What began around a kitchen table in 2000 is now a national integrator keeping 16,000 Canadian businesses online, secure, and talking. In this Table Talk episode, host Matt Knight sits down with Sean Schoenberger, President (and former summer-student cable-runner) of Sunco Communications & Installations, to unpack a 25-year growth story powered by technology, family, and “radical love.”
Sean traces Sunco’s evolution from pulling wire in local ceilings to delivering SD-WAN, SASE, cloud voice, and managed IT coast-to-coast. He credits two turning points: adopting the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) in 2017 and embracing strategic acquisitions, moves that helped Sunco leap from a small crew to a 70-person, multi-city team. Sean also reflects on partnership dynamics with CEO (and cousin) Mike Schoenberger, and why clear boundaries protect both family chemistry and business momentum.
Key insights include:
For family-business leaders, Sean’s story offers a blueprint for balancing growth, governance, and kinship while remembering that telecom’s real job is to let customers forget it’s there.
Listen in for practical takeaways on acquisitions, next-gen grooming, and setting “work stays at work” rules that stick.
Time | Topic
0:00 | Intro – The “sound you never see”: making business communications seamless.
2:20 | Decoding telecom jargon – Sean explains SaaS, SD-WAN, SASE in plain English.
5:45 | Sunco origin story – founded by uncle & cousin; Sean’s first cables at age 14.
10:30 | From cabling to sales – deciding ceilings weren’t the long-term future.
12:50 | The EOS “hockey-stick” – implementing Entrepreneurial Operating System (2017).
18:00 | Leadership wake-up – shifting from “hard-D” directive style to idea-driven team.
24:20 | Radical Love culture – open-door policy, Thursday “30 Minutes with Mike,” and volunteer days.
28:45 | Tech shifts – pagers to smartphones, VoIP to AI; why experimentation starts in-house.
34:10 | Acquisition strategy – Isosceles (2022) & Zayo PBX (2024) to enter new markets fast.
39:30 | Work-family boundaries – strict 8–5 rule, unplugging at the lake, keeping weekends clean.
44:15 | Grooming next-gen leaders – empowering employees, planning beyond current ownership.
48:30 | Rapid-fire advice – set business hours, embrace collaboration, lead with heart.
Learn more about ABFI at ww.abfi.ca, connect with Matt Knight at matt.knight@ualberta.ca or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattknight
Learn more about Sunco Communications at www.sunco.ca
This video podcast series is proudly produced by the team at Road 55 - located in Edmonton, Alberta.
For more information, please visit: www.road55.ca