Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend the Align Family Office Conference, hosted by Family Business Magazine. For me, this wasn’t just another event on the calendar. It was personal. As someone who grew up in a family business, this room full of legacy builders and stewards of generational wealth felt like home.
I know firsthand what it means to carry forward the values of a family enterprise. Mission. Loyalty. Work ethic. Customer obsession. Community giveback. These are the cornerstones I learned from my family’s business, and they have shaped everything I have done since, especially as I moved into the world of innovation and technology.
When I entered the tech industry, I brought those values with me. I saw a landscape that often prioritized speed and greed over substance and sustainability. I believed there had to be a better way to build. That belief is exactly why York IE exists today.
The Third Generation Moment
The third generation is a turning point in any family enterprise. It is often the generation that asks: How can I evolve our legacy into something new? I have lived that question, and I see it reflected in the next wave of family office leaders.
At York IE, we love working with these next-generation leaders because we speak the same language. We understand the responsibility of stewardship, the pride in continuity, and the drive to modernize while honoring the past.
Legacy Over Hype
The Align Conference reinforced what we have long believed at York IE. Family offices are not passively chasing unicorns. They are focused on legacy. And they want to pursue that legacy with thoughtfulness and involvement, not absenteeism and hype.
That is why our model resonates. We are not just another venture capital or growth equity firm. We are building a value creation engine for the startup and tech ecosystem focused on sustainable returns, access to quality deals, and reducing risk through value-added services.
We have built a strong brand and mousetrap that drives a diverse pipeline of early-stage companies, many of which are a great fit for family offices seeking co-investment or direct investment opportunities. These are businesses grounded in real value and solving real world problems. Many focus on vertical SaaS and specific use cases of AI, two sectors that family offices can relate to and feel confident supporting.
A Platform That Aligns
York IE’s end-to-end platform is intentionally designed to support the kind of founder and family office alignment that leads to long-term success:
- We pair capital with care and treat founders as partners, not lottery tickets
- Our advisory services model allows us to reduce risk and increase outcomes
- We build relationships for the long term, not just for the next round of funding
- We foster a robust ecosystem that drives deal flow, insights and deep operational learning
It is this approach that has also resonated so well with our growth equity and private equity partners who care deeply about measurable outcomes, de-risked bets, and scalable businesses.
From the beginning, we have quietly worked with family offices, often before they formally defined themselves that way. We’re not reaching a new scale of opportunity and need the scale of partnerships to follow suit. We don’t just want our founders to succeed in building strong companies. We want them to create lasting impact. Our goal is to help them build generational wealth so they can one day start family offices of their own.
That is why being in the room at the Align Conference felt so natural. These are the kinds of legacies we are working to help create every day.
Doing Things Differently
Our work at York IE is deeply personal. We built this company with the people we trust, in a place we care about, because we believe in doing things differently. We believe that when you give great entrepreneurs the right platform, they can build something extraordinary.
Family offices understand that mindset. They have lived it in the businesses they have started, built, scaled and maintained for generations. I am excited to continue building these relationships and to help define what legacy looks like in today’s innovation economy.
If you are part of a family office looking to get closer to what is happening in startups, innovation, technology, software, SaaS and AI… or if you are simply looking for a strategic partner who shares your values, let’s talk.
This is not just business. It is legacy. And it is worth building with care.
