After completing a training placement at the Bellini accountancy firm in Milan and passing his professional qualifying exams, Danilo Villa joined his father’s firm, which thus became Studio Associato Villa & Villa. On 24 May 1971, they set up SEAD, a company offering consulting services complementary to those of the firm, and one of the forerunners in Italy in the use of what were at the time innovative technological tools, such as IBM computers.