional industry like education by finding internal change agents and running pilot programs.
How to leverage your co-founder's unique perspective to build a more robust and well-rounded product.
The art of filtering feedback—knowing when to listen to criticism and when to block out the negative energy to stay focused on your vision.
Why solving the core problem is more important than ever, especially when AI makes the "building" part of a tech business easier.
📝 About Kevin Doshi & Patrick Roscio
Kevin Doshi and Patrick Roscio are the innovative co-founders of Scholera, an AI-native learning platform for universities. Kevin, who grew up learning the fundamentals of customer relationships in his father’s stationery store in Mumbai, brought his computer science expertise from Stevens Institute of Technology to conceptualize Scholera. Patrick, also an engineer from Stevens, was inspired to tackle the AI cheating problem after seeing his own reliance on AI tools as a student and recognizing the skills gap it created in the professional world. Together, their shared vision and complementary experiences led them to build a platform that addresses the core issues of modern education head-on.
🎯 Kevin’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Startups are not just about making money. It's really about trying to solve a problem which maybe you faced… go out there and trying to solve that problem… fail 100 times. But I guess you need just that one time you need to succeed."
🎯 Patrick’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"You can't listen to people who are trying to put you down... you can't let negative energy and you can't let negative people turn you away from something that's gonna be great."
📢 Memorable Quotes
"With AI now, the building part has become really very easy now... We now really have to try to solve the problem because the problem-solving part needs to be easier and spot on." – Kevin Doshi
"You need one happy customer which will lead you to maybe 100 or 1,000 happy customers." – Kevin Doshi
"It's not just about getting to the final answer, it's really about the journey, which we all know is where the learning really happens." – Patrick Roscio
"For anybody that's going to put you down or any bad thing that happens along your journey to success, you have to take it in stride. Just keep plugging away at the problem and eventually you'll get there." – Patrick Roscio
💡 Actionable Takeaways
Identify a new technology trend in your industry and ask: "What is the biggest unintended problem this creates?" This is often where the most valuable business opportunities are hiding.
If you're looking for a co-founder, optimize your LinkedIn profile and start engaging with people in your target industry. A single, well-crafted message can lead to a game-changing partnership.
Instead of thinking about how to ban or fight a disruptive force (like AI), brainstorm how you can build a tool that harnesses its power for a positive outcome.
This week, reach out to five potential customers and ask them about their biggest challenges—don't pitch them, just listen. Use this research to validate or refine your business idea, just as Kevin did with university professors.
🔗 Links & Resources
Website: https://scholera-inc.com/
Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn
Connect with Patrick on LinkedIn
Follow Scholera on LinkedIn

Felix Vicknair, an executive business advisor with 25 years of experience in supply chain and operational excellence, joins the show to demystify how small businesses can leverage the strategies of global corporations. He explains why focusing solely on revenue growth is a mistake and reveals the hidden opportunities for profit and efficiency that most entrepreneurs overlook in their day-to-day operations. This episode is a masterclass for any founder who feels overwhelmed and is looking for a structured way to lower costs, improve results, and build a more resilient business. Felix breaks down complex concepts like Lean Six Sigma and process standardization into simple, actionable steps you can apply immediately, regardless of your company's size.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
How to adopt a "big business" mindset to find hidden profits and efficiencies in your small business.
The secret to consistent, high-quality results by standardizing your core processes (and why "asking Joe" is a recipe for disaster).
Why balancing revenue growth with expense control is crucial for long-term stability and profitability.
How to use data and AI as a strategic tool without falling into the trap of blindly following numbers.
The framework for identifying which tasks to automate or simplify so your team can focus on high-value activities.
Why you don't need an in-house engineering team to achieve operational excellence.
How to overcome personal limitations (like being an introvert) to become the leader your business needs.
📝 About Felix Vicknair
Felix Vicknair is an executive business advisor and the founder of United Business Works. With a background as an industrial engineer and over 25 years of experience in supply chain consulting for large global corporations, he has a unique talent for identifying operational inefficiencies. Felix is now on a mission to bring those same high-impact solutions—from cost reduction and process optimization to automation—to small businesses and nonprofits that are ready to scale. His hands-on approach helps entrepreneurs stop reinventing the wheel and start building more profitable, efficient, and sustainable companies.
🎯 Felix’s BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Nobody has all the answers."
📢 Memorable Quotes
“If you're not actively thinking about ways to drive change, to take advantage of how things are moving in markets and in the world, you're falling behind.” – Felix Vicknair
“Data tells a story that it's not emotionally bound to how an operation performed on any given day. It doesn't have biases towards feelings or just experiences in the way that sometimes people do.” – Felix Vicknair
💡 Actionable Takeaways
Document one core process this week. It could be how you onboard a new client or fulfill an order. The goal is to get it out of someone’s head and onto paper to create consistency.
Conduct a "tech bloat" audit. Review all your software subscriptions and cancel any licenses or tools you are no longer using.
Identify one person in your network you can ask for feedback on a current business challenge. Schedule a 15-minute call with them.
Look at your daily tasks and identify one repetitive, low-value activity that could be simplified or automated.
🔗 Links & Resources
Website: https://unitedbusinessworks.com/
Connect with Felix on LinkedIn
Follow United Business Works on LinkedIn

Are you stuck in the "idea phase," convinced that your success hinges on creating something brand new that the world has never seen? In this Solo Sunday episode, Brian Lofrumento breaks down a critical pattern he’s observed that separates wantrepreneurs from successful entrepreneurs: the obsession with novelty. He reveals why experienced founders don't look for new ideas, but instead focus on what's already proven to work. Drawing on powerful stories—including the man who invented AstroTurf too early and Russell Brunson’s warning about pioneers—Brian explains why your energy is better spent on execution, not invention. This episode is a must-listen if you're ready to get out of the brainstorming phase and into building a real, profitable business.
✨ Why This Matters for You
This mindset shift can save you years of frustration and wasted effort:
It frees you from the immense pressure of having to invent the "next big thing."
It gives you a clear roadmap to follow by modeling what's already successful in the marketplace.
It helps you avoid the costly trap of trying to educate a market on a brand-new concept.
It shifts your focus from the "idea" to the three things that actually drive success: marketing, sales, and delivery.
📝 Key Takeaways
Proven > New. Wantrepreneurs believe their success is tied to a revolutionary idea. Entrepreneurs know success comes from leveraging proven models.
Execution is Everything. A simple idea with brilliant marketing, sales, and delivery will always beat a brilliant idea with poor execution.
Pioneers Get the Arrows. As Brian shares, the first to market is often the one who fails, paving the way for others to learn from their mistakes and succeed.
Don't Reinvent the Wheel. There's a reason established business models work—the market is already spending money there. Your job is to step in and serve that market, maybe just a little bit better.
Innovation Happens Within Lanes. True, sustainable innovation isn't about creating a whole new industry; it's about improving on what already exists within a proven market.
🚀 Put It Into Action
This week, stop brainstorming and start analyzing:
Pick an industry you're passionate about.
Instead of trying to come up with a "new" idea, find 3-5 businesses that are already crushing it in that space.
Study them. What are they selling? How are they marketing? Who are their customers?
Ask yourself one simple question: "What is the one thing I could do just a little bit better than them?" That’s your starting point.
🔗 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 is stuck trying to find the "perfect" new idea

In this special collab episode of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, 16 founders come together to answer one deceptively powerful question:
What does "hard work" mean to you, and how is it different from when you started your business?
It's a wide-ranging episode about what hard work really means once volume stops being the measure — from swapping busyness for stillness, to learning to make the ask, to discovering that AI has moved the hard part from typing to thinking. Across all seventeen answers, one thread holds: hard work stopped being about how much these founders could carry, and started being about what they have the discipline to put down.
For any wantrepreneur or entrepreneur who still measures their effort in hours logged, meetings taken, or how exhausted they feel at the end of the day, this episode is a reset. Seventeen founders, across wildly different industries, arrived at strikingly similar conclusions: hard work isn't disappearing as they grow — it's relocating, from the doing to the deciding, from the hours to the judgment behind them.
🎙️ Meet the Collab Week Contributors
Lisa Larson — Mindful Corporate Mastery
After 25+ years in corporate tech, Lisa founded Mindful Corporate Mastery to help high-performing professionals manage stress and decisions differently than she once did.
Website: https://www.mindfulcorporatemastery.com/
Nate Hebbert — SelfWare Consulting
A former software engineer at 3M, KPMG, and Domo, Nate now runs SelfWare Consulting, helping tech companies and small business owners beat burnout without pausing growth.
Website: https://selfwareconsulting.com/
Shawn Sundsvold — GoldBear Media
Shawn co-founded GoldBear Media with his wife Kelly in 2020, helping small and medium businesses get more out of social media and email marketing.
Website: https://goldbear.media/
Erik Berglund — Loominary
Erik founded The Language of Leadership and Loominary, building skill simulation systems that let people practice their business's hardest conversations.
Website: https://www.loominary.io/
Sheri Roder — Get UnStuck HQ
After 40+ years in corporate life, Sheri launched Get UnStuck HQ, a coaching practice that helps clients turn a messy, complicated choice into a decision they can act on.
Website: https://www.getunstuckhq.com/
Brandon Pankey — Blue Pine Works
Brandon is co-owner and Operations Lead at Blue Pine Works, an arboriculture and land stewardship company, building the systems behind the business he runs with his partner.
Website: https://bluepineworks.com/
Kevin Kertes — advanceMEN Coaching
A former 30-year music industry executive, Kevin now runs advanceMEN Coaching, helping capable men confront postponed decisions and move forward with confidence.
Website: https://www.advancemencoaching.com/
Brandon Katz — DreamLever
Brandon is founder and CEO of DreamLever, an AI system that learns a business from its own meetings and drives the right work forward, after 4 years as Chief of Staff at Fine Fettle.
Website: https://www.dreamlever.ai/
Raamon Newman — New Mavericks
Raamon co-founded New Mavericks 25 years ago as a full-time meditating monk, and now leads CEO development work with founders scaling companies into the billions.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raamonnewman/
Patricia Ballivian — Altura Strategies
Originally from Bolivia, Patricia founded Altura Strategies to help growing businesses align their operations, systems, and people.
Website: https://www.alturastrategies.net/
Sara Reece — Workmind
Sara is CEO and co-founder of Workmind, helping organizations use operations-first automation to eliminate friction and grow without adding headcount.
Website: https://workmind.cloud/partners/
Mike Gross — Michael J. Gross, LLC
With 35+ years of experience, Mike runs Michael J. Gross, LLC, providing practical ISO training and consulting built on what already works.
Website: https://mj-gross.com/
Stephen Custer — Dry Humor Marketing
Stephen built Dry Humor Marketing as a one-man show helping businesses tell their story through video, photography, and web design, before hiring his first contractor last November.
Website: https://www.dryhumormarketing.com/
Drew Mehta — ThinkFraction
After 20+ years in corporate, Drew founded ThinkFraction to help owner-operators fix the leaks in their back-end workflows and put AI to work the right way.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhroovmehta/
Rami Akeela — Nera Systems
With 20+ years in hardware, software, and cryptography, Rami founded Nera Systems, a confidential AI company helping enterprises use AI on their most sensitive data.
Website: https://nera.systems/
David Beltran — Accord Intelligence
After 14 years at IBM in cybersecurity and identity, David founded Accord Intelligence, building the decision layer that helps organizations govern and trust their AI.
Website: https://www.accordintelligence.ai/

What if the biggest obstacle to your business's growth isn't your strategy, your marketing, or your team… but you? In the powerful finale to this week’s special solo series, Brian reveals the fifth and final question he uses to spark his biggest inflection points of growth: "Who and what do I need to become?" This isn't just about goal-setting; it's about identity-shifting. Brian unpacks why the skills, habits, and mindset that brought you to this point are rarely the ones that will get you to the next, and why true, sustainable growth in your business starts with your own personal evolution. Get ready for the most challenging—and most rewarding—question of the entire series.
✨ Why This Matters for You
Embracing this question is the key to breaking through your current ceiling:
It forces you to move beyond tactics and focus on the fundamental driver of your success: you.
It’s the antidote to stagnation. If your business feels stuck, this question reveals the personal changes needed to get it moving again.
It transforms how you show up in sales, leadership, and even during setbacks, building resilience and confidence.
It helps you intentionally design your future self instead of letting circumstances dictate who you become.
📝 Key Takeaways
What Got You Here Won't Get You There. The central theme of entrepreneurship is change. To level up your business, you must be willing to evolve and become a new version of yourself.
Your Business Is a Reflection of You. Your company’s growth is directly tied to your personal development. As you grow, so will your business.
The Five Core Growth Questions. This episode culminates a series built on powerful inquiry. The full set includes: Where is my universe expanding? (Episode 1560) 
What can I do now that my future self will thank me for? (Episode 1561)
What if I could only work 4 hours per week? (Episode 1562)
What would I be doing if I was less patient? (Episode 1563)
Who and what do I need to become? (This episode)

Action Over Consumption. These questions aren't just for listening. The real value comes from disconnecting, sitting with a pen and paper, and doing the deep work to find your own answers.
🚀 Put It Into Action
This week, schedule your own "Executive Time" to answer the final question:
Find a quiet space, like a coffee shop. Leave your laptop behind and put your phone on "Do Not Disturb."
Take out a notebook and write this question at the top of the page: "To achieve my biggest goals for next year, who and what do I need to become?"
Brainstorm freely. Think about the skills you need to learn, the habits you need to break, the mindset you need to adopt, and the leader you need to be.
Circle one thing you can start working on today to begin that transformation.
🔗 Stay Connected
Subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode.
Loved the solo series? Drop Brian a personal email at hello@imetbrian.com and let him know what you thought.
Connect with Brian on Instagram @imetbrian.
Share this episode with a founder who is ready for their next level of growth.
📣 Special Thanks and Shout Out to Our Team and Guests!
A huge shout-out to Laura from the podcast team for all her incredible work behind the scenes! She has been coordinating with past guests to create some very special collaborative episodes. Get excited and make sure you’re subscribed, because the first one drops tomorrow, and you won’t want to miss it