Employee Spotlight: Adam D’Angelo’s secret for leading successful teams

This month, we’re celebrating none other than Adam D’Angelo, our VP of Revenue!

As the fearless leader of the largest teams in our US offices – sales and account management, Adam has helped lay the foundation for our team culture and values. He also recently led Canto’s expansion to our second US office in Durham, North Carolina.

What do you do at Canto?

I develop and execute sales strategy designed to empower Canto’s pre and post-sales teams to support our customers to the very best of our abilities. The most important part of my job is to do everything possible to enable the team and remove roadblocks so they can spend more time educating and partnering with Canto’s current and future customers. 

What are the core values that you try to instill in your team?

Teamwork: We each play a critical role in the success of our teammates. Go that extra mile for your colleagues and the positivity will come back to you tenfold. 

Accountability: Take ownership of your thoughts and actions. Be willing to ask for help and learn from your mistakes. Doing so is the most efficient path to growth. 

Grit: Define meaningful and challenging goals for yourself, and then chase them with passion and persistence. You create your own destiny, work hard and earn it. 

How do you build a successful sales team and how do you keep your team motivated?

The most critical element of building a successful sales team is hiring the right people. Hire dynamic, motivated people who want to contribute, grow and win together. Then empower those people by providing an efficient sales process so they can focus their talent and energy on serving and educating their customers to create mutually beneficial relationships. 

I really believe that motivation comes from within. If we’ve hired right, everyone on the team is already intrinsically motivated to achieve their immediate and long term goals. My job is then to provide a transparent and rewarding work environment where everyone feels a strong sense of ownership and trust, feels comfortable taking calculated risks, and has the ability to be creative and take advantage of their strengths.

You recently went to North Carolina to set up the new East Coast office. What was it like leading the NC expansion?

The Raleigh-Durham area is an amazing tech environment full of highly intelligent people from all across the country. We are really lucky to have the opportunity to establish a Canto footprint there and I’m confident our NC colleagues will raise the standards for success across our company pretty quickly. 

What inspires you?

I find inspiration in those who dedicate themselves to a difficult goal, chase it down with maniacal effort and truly earn the resulting achievement. Seeing others fight for and reach their goals reminds me that anything is possible if you are willing to truly commit to it.

Check out our open positions here!