nspyr Technologies: Founder-Centric M&A Coaching + Hardware Technology Consulting

Steve Yates, PE is a proven technology entrepreneur, coach, and consultant with a successful exit and over 35 years experience growing scalable companies and envisioning and leading the development and manufacturing of category-defining products for networking, IoT, wireless, edge computing, and AI. He embraces emerging technology and entrepreneurship and he enjoys translating them both into real business results for his clients. 

Prior to nspyr Technologies, Steve served as Founder and CEO of ADI Engineering, a key strategic partner of Intel Corporation and a pioneer in edge networking devices serving the CPE, AI, SD-WAN, NFV, wireless, and IoT markets. He architected and led ADI’s substantial growth from nothing to a scalable high-volume industry leader, and he raised over $10 million in non-dilutive strategic funding to fuel ADI’s remarkable bootstrapped growth. After ADI’s acquisition by Silicom Ltd, Steve served as President and CTO of the new Silicom Edge Networking Division, where he co-led the highly successful integration effort.

Previously, Steve served as a Hardware Engineer at Intel Corporation, a Design Engineer at GE Fanuc, Engineering and QA Manager for Republic Technology, and Founder and President of Audio Dynamics, where he designed, manufactured, and marketed a family of successful professional audio products for the broadcast industry.

Steve is committed to paying it forward through his volunteer work for numerous entrepreneurship, youth STEM education, and economic empowerment programs. He is a board member of Pivot Holdings International and he is a mentor for several startup incubators and accelerators, including Startup Virginia, the i.Lab at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Graduate Business, and Lighthouse Labs. He is a volunteer STEM educator for the Boy Scouts of America and serves as advisor for several youth STEM education programs, including the NASA Student Launch Initiative, the Team America Rocketry Challenge, and Skynet Junior Scholars.

Steve is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia, he is a Senior Member of the IEEE, he is a co-inventor on six US patents, and he received the BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia, where he also completed his PhD coursework and candidacy examination before setting off on a career grounded in technology entrepreneurship.