My Big News: I Sold Museum Hack!

Last updated: September 28, 2023

In late 2018 I met with Tasia Duske (CEO) and Michael Alexis (Director of Marketing) at our usual lunch spot.

Tasia sat down and calmly said: “Nick, we want to take over Museum Hack.”

In movies featuring hostile takeovers, this is the part where my character is supposed to flip the table and call my lawyers. I didn’t do that (yet).

Before I tell you how much money I’ll get and how we came to terms, allow me to set the stage.

2022 update: I rented out an entire indoor water park for my 40th birthday!

A Brief History

Way back in 2011 is when I started leading renegade museum tours. I called the project Hack the Met; it was just me, my harmonica, and my friends appreciating art in a new way. My TEDx talk features how I got started.

Man wearing blue blazer and holding iPad standing outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Me standing outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art around 2014. Photo: Justin Hall (I think?)

Museum Hack has grown a lot since then. Our revenue last year was $2.8 million. We brought tens of thousands of people to a museum for the first time. That momentum landed us a spot in the Inc 5000 as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

Group of tour guides having fun inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Having fun with a bunch of our tour guides (the heart and soul of Museum Hack) in Nov 2017

In January of 2018 I promoted Tasia to CEO . She and Michael had been running the company (very effectively) without me during the past 18 months.

Right up until our lunch meeting, I was having a hard time designing a compensation plan to keep them both around. I was thinking about things like profit share, ghost equity, and bonus options.

Selling them the company wasn’t even on my radar.

My Questions On A Sale

I was intrigued by Tasia and Michael’s offer. A sale could keep both of them on board and would totally free me up for something new. But I had some questions:

  • What would it mean to give up my company? Museum Hack was the main work product of my 30s. It has been my most successful personal project. What would happen to that legacy? And will my side-hustle cataloging New York City’s best dumpling spots ever meet that potential? (Spoiler: it won’t, but I still love it).
  • Where the heck would we start negotiations? The sale of Flight Display Systems in 2014 was entirely different (and I was hardly involved). I wasn’t sure how we would negotiate the price, deal structure, or contract terms.

Despite my initial questions, I knew in my heart that I wanted to sell and that Tasia and Michael were the best possible buyers.

Four people selfie
We’ve gotten to be great friends. This is when we went to see ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ on Broadway (very boring). L to R is me, Michael, Tasia, and Ethan who helped build our Audience Development department

Over the past four years, I’ve worked with them as business partners and close friends. I knew that they would take Museum Hack to its highest potential. And even though selling my company was frightening, I left that lunch meeting more excited than scared.

Details of The Deal

The way we structured the sale is unique and could be helpful for other business owners. If you’re interested in the details of how we negotiated terms or have specific questions, let me know in the comments. I’ll write more next week about the specific terms.

Three things I can share now:

  1. I’ll receive a seven-figure sum. I’m not a billionaire yet, but the sale will fund at least a few more of my poorly-timed stock market picks.
  2. I still own 15% of Museum Hack. I’m happy with this. The growth potential is big and achievable.
  3. It was a seller-financed transaction. Seller-financed means the buyer takes on a debt to the seller. The business serves as collateral to make sure the debt is paid. Doing it that way provided us with unique opportunities to make it win-win. I’ll get more money and Tasia and Michael have less risk.

Once we started talking about how much to sell and at what value, that’s when the fun of negotiating began. If you’re interested in reading about that, leave a comment or let me know. Then I’ll share how it all went down in a new post. Or join my Friends Newsletter here and I’ll email you those notes when I publish them.

The Exciting Next Chapter

We completed the sale and transfer of ownership six months ago.

Selfie of three people in a Breather office space
Me, Michael, and Tasia signing the final legal documents to complete the sale in New York City. I had spinach in my teeth but tried to edit it out.

Today, Museum Hack is doing better than ever. They are taking on new projects I never could have done. Michael recently told me that they landed something huge that I’d wanted to do for years and was never able to pull off. They’ll share that news in the coming months.

As for me and what’s next, I look forward to finishing my book about how you can make new friends, talking about dinosaur parties for adults, driving my Tesla Model Y, and investing through my new family office.

My how-to book is going to be pretty awesome, by the way. It’s a super simple guide to teach you how to throw small cocktail parties that help you build big work relationships and make new friends. It will come out next year. I also plan to keep traveling the world. It is a privilege to enjoy this luxury of free time. I hope to do good things with what I have.

I’m still invested in Museum Hack’s future, both in heart and with my share of the equity. I’m an advisor to the company and look forward to seeing where Tasia and Michael take it next.

three people on rooftop
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT!! Michael, Tasia, and me on a rooftop in the Lower Easy Side of Manhattan in 2018. Photo: Lincoln Center Young Patrons

Thank You Notes

Many people have contributed to Museum Hack over the years. I want to thank all of our tour guides, managers, support team, contractors, customers, the museum world, suppliers, journalists, friends, my mother (thank you Mom!), and many more.

Tasia Duske should be called the Queen of Business Transitions. There was an insane amount of work that went into coordinating the transfer of operations. And you definitely want Michael Alexis on your side in a negotiation.

To everyone who provided guidance as I navigated the sale: I’m forever grateful.

To my team of lawyers: I couldn’t have paid tens of thousands in legal fees without you.

Thanks to Bud Hennekes, Brian Kurtzman, Bryan Harris, Regan Starr, Cathryn Lavery, Noah Kagan, Dan Pierson, Danielle Strle, Judhajit De, Hagan Blount, Taylor McKnight, and George Bryant for reading a draft of this post. Michael Alexis helped me write the majority of it. Any edits or errors are my own.

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