Howdy 👋🏼

I’m Nick Gray. I just launched a new book: The 2-Hour Cocktail Party.

Most people know me as the Founder of Museum Hack.

I hate museums. That’s why I started Museum Hack. It was featured in a popular TEDx talk. Then I grew it to a multi-million dollar business.

In 2019, I sold Museum Hack in an interesting way. It starts with a juicy takeover; read the story here.

I turned 40 last year. For my birthday, I rented out an entire indoor water park. That was fun.

Three popular articles that I wrote are:

• Home Gear: The Best Stuff I Use Every Day
• What’s the best LLC for a small business?
• How To Host a Dinosaur Party for Adults

Anyhow. About me: Back in my 20s, I helped build and grow 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. During the last year, I had moved on to start my company Museum Hack.

Please note: I have spent the last 26 years habitually over-sharing my life on the internet. As such, you will find hundreds of unflattering photographs and video clips of me. I make no apologies for this. But trust that I will be extremely charming, and perhaps even be slightly attractive, when we meet in real life.

I’ve been doing “business stuff” for a long time. In middle school, I designed simple websites for Texas companies. It felt neat to be 14 years old and making $70 per hour.

In high school, I started a web hosting company called vs3 Web Services.

I got really lucky: if you searched on Yahoo! for the phrase “cheap web hosting,” my page was the first one to show up. That success helped pay for my college.

I went to Wake Forest University in North Carolina. I was a Presidential Scholar in Entrepreneurship and member of the Lilting Banshees Comedy Troupe.

One project that I worked on in college got a lot of press: BuddyGopher was like a blog for away messages on AOL Instant Messenger. We had thousands of daily users and full-page features in USA Today, the Washington Post, and more.

I tried to build BuddyGopher into a big company- including moving to India after college- but that didn’t work out. I still learned a lot. I love India. In 2011, I produced a Bollywood music video.

So, I guess I spent my teens starting a web hosting company. Then my 20s working to build our family business.

Then I spent my 30s in the hustle and bustle of New York City, launching and growing Museum Hack.

Now I’m 40 and I left New York City.

I never thought I’d say that — “I left New York City” — but now I love my new life.

In 2021, I moved to Austin, Texas. I bought two paddle boards, I’m starting a new business, and I swim in Barton Creek almost every day. I run a small family office, too. I hope to give more philanthropically. I want to make the world better in certain ways.

I wonder what I’ll do with my 40s. I have some ideas! Like launching my party book that teaches you how to make new friends and boost your career. But let’s see.

Thanks for reading all of this. My main purpose now is to convince you to sign up for my free Friends Newsletter.

It’s unlike any other newsletter: There aren’t any ads, and I only send it every month or two when I find something amazing.

Like a great business book, an amazing documentary, or a fascinating new tech gadget to share.

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