Skift Take
Everyone loves some element of the travel experience, but turning that activity into a full-fledged business is a difficult task that requires stepping outside your passion to pass it on to others.
For the past year, a small group of energetic museum aficionados have been quietly revolutionizing the way tourists and locals visit New York City museums.
Museum Hack, built out of founder Nick Gray's personal hobby, takes visitors at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and American Museum of Natural History on fast-paced hilarious tours of selected pieces of art. The guides tell surprising and often blush-worthy stories about the time period the art represents, the artist, or the work itself.
Since its July 2013 launch, the company has humored and informed more than 3,500 customers. It now offers 20 tours per week that include 2-hour day tours, 3-hour VIP night tours, and private tours.
Gray, who launched Museum Hack one year ago, will speak October 9 about passion-based entrepreneurship in travel at the Skift Global Forum on The Future of Travel. Skift caught up with Gray to learn more about his tour company's start and how he turned a hobby into a full-time profession.
Get Your Ticket to the Skift Global Forum
Skift: Can you explain how you came up with the concept for Museum Hack?
Nick Gray: Museum Hack was founded out of a hobby that I had, which was giving tours to my friends on Friday and Saturday nights at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I don’t come from a
