Unscripted Small Business

Chad T. Jenkins — The Collaboration Formula That Replaced 50+ Businesses

March 2
56 mins

Episode Description

Listen: unscriptedsmallbusiness.com Host: Jeremy Rivera Guest: Chad T. Jenkins, Founder of SeedSpark & The CoLAB

Episode Summary

Chad T. Jenkins grew up on a small farm in South Carolina, started his first real estate deal at age 11, and spent 25 years building over 50 businesses across wireless phones, data centers, construction, HVAC, GPS leasing, and more. Then he stopped. Not because he failed — but because he found something better: engineered collaboration.

In this episode, Chad breaks down the framework he calls the VCR Formula (Vision + Capability × Reach = Success), explains why most entrepreneurs suffer from a WHO deficiency, and shares how his CoLAB community grew to 700+ collaborations in just 18 months — outpacing his entire 25-year history of starting companies.

Jeremy and Chad also dig into the real role of AI in entrepreneurship, how to structure collaboration outcome splits, and why "showing up at the receiving dock" is the ultimate growth strategy.

What You'll Learn In This Episode

  • Why an 8-year-old riding horses at auction is the perfect metaphor for understanding leverage
  • The John Baptiste Say definition of an entrepreneur — and how it reframes everything
  • The WHO deficiency: what's really blocking growth for most entrepreneurs and business owners
  • The VCR Formula (Vision + Capability × Reach = Success) — and how to map your P&L to it
  • The four types of Capability: ownership, ability, capacity, and cash
  • The four types of Reach: eyeballs, minds, hearts, and DNA-level
  • Why "Future Backward" planning beats "Current Forward" every time
  • How to structure a collaboration outcome split (the 10-20 / 60-80 / 10-20 rule)
  • What Chad calls the "Idea Economy" — and why the task economy is over
  • How to use AI as a PhD-level assistant without losing your human competitive edge
  • The "Name the Baby" tool for creating intellectual property from collaborations

Key Quotes

"A true entrepreneur is someone who relentlessly seeks leverage." — Chad T. Jenkins

"Stop trying to grow through effort. Start focusing on what you have, combining it with what others have, and ask one question: How do you want to split the outcome?" — Chad T. Jenkins

"The only thing cash does is pay for somebody's vision or buy somebody else's capability." — Chad T. Jenkins

"Always show up at the receiving dock, not the procurement office. Future money is always up for grabs." — Dean Jackson (via Chad T. Jenkins)

Resources Mentioned

Chad T. Jenkins / SeedSpark

Strategic Coach / Dan Sullivan

Mentioned Companies / People

  • Matt Brochup / SEO-Teric
  • Zach Kadish / Conductor
  • Dean Jackson (coined "receiving dock" principle)

Host Jeremy Rivera

About the Guest

Chad T. Jenkins is the founder of SeedSpark, a Charlotte, NC-based organization known as a leverage partner for entrepreneurs worldwide. Over 25 years he started more than 50 businesses across industries ranging from wireless phones and GPS leasing to construction and real estate investment. In the past 18 months, he's pivoted entirely to building collaborations through his CoLAB community — which now represents 700+ businesses ranging from $2M to $35B in annual revenue.

He is the author of Friction Fuel and Just Add a Zero, and his new book The Code to Collaboration is available for preorder now on Amazon. He speaks globally at entrepreneur conferences and hosts twice-monthly CoLAB Kickstarter events.

About the Host

Jeremy Rivera is an SEO consultant and entrepreneur with 19+ years of experience. He is the founder of SEO Arcade, a unique podcast-based content and link building service, and hosts the Unscripted Small Business Podcast — a series dedicated to authentic conversations with entrepreneurs, SEO professionals, and small business owners. Jeremy specializes in converting podcast interviews into comprehensive SEO content marketing strategies.

Subscribe to the Unscripted Small Business Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Feedback? Connect with Jeremy at jeremyriveraseo.com

See all episodes