The Journey From Engineer, To Entrepreneur, To Exit

The Journey From Engineer, To Entrepreneur, To Exit

From Think Big, Buy Small by Harvard Business School

October 6, 2025 · 58 min

About this episode

Paige Sopcic shares her journey from engineer to entrepreneur, discussing her acquisition of CanSource and the challenges she faced along the way.

Rick and Royce sit down with a former student of theirs, Paige Sopcic, an engineer turned entrepreneur, to discuss her inspiring entrepreneurship through acquisition journey. After leaving a promising career at GE and earning her MBA, Paige launched her search in partnership with an accelerator and acquired a specialty canning company called CanSource. In this episode, she shares how she found the business, scaled it rapidly through COVID-era tailwinds, and eventually sold it in a proprietary deal to a strategic buyer. Along the way, Paige reflects on the mindset shift from corporate employee to owner-operator, the value of structured support during a first-time search, and the challenges and opportunities that come with navigating growth amid operational pressure. This conversation offers a real-world look at risk, strategy, and leadership – and provides a great example of what it truly means to bet on yourself.

People in this episode

Hosts: Rick, Royce

Guest: Paige Sopcic

Topics covered

  • entrepreneurship
  • acquisition
  • business growth
  • leadership
  • mindset shift

Keywords

  • entrepreneurship
  • acquisition
  • business growth
  • leadership
  • mindset shift
  • COVID-era
  • risk
  • strategy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: GE, CanSource, Harvard Business School

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