We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nick Gray a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nick, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
When I first moved to New York in my late 20s, I had no social life. I worked six or seven days a week and didn’t know how to make friends. Nightclubs and networking events didn’t work for me. But then I discovered that I could be successful by hosting my own events. I learned how to curate the room and control the environment. It wasn’t easy, but I eventually found a formula that worked for me and I can now help others do the same. The thought of helping others to host their own parties and to help them get out of the feeling of being stuck with having no friends. That is when I started to write the book, make an entire website out of it, list down a hosts hall-of-fame, and make blogs about the parties.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Most people know me as the founder of Museum Hack. I hate museums, that’s why I started Museum Hack, then I grew it into a multi-million dollar business. In 2019, I sold Museum Hack in an interesting way. I turned 40 last year, and for my birthday I rented out an entire indoor water park. Back in my 20s, I helped build our family business. My father started Flight Display Systems in the basement of our house. The company made avionics equipment for private jets and military aircraft. I helped grow it to 75 employees. I lead our hiring, marketing, and international sales. My mother was our CFO. It really was a family business! Then we sold it. I’ve always sort of been an entrepreneur. In high school, I started a web hosting company called vs3 Web Services. I went to Wake Forest University in North Carolina. But now I’m focused on my book, The 2-Hour Cocktail Party.
Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?
Yes, I sold two multi-million dollar businesses, Museum Hack and Flight Displays System. It was a really big decision that scared and excited me. It started in 2018, when I had lunch with my two friends (the CEO and director of marketing at my previous company), Tasia and Michael. Tasia calmly sat down and told me, “Nick, we want to take over Museum Hack” I had two initial questions on a sale: What would it mean to give up my company and where the heck would we start negotiations? The sale of Flight Display Systems in 2014 was entirely different (and I was hardly involved). Museum Hack was the main work of my 30s.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
I came up with the idea for my previous company Museum Hack after I had a transformative experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where a passionate and engaging guide led me on a personalized tour of the museum’s collections. I realized that many people may not have access to such a tour, and I decided to create a company that could offer similar experiences to a wider audience. In 2013, I launched Museum Hack, and since then the company has grown to offer tours in multiple cities across the United States.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nickgray.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickgraynews/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newfriend
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickgraynews/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickgraynews
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nickgray
- Other: party.pro