TWO ENTREPRENEURS. TEN STORIES. NO ILLUSIONS.
The concept:
Two very different entrepreneurs. Five episodes, recorded in five days.
Every day, we pick a topic and offer one story each to answer the following questions:
What was your plan?
How did reality wreck it?
What was born as a result?
Then we interrogate those stories to see what we’ve learned from business ownership — and from one another.
The topics:
Founder vs Owner
How did reality reshape your business vision?
Values vs Revenue
Do financial needs reshape your other priorities?
Message vs Market
What if customers don’t care as much as you do?
Dreams vs Data
When do numbers lead and when do they deceive?
Strategy vs Reality
What about the curveballs nobody saw coming?
The people:
Mike Carpenter is owner and CEO at RH Adhesives.
Before that he served as head of finance for a number of corporations and taught FP&A to growing professionals. He still loves to invest in others as a teacher, mentor and employer.
Mike’s a devoted dad and passionate athlete. In 2025 he set out to climb three mountains before age 50 as part of a concussion recovery; read about that here.
Mike lives with his family in Sudbury, MA. Find him on LinkedIn or follow RH Adhesives on Instagram.
Benjie Hughes is founder and creative strategist at Hopeless Marketing.
Before that he founded Backthird Audio, Backthird Entertainment and — briefly — Huge Little Wedding.
Benjie’s a former journalist, a recovering musician and an unrepentant story nerd. He lives with his family in Salem, MA.
Find Benjie on LinkedIn or on Instagram. Get Benjie’s newsletter, Just Business, here.
NO PLAN SURVIVES
edited with love by Kyle Schmidt
logo & brand design by Byron Elliot
music & concept by Benjie Hughes
©2026 Hopeless Marketing
Say hello:
Send feedback. Ask questions. Share a story of your own.
These messages go to Mike and Benjie. To contact us individually, use the social links in the “people” section above.