Kyle York is the co-founder, CEO and managing partner of York IE, a Manchester, New Hampshire-based advisory and investment firm for technology startups. He was previously chief revenue officer for Dyn, which was acquired by Oracle. Last week’s newsletter explored the origins of York’s family office. Part two of this profile looks at how York is investing with other family offices and looking to the future:
Through York IE, Kyle York invests in technology and B2B software startups — the space where he has created his own wealth. York IE has a lot of family office partners who are looking to support founders, deploy capital and grow their wealth. A lot of these multigenerational family businesses and family offices made their money in very traditional industries: manufacturing, distribution, food businesses or real estate. York IE invests in a lot of software for those industries, such as a supply chain software business.
“We run funds whose investors are individuals or family offices who are looking for access to invest in startups,” York says. “All I know is startups and how to build, grow and scale them. We have incredible deal flow and have built an infrastructure of over 225 people globally who provide advisory services for the startups in areas like marketing and software development. Private equity firms call this value creation — and we’re delivering this in spades. These family offices are looking for places to deploy their capital, and a lot of their next gens love startups. It’s a really nice affinity touchpoint.”
Focusing on impact
After having achieved some foundational success, York started thinking more about impact: “How broad an impact can you make – certainly on your family, but also in the world?” he posits. “I know a lot about how to scale companies and help founders and operators build meaningful companies, so a lot of my focus is around that space.”
York now sees his goal as enabling opportunities for his teams and for the next generation of his family.
“Having grown up in a family of boys that was aligned toward sports and competition, it is easy to see net worth as keeping score. How far can you take it? What impact can you make? How do you set up the next generations with an even stronger foundation than you had?” York says. “I’m a passionate, energetic guy, and being able to channel my energy into everything I’m building is very rewarding and fulfilling. I’m not the kind of guy who is going to move to the beach and hang ’em up.”
He and his wife are also focused on exposing their children to a wide variety of experiences — and showing them a good work ethic.
“If you’re not really open and transparent and self-aware, are you raising kids with the same values and ethics and world view that you have?” York says. “I want them to see someone who works really hard but is also there for the family.”
Looking to the future
York recognizes the structure of the family wealth or enterprise could change.
“If there is a major shift in what the overall family office and estate look like — for example, if the wealth grows substantially or becomes far more liquid, or if one of the core businesses were to go away — we might consider creating a family office with more in-house staff,” York says.
And he is just starting to consider how the family enterprise may look for future generations.
“We have all of our trusts and estates in order, but that’s more with the lens of if something terrible happened to us now. As it relates to ongoing preservation and governance, those are still in the future,” York says. “The oldest in my direct gen four just turned 13, and some of those decisions will depend on how much interest there is from the next generation. I’m hopeful that there’s plenty of time to figure all of that out, of course.”