The problem with geography
Entrepreneur Sherpa started as a local practice. I was coaching founders in Montreal and the surrounding region. People who could meet me in person, who had context about the Quebec business environment, who knew the same market I knew.
That model worked. But it had a ce...
It started with a submission I almost did not send
The CMAA Idea Fair is an annual showcase where North American professionals share what is working in their industries. The audience is serious. The bar is high.
When someone on my team suggested we submit Solpak's packaging appro...
I did not build Solpak for Bloomberg
I want to be clear about that.
Solpak was built to serve clients, employ good people, and solve real problems in the packaging industry. Bloomberg was not part of the plan.
And then Bloomberg Markets Now included Solpak in their coverage, a...
See CCIVS Youtube Video
The room felt different that night
The CCIVS Super Gala is a serious event. The Chambre de commerce et d'industrie Vaudreuil-Soulanges brings together the business community of our region, and the BonsCoups recognition is not handed out casually.
Five companies are recognize...
The number that changed the scope of the work
$972,000.
That is the value of the R&D project approved through CRIBIQ and NSERC for Solpak's research into sustainable packaging alternatives.
I have been proud of many things we have built at Solpak. This project belongs in a different category. Not...
I did not expect the call
The Government of Canada's Accelerated Growth Service is not a program you stumble into. The selection process is rigorous. They are looking for companies with the fundamentals in place, the trajectory that suggests scale, and the clarity to use support effectively.
When ...
See Original L'actualité Alimentaire Article
Good press is a consequence, not a goal
I have never hired a PR firm to chase coverage. I have never crafted a media strategy before we had something real to say.
When L'actualité Alimentaire ran a feature on ThermoGo, our thermal packaging innovation, i...
The real story behind the story
When Daylite reached out to feature Solpak as a customer success case study, I agreed immediately.
Not because I wanted the press. Because I wanted to tell the real story behind the CRM decision, which is more interesting than most soft...
See podcast on Apple Podcasts
The first company I ever ran, I ran at 17
It was 1992. I had just joined Student Painters. I was handed a territory, a stack of flyers, and told to go build something.
Some students fold. Some adapt. I became the youngest franchisee in Canada.
Thirty years later, Chri...
Nobody tells you how strange it feels
You sit in a chair. Someone clips a microphone to your collar. The lights are brighter than you expect. And then someone asks you to tell your story.
I have given hundreds of presentations. I have stood in front of rooms full of entrepreneurs and talked for ho...
Acquisitions look simple from the outside
You hear that a company acquired another company, and the story sounds clean. Strategic fit. Expanded capacity. Broader reach.
From the inside, it is never that clean.
When Solpak welcomed Bartrol Packaging into our operations, the most important conversa...
Ten years is not a milestone. It is a proof of concept.Â
In the early days of Solpak, I was not thinking about years. I was thinking about months. Sometimes weeks.Â
Getting through the first year. Landing the next client. Making payroll without borrowing from tomorrow to pay for today.Â
Ten years...
