Every company needs to find product-market fit — even ours.
Startups need an ecosystem that helps from the very start. We’re fortunate enough to work with multiple startups across our three advisory services modules — product strategy, go-to-market, and marketing communications — to help them wherever they are in the startup lifecycle. And it’s working.
So many people have said to me “if you can pull it off” when discussing the vision and potential of York IE. Part of that has to do with the people we talk to. Entrepreneurs get it and love it, but folks from the siloed-yet-established industries we’re aiming to disrupt question it. Big time.
The Sectors We’re Disrupting
I’m convinced that the institutions purpose-built to support companies and their executives are failing them.
This is especially true for early-stage startups and founders in today’s private markets. Sure, companies like Snowflake, Snyk, Canva, Fastly, and Webflow prove outlier status is possible for SaaS startups. But the majority don’t ever reach that insanely rare-to-conquer mountaintop. And that should be OK.
Without massive funding rounds from massive funds at massive valuations, the vendors and service providers in place to steward their journeys end up being cost-prohibitive and pay-to-play opportunities. I experienced this first hand building my last company to $100M ARR and selling to Oracle. The most aggressive viewpoint of this ecosystem, as defined to me by a senior Oracle executive, was this: “pigs at the trough.”
Although that may be pretty pointed visual and downright mean, the person who said this was someone who has seen their fair share of it over their career, outside the startup game, watching innovators and upstarts and their support systems closely.
I hear of so much cynicism towards aspiring entrepreneurs and their visions, ideals and ambition. It’s almost like the ecosystem exists to challenge and not to uplift startups. Not to have skin in the game. All of these firms have bloated business models focused on high fees, hourly billings, contingencies and broken relationships.
It needs to change. At York IE, we’re disrupting the following sectors with our end-to-end vertically integrated approach:
- Traditional media
- Industry analyst firms
- Management consultancy
- Independent business consultants
- Investment banks
- Venture capital
- Private equity firms
- Marketing agencies
- Content shops
- Media, analyst and influencer relations firms
- Market and competitive intelligence platforms and private company databases
The York IE Difference
The traditional industries that are supposed to add value to startups have all grown too large and become cost prohibitive. They can’t down scope, they move slowly, they’re disconnected and they’re pay to play. They’ve lost sight of what it’s like to build and scale an early-stage startup.
Many of these firms are littered with MBAs who’ve never worked a single day as an operator and certainly not as entrepreneurs building their own companies. They operate on pattern mapping, spreadsheets, and those same old business school case studies.
Gil Penchina, a Silicon Valley angel investor legend, once had this to say about me: “Kyle and his team are smart, connected and hustle. But most importantly, they built a scalable revenue-generating team, so their advice is from the school of hard knocks, not some ivory tower.” This is one of the foundational points of view we created the York IE vision around.
In startups, the resources are so limited, the capital is scarce, the time is shrunk, the team is slammed, the urgency and pace are furious, and the need for true value-add extensions of operating teams are critical to success.
At York IE, we define ourselves as a vertically integrated strategic growth and investment firm. COO Joe Raczka explains our model as all about aligned incentives. We’re operators helping operators, and we’re creating the infrastructure, platform, and investment approach to change the game. We’re looking to reshape the way startups are built, scaled, and monetized. Join us today!
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