In 2015, a currency shock pushed the Canadian dollar from parity to $1.46 against the US dollar in eighteen months — a 46% jump in costs for Solpak, the packaging distribution company David Salerno had spent years building. At the worst point, the company was net-losing $30,000 a month, with hundreds of thousands in outstanding payables piling up at the same time.
David Salerno, founder of Solpak Packaging Solutions and Entrepreneur Sherpa, joins The Breakout CEO to walk through what that crisis forced him to confront: a pricing model that couldn't move fast enough, a team that needed the truth instead of silence, and a mindset shift that changed how he saw his role in the business entirely.
Episode Description
David built Solpak more than twenty years ago, importing a Michigan-sourced packaging solution and turning it into an all-in-one distribution service for meals-on-wheels programs and school caterers across Canada. By 2015, the business was growing — until a currency collapse outside his control threatened to undo it.
This episode is about what happened next: the decision to tell his team everything rather than absorb the pressure alone, the operational changes that followed, and the deeper realization that he needed to treat the business itself — not any single client or product — as the thing he was building. That reframing became the foundation for Entrepreneur Sherpa, the coaching practice and book he later built to help other founders detach from the day-to-day grind of their own companies.
Key Takeaways
- A pricing model built for stability can break under a shock you don't control. Solpak's 46% cost increase in eighteen months showed how exposed a cross-border cost structure can be — and why relying on incremental price increases alone wasn't a fast enough fix.
- Transparency with your team can be the decision that gets you through a crisis. Rather than absorbing the financial pressure privately, David laid out the full situation and the turnaround plan to his team — a decision he credits with preserving trust during the hardest stretch.
- Detachment from the day-to-day isn't avoidance — it's a leadership tool. David's shift toward treating "the business as my product" rather than staying embedded in daily operations reframed how he made decisions under pressure.
- A crisis can force a founder to confront an all-in bet made earlier. David had already told his wife he was willing to risk bankruptcy to succeed — the currency crisis became the real test of that commitment.
- Team trust is built long before the crisis that tests it. David points to years of above-market pay and profit sharing as the reason his team stayed with him through a four-day workweek and a 20% pay reduction during the turnaround.
In 2015, a currency shock pushed the Canadian dollar from parity to $1.46 against the US dollar in eighteen months — a 46% jump in costs for Solpak, the packaging distribution company David Salerno had spent years building. At the worst point, the company was net-losing $30,000 a month, with hundreds of thousands in outstanding payables piling up at the same time.
David Salerno, founder of Solpak Packaging Solutions and Entrepreneur Sherpa, joins The Breakout CEO to walk through what that crisis forced him to confront: a pricing model that couldn't move fast enough, a team that needed the truth instead of silence, and a mindset shift that changed how he saw his role in the business entirely.
David built Solpak more than twenty years ago, importing a Michigan-sourced packaging solution and turning it into an all-in-one distribution service for meals-on-wheels programs and school caterers across Canada. By 2015, the business was growing — until a currency collapse outside his control threatened to undo it.
This episode is about what happened next: the decision to tell his team everything rather than absorb the pressure alone, the operational changes that followed, and the deeper realization that he needed to treat the business itself — not any single client or product — as the thing he was building. That reframing became the foundation for Entrepreneur Sherpa, the coaching practice and book he later built to help other founders detach from the day-to-day grind of their own companies.
Key Takeaways
A pricing model built for stability can break under a shock you don't control. Solpak's 46% cost increase in eighteen months showed how exposed a cross-border cost structure can be — and why relying on incremental price increases alone wasn't a fast enough fix.
Transparency with your team can be the decision that gets you through a crisis. Rather than absorbing the financial pressure privately, David laid out the full situation and the turnaround plan to his team — a decision he credits with preserving trust during the hardest stretch.
Detachment from the day-to-day isn't avoidance — it's a leadership tool. David's shift toward treating "the business as my product" rather than staying embedded in daily operations reframed how he made decisions under pressure.
A crisis can force a founder to confront an all-in bet made earlier. David had already told his wife he was willing to risk bankruptcy to succeed — the currency crisis became the real test of that commitment.
Team trust is built long before the crisis that tests it. David points to years of above-market pay and profit sharing as the reason his team stayed with him through a four-day workweek and a 20% pay reduction during the turnaround.
00:00 - Meet David Salerno
04:22 - Building the Right Team
09:06 - Innovating Food Packaging
10:50 - Escaping the Founder Trap
16:26 - Solving Critical Client Problems
21:07 - Business as the Product
25:19 - Surviving a Financial Crisis
29:13 - Leading Through Transparency
35:10 - Business Lessons Beyond Business
39:18 - Finding Clarity Through Detachment
44:57 - Building a Business for Freedom
53:50 - The Entrepreneur’s Drive to Create
Guest: David Salerno
Title: Founder & President, Solpak Packaging Solutions / Founder, Entrepreneur Sherpa
Company: Solpak Packaging Solutions
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidvsalerno
