Taking a risk led to success for Woman2Watch Helen Hurlbut

Helen Hurlbut left the safety of a well-paid C-suite role in an established company to cofound Equiton Partners in late 2014 with a business partner she had only just met.

Today, Equiton, a real estate investment company based in Ontario, Canada, has 1.5 billion dollars (Canadian) in assets under management. Helen, its co-founder and President and CFO, was placed 13th on the WPO’s 2024 Women2Watch list of WPO members leading the organization’s fastest-growing businesses.

She decided to take the plunge and cofound Equiton with Jason Roque after hearing a table of influential women discussing their accomplishments. “I can't explain the feelings that sparked inside me, but I said to myself, ‘You are not yet where you should be’,” she says.

Not long after that, she met her Equiton business partner, Jason, and liked what he had to say about the business he wanted to build, plus his focus on honesty, transparency and hard work. Jason’s drive, plus the epiphany she had had at that table, matched with her husband’s support and memories of her entrepreneurial father, who had passed away only months before, pushed Helen to take the risky route.

“The first day we had nothing. We literally had paper and some pens and we bought computers and there were three of us in a shared office,” she says. Today, Equiton employs more than 200 people and manages investments on behalf of nearing 16,000 investors.

In 2024, the company was listed by the WPO as one of the 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies™ – a register sponsored by JPMorgan Chase Commercial Banking. “I am deeply honored, as there are not too many Canadians on that list,” she says.

To be eligible for WPO’s 50 Fastest list companies must be privately owned, owned or led by women, and must have generated at least half a million dollars in revenue every year from 2020 (including 2020).

Equiton won 36th place on the 2024 list at the first WPO Entrepreneurial Excellence Forum Helen went to Colorado in May 2024. The women she met there were “unbelievable”, says Helen, who joined the WPO in 2019.

“I love my sisters in my WPO chapter (Toronto Chapter One), and we’re very close, but to meet successful businesswomen from all over the world and discover that there is a common thread … that was wonderful,” she says.

“It was also interesting to see that nobody had it easy. No one was handed their success. They all had to work hard. It was wonderful to feel part of a group that understands you. I think that is still important for women today,” she says.

Helen left her first job, at real estate developer Citicom Inc., in the mid-1990s, when the founding CEO Michael Herman gave her a push. She had been at the company 13 years and considered Michael a true mentor who wanted the best for her. When Citicom reduced from a company of 1 200 employees to just six during a volatile period in the real estate market he took her aside and said the company was too small for her and she would not be able to grow as she should in it.

“I was devastated, I thought I’d be there forever,” she says. However, Helen quickly moved on to Canadian home development company Mattamy Homes as vice-president and treasurer with a couple of moves as CFO with other Real Estate based companies. Then, with an additional 15 years of experience in the real estate sector, she took a chance on Equiton, which specializes in real estate investment for a variety of investors.

While Helen and Jason took a leap of faith when they started Equiton, Helen believes the company has succeeded not because they are risk-takers, but because they are focused on building success for everyone.

“When you’re focused on a goal, when you hire the right people and when you put in the right procedures and policies, you’re very connected to your cash flow, you can succeed.” Then she adds a caution: “Also, you have to really, really understand your cash flow and your balance sheet.” They tell the tale.

Helen says Equiton has been fortunate to attract employees who share the goals that she and Jason have set for the company, they are fortunate that they have attracted these people. “People need to know what you are thinking, they need to be able to tell you what hurdles they face in achieving their goals, and you need to be able to help them,” she says.

One of the more valuable things she has learned through the WPO is that a referral program is a good way to find the right kind of employee. It is this kind of advice that she values in her WPO membership.

“The chair of my chapter approached me to join. I had never heard of WPO, but the idea intrigued me because it would put me in a room with women who understood me, and they really, really do,” she says.

Helen, originally from Czechia, came to Canada when she was eight and unable to speak English. Sheer will to succeed saw her learn the language quickly and skip a school grade. Later, she did so well at Toronto’s York University, where she studied economics and business, that she made the Dean’s List.

Her experience as an immigrant has made Helen a staunch proponent of diversity. “I do look for the best person for the job,” she says, “but if you really open your mind to employing the best person, you will naturally create a diversified employee force.”

More than that, Helen’s advice to women who want the kind of success she has created is to listen to others, especially those who do the practical work. Also, she warns, when you hire someone, trust them to do the job you have hired them to do.