I’m excited to announce that I have joined the amazing team here at York IE as Vice President of Product Strategy and Head of York IE Labs.
Introduction
Last week, during the launch of York IE, Kyle described how he liked betting on himself. Joining York IE is one of the biggest bets on myself that I’ve ever made but it has been one of the easiest decisions. That’s because not only am I betting on myself, but I’m betting on the team and the vision. That makes it an easy decision. There’s no better way for me to contribute as an entrepreneur than to launch products, advise startups, and head up York IE Labs in a trusted environment focused on people, family, community, and the passion of starting impactful companies. That’s what York IE is all about.
Looking back, I feel as if my life’s journey has led to this point. I remember taking notepads in the car during family trips to draw up my latest “inventions,” running the Central High School Music Department like it was a profitable business, and even building 5 or 6 startup websites during my college years at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). When I began my career as a Field Electrical Engineer, I was on the front line of defense with the customer, solving problems for their business. I quickly learned that my relationships with customers were saving and, eventually, making deals for the company. This segued to a Program Management position with the same customers, managing the full contract execution from both the business and engineering sides. I was loving it but wanted to move faster. What I needed was a dose of cloud.
I brought these skills to Dyn in 2011 as its first Product Manager and quickly hit the ground running with the Email Delivery team and soon thereafter managing the engineering and product team. I was soaking up this fast-paced SaaS experience as fast as I could. I lived Email Delivery, speaking at conferences, being the front line within Dyn and for our customers, and on social as much as I could. During this same time, I was also founding a startup called GearFreedom, which won the NH Startup Challenge in 2012. As a side venture, I ran GearFreedom until 2014 when I decided to close it down.
Throughout the years at Dyn, and then Oracle after the acquisition in 2017, I’ve experienced leading Email Delivery, User Experience and Design, Portals and Identity, Data Products, Monitoring and DNS. These experiences have helped me grow technically, as a leader, and as an advisor.
Looking Ahead
Most free time I have is usually spent hacking away at the latest idea in an attempt to solve a pain point I’ve encountered through my own or shared experiences. At York IE, I’ll leverage that same curiosity and breadth of technical know-how, combining those strengths with those from the full York IE team, to launch products that make it easier for startups to succeed. This may take a couple forms:
- Products: Our products will solve common hurdles for entrepreneurs and angel investors while keeping us fresh as operators. These products will have our experience built in, helping companies enable growth, while doing the same for us.
- Labs: Sometimes we’ll need to stretch our legs and gain experience with the latest markets or technology. This helps us test theories, learn, and grow. This allows us to be better coaches for our portfolio companies. This also ensures we stay grounded when talking with entrepreneurs and investors in these new spaces. Depending on the project, this may look like a standalone product or service, and when appropriate we will make it open source.
The Path Forward
Launching products and heading up labs won’t take us very far without keeping you, our local and global community, involved along the way. In addition to our products, labs and open source offerings, we’ll get down and dirty through our newsletter, blog and social – so connect with us and stay tuned. A two way conversation is necessary, because after all, we’re looking to help entrepreneurs and investors grow and enjoy the journey along the way.
