Business

Donato Sferra of Toronto’s Hillcrest Merchant Partners on Leadership, Innovation, and Hard Work

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Over the past 20 years&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;worthview&period;com&sol;hillcrest-merchant-partners-mark-attanasio-donato-sferra-toronto-vc-market&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Donato Sferra<&sol;a>&comma; managing partner of Toronto’s Hillcrest Merchant Partners&comma; has built a successful career in the financial services and investment and banking industries&period; Growing up in a working-class home&comma; Donato went on to work for some of the country’s most established financial firms&period; Some of his experience includes serving as an equity research analyst for TD Securities&comma; the Director of Institutional Sales at both Macquarie Group and Dundee Capital Markets&comma; and Managing Director of Investment Banking at Eight Capital&period; Most recently&comma; along with his Toronto business partner <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;money&period;ca&sol;you&lowbar;and&lowbar;your&lowbar;money&sol;mark-attanasio-toronto&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Mark Attanasio<&sol;a>&comma; Donato co-founded Hillcrest Merchant Partners&comma; an <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;hear&period;ceoblognation&period;com&sol;2019&sol;02&sol;01&sol;mark-attanasio-toronto-executive-and-hillcrest-merchant-partners-co-founder-discusses-entrepreneurial-leadership-venture-capital-investment&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">angel investment<&sol;a> firm focused on early to mid-market growth companies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What qualities do you think are important to have as a leader&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Donato Sferra&colon; <&sol;strong>You have to be able to understand the value of your team&period; I have the pleasure of working with incredibly talented&comma; intelligent people&comma; so I know I can trust them to execute the work that needs to be done&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Leaders should also stay passionate about their company and the inspiration for why they founded it&period; Working hard&comma; constantly learning&comma; taking meetings&comma; really being in the thick of your own business will not only inspire those around you&comma; but from my experience&comma; those are the ingredients for success for any business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>How do you identify trends in your industry&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Donato Sferra&colon; <&sol;strong>I try to live by the mantra&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Don’t go where the puck is going&comma; go where the puck is going to go&period;” Hillcrest Merchant Partners is an ideas business at heart&comma; so we try to anticipate trends rather than follow them&period; One of the more important macro trends that continues to excite us is the cannabis market and the opportunities presented by the legalization of cannabis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Can you give some advice for young entrepreneurs&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong> <&sol;strong><strong>Donato Sferra&colon; <&sol;strong>In Toronto or anywhere&comma; you can’t be afraid to take risks&excl; Just because you didn’t come from the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;right” kind of family or education doesn’t mean you are less-than&period; Put yourself out there and take every opportunity that comes your way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Also&comma; always stay up-to-date with the news&comma; especially in your industry&period; It helps you notice trends and keeps you in your work mindset&period; Even when I’m not at work I try to be productive by reading news aggregation sites&period; I am always on the lookout for new ideas&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>How did growing up working class influence your business style&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Donato Sferra&colon; <&sol;strong>It taught me the value of hard work&period; I have been working since I was nine years old working as many hours a day as I need to&period; My parents taught me that if you work hard&comma; you can succeed in anything and I really took that to heart&period; I would hate to lose out on an opportunity because someone else put in a little more time or effort&comma; so I always put in 110 percent&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

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