Kent Skornia, CEO of Krilogy, sat down with Conner Young, host of the Advisor Freedom Podcast, to share the story behind founding Krilogy, building a culture of talent, and growing a team-first wealth firm.

In January 2009, Kent launched the firm at age 33 with $20 million in assets, an assistant, and a junior planner — in the middle of one of the worst financial crises in modern history. Kent shares the story of 17 years of deliberate, people-first growth and opens up about the decisions, courage, and culture that shaped Krilogy into what it is today and where it’s going next.

“I’m living my coaching dream today. I just get to do it in the wealth management space. Watching and helping and coaching and teaching young people turn into really great advisors, making massive impacts on people’s lives.”

Key Themes and Takeaways From The Conversation

Culture and Talent: Building a team worth joining

From the beginning, Krilogy’s competitive advantage wasn’t just its services — it was its people and its culture. Kent talks about what it means to recruit not just for skill, but for values: dedication, abundance, leadership, and respect. He shares how Krilogy’s Advisor Development System (KADS) has become a proven engine for turning promising advisors into exceptional ones, and why a team-based environment attracts people who want to be part of something bigger than themselves.

“Our mission is to give relentless effort to help our clients accomplish their financial goals. That’s in our DNA — getting things accomplished for our clients.”

Innovation: Experts under one roof is the Krilogy difference

Early in Krilogy’s journey, Kent made a series of bold bets by adding a tax services group, an affiliate law firm, and a dedicated investment team. This was before most firms considered it necessary. The philosophy behind it was simple: having experts under one roof creates better outcomes for clients. It’s not about adding headcount; it’s about having the courage to make investments in your platform before you think you can afford to. That willingness to innovate early is what allowed Krilogy to grow the way it has.

Leadership and Delegation: Getting out of your own way

Kent reflects candidly on the evolution from advisor to CEO and the discipline it takes to stop being the operator and start being the visionary. He calls it “operational gravity”: the pull to do the jobs you’re comfortable with instead of the ones that move the firm forward. His advice to growing advisors and founders is direct: write down what needs to get off your plate, find the smartest person you can hand it to, and have the courage to let them do it even when they do it at 80%.

Courage and Commitment: The investment that changes everything

One of the most important lessons Kent shares is about the nature of risk and why starting early gave Krilogy a compounding advantage that capital alone can’t replicate.

For Krilogy, this philosophy shows up in every hiring decision, every expert brought on, and every dollar reinvested into the firm’s platform. It’s not about ego. It’s about the courage to make the right bets, at the right time, for the right reasons — and to build a firm that can serve clients at the highest level for decades to come.

“You can risk two things in this world: you can risk time and you can risk money. Because I started it so young, I had a lot of time to make small incremental investments… We could use our own capital and reinvest every dollar back into the business.”

Growth and Expansion: Growing the right way, with the right people

Krilogy’s path to $25 billion isn’t just about acquisitions, but it’s about finding the right people in the right places. Kent shares that the firm is actively having conversations in cities across the Midwest, looking for two very specific types of advisors: those who want to lead and build a core team in a new market, and those who are five to seven years from retirement and looking for a succession plan that lets them finish their career on a high note.

What sets Krilogy apart in M&A is the intentionality behind it. High multiples and aggressive recruiting aren’t the mission. The mission is to build one of the great firms in the country and that means only bringing in advisors who are client-first, values-aligned, and ready to be part of something bigger than themselves.