Hi Ben, I was under three constraints that led me to not use the custom DE for entry: (1) I couldn't wait for the data sync from Salesforce - even a 15 minute delay was too long; (2) I couldn't do any custom programming, and (3) I couldn't use Salesforce to do the send of the first email, which would otherwise accomplish the "immediate" part and let MC do the rest.

So the only way I could find to accomplish my goal was this mix-and-match approach seen here. Using only the custom DE makes the exits so much cleaner and saner, but unfortunately I don't know how to get data from SF to a custom DE without a sync delay unless custom code is involved.

That said, I've got a ton of expertise on the Salesforce side but almost nothing on the MC side, so I've probably made a rookie error somewhere! Thanks for asking though and letting me clarify.