My journey to York IE stems all the way back to when I was 16 years old. Sounds weird, I know, but that’s where my entrepreneurial, startup attitude really kicked in.
I was a junior in high school in Cohasset, a tiny coastal town on the South Shore of Massachusetts. I always loved sports but was never an all-star athlete. What I did have was an interest in writing, a natural curiosity and a work ethic. So I decided to build something new to combine my passion with my skill set.
That’s where CSPN, the Cohasset Sports Programming Network, was born. Along with a few friends (and with the help of our faculty advisor, Don), I bootstrapped the town’s first ever student-run sports show. I did a bit of everything: writing scripts, filming segments and games, interviewing coaches, editing video and running our social media pages. (Feel free to check out my awful haircut and questionable mid-pubescent style in this episode here).
I can honestly say I learned more at CSPN than I did in any high school classroom. But what does that have to do with York IE?
CSPN taught me that “learning by doing” is only a cliche because it rings so true. Hours and hours of work become a lot more rewarding when you can look back at something tangible that you’ve built.
That’s what drew me to join Kyle York, Adam Coughlin, Kate Campbell and the rest of the York IE team. I saw an opportunity to do a little bit of everything — and to do it with a team that’s laying the foundation for something special. Working at a startup means I can apply my past experience in different ways: business development, advisory services and, of course, writing.
I had the chance to do some freelance content writing with York IE before I joined full-time. Right away, I was drawn to the company’s drumbeat marketing philosophy. Just like a sports team, every startup has its own unique story and differentiators. Kate and her team find a way to distill down that purpose, communicate the value and do it over and over again.
Each one of the startups that work with York IE has a brilliant idea and a grand vision, whether their founders hope to disrupt an industry, solve a problem or streamline a process. I’m excited to tell these company stories and help York IE continue building a model that changes the way startups are built, scaled and monetized.
