We Almost Took on a Client That Would Have Killed Paking Duck

Early last year, a large DTC brand approached Paking Duck about handling all their custom packaging. I'm talking about a single account that would have represented 40% of our revenue overnight. The volume was enormous. The margins were decent. On paper, it was the kind of deal you celebrate.

We said no.

Not immediately — I'm not that disciplined. We went through the whole process. Scoped the project, priced it out, mapped the production timeline. My team was excited. The revenue projections looked incredible. I almost signed.

What stopped me was a conversation with a friend who runs a manufacturing business. He'd been through exactly this scenario five years earlier. Took on a massive client, restructured his entire operation around their needs, hired staff to handle their volume. Then the client switched suppliers after 18 months — found someone 8% cheaper overseas. He spent the next year laying off people and trying to rebuild a pipeline he'd neglected because he was so focused on one account.

That story rattled me enough to run the scenario honestly. If this client left — and big clients always have that option — what would happen to Paking Duck? We'd have a team sized for volume we no longer had. We'd have deprioritized smaller clients who actually valued the relationship. We'd be starting over from a worse position than before.

The rule I set after that: no single client can represent more than 20% of revenue. Below that threshold, losing an account hurts but doesn't threaten the business. Above it, you're not running a company — you're a contractor with a single employer who can fire you at any time.

This is hard to stick to because big deals are seductive. The revenue is real. The validation feels good. And there's always a voice that says "this one is different, they'll be a long-term partner." Maybe. But structuring your business around that bet is reckless.

The other thing I've learned: the brands that try to get you to build your operation around them know exactly what they're doing. They want you dependent. It gives them leverage on pricing and priority. The more you need them, the less they need to treat you well.

We ended up taking a portion of that client's work — about 12% of our revenue, well within the threshold. They weren't thrilled that we wouldn't commit to their full volume. But we kept the relationship, kept our independence, and kept building Paking Duck the way I wanted to build it.

Saying no to big money is one of the hardest things a founder has to do. But the alternative — building a business that collapses when one phone call goes wrong — is worse.