(Manchester, N.H., August 23, 2022) — York IE, a vertically integrated strategic growth and investment firm, today announced a new partnership with Shift Group, a training and recruiting company that places talented former athletes in high-caliber software sales positions.
York IE’s extensive portfolio and client base frequently asks for sales talent sourcing support. To adequately provide the high-velocity recruiting needed, York IE will refer and lean on Shift Group to deliver exceptional candidates.
“We’re working hard to leverage the coachability, competitiveness and work ethic of athletes retiring from their sport, and we’re placing them in jobs where that desire to win can raise the ceiling on a company’s performance,” said JR Butler, founder and CEO of Shift Group. “We look forward to working with York IE’s impressive portfolio of startups and advisory services clients to identify which Shift candidates are their future sales leaders.”
Shift Group has taken decades of knowledge in building elite sales organizations and an understanding of the key skills needed for a successful career in tech sales to build a best-in-breed curriculum. The company provides hands-on training and preparation that helps produce highly qualified salespeople. Once athletes finish training, they receive access to hiring managers at various companies, from startups to the Fortune 500, around the globe.
“With the right players on your sales team, you can not only drive revenue but also build better relationships and bolster your company’s reputation,” York IE CEO Kyle York said. “Sales readiness is a big part of the talent lifecycle, and an elite athlete is a perfect candidate to handle a competitive job market. That’s why we’re excited to partner with Shift Group to find the magic fit between opportunity, company and talent.”
Shift Group was founded by former Division 1 athletes with extensive networks in both athletics and technology, plus a deep understanding of both sides of the market. The idea for the company came from Butler’s experience as a sales leader at an early-stage startup and the struggles of retaining sales staff in a fast-growth, well-funded company. Coming from an athletic background himself, Butler personally witnessed how giving athletes the tools to be prepared and flourish in the right sales job was a winning solution.
York IE helps B2B SaaS companies grow through its early-stage investment syndicate and its advisory services offerings, which provide hands-on help to startups across various areas, including product development and strategy, marketing communications, go-to-market and revenue operations. Through this partnership with Shift Group, York IE will help companies find the sales talent they need to execute on the strategies they’ve developed.
To learn more about York IE visit york.ie.
ABOUT YORK IE
York IE™ is a vertically integrated strategic growth and investment firm helping reshape the way companies are built, scaled and monetized. Through Fuel™, its SaaS platform, hands-on advisory services and selective early stage B2B SaaS investments, York IE supports ambitious entrepreneurs, operators and investors on their quest to scale startups and disrupt markets.
ABOUT SHIFT Group
Shift Group is a training and recruiting platform placing talented, retired collegiate and professional athletes in high caliber Software Sales positions. Athletes spend their lives engaging in team-based activities where they are rewarded for performance-based outcomes. Competitive drive, work ethic, and the desire to win are innate qualities of those performing at elite levels. Athletes at this level must have discipline, resilience, and grit. These are the intangible parts of any elite athlete’s identity. When combined with confidence, curiosity, and coachability, these traits separate great athletes – and great salespeople. Salesmanship can be taught. It requires the right attitude, habits, and skills – learned, practiced, and repeated in the right environment in order to be mastered.
