Nicholas William Gross (born 19 July 1988) is an American entrepreneur, musician, and the founder of the Find Your Grind education platform. Gross founded the band girlfriends together with Travis Mills in 2020. He is also a member of Goldfinger.

Early life

Gross grew up in

Laguna Beach, California Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Located in Southern California along the Pacific Ocean, this seaside resort city has a mild year-round climate, scenic c ...

, the only son of billionaire American investor

Bill H. Gross William Hunt "Bill" Gross (born April 13, 1944) is an American investor and retired fund manager, who co-founded Pacific Investment Management Co. PIMCO is a global fixed income investment company. Gross ran their $270 billion Total Return F ...

and his second wife Sue, and began playing the drums around age seven. He started a career as a drummer and in subsequent years was the drummer for bands

Open Air Stereo Open Air Stereo is a rock band that originated in Laguna Beach, California. Biography In early 2001, Chase Johnson, Kelan and Braeden Hurley, along with Ryah Arthur formed Stulpigeon, a band that played mostly covers of songs by groups such as F ...

and Half the Animal. With Open Air Stereo, Gross took part in the reality show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County. The band later signed with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

. In 2009, Gross launched STRZ Enterprises, a record studio and record label.

Career

Gross Labs

In 2018, Gross founded Gross Labs as parent company of Find Your Grind and Big Noise, among others. Gross Labs invested in

100 Thieves 100 Thieves, LLC (abbreviated 100T) is an American lifestyle brand and Esports, gaming organization based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2017 by Nadeshot, Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag. The organization competes in several video games, includ ...

Buzzfeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

DraftKings DraftKings Inc. is an American gambling company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It offers sportsbook and daily fantasy sports (DFS) services. The company was originally launched in 2012 as a DFS provider, competing principally with the New Yor ...

, among others. In 2019 Gross led a series A funding of $10.8 million for ReKTGlobal.

Find Your Grind

In 2015, Nick and Natasha Gross founded the Find Your Grind Foundation to support disadvantaged young people. In September 2015, Find Your Grind Foundation collaborated with

Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confere ...

to start the Find Your Grind Hockey Scholarship Program. In 2018, Gross founded Find Your Grind as an education platform with free online curriculum for students. Celebrity mentors included

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first docume ...

Monique Coleman Adrienne Monique Coleman (born November 13, 1980) is an American actress and dancer. She is best known for her role as Taylor McKessie in the ''High School Musical'' movies. Early life and education Adrienne Monique Coleman was born in Orange ...

and

Will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "will I am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the frontman of the musical group Black Eyed Peas, which he ...

Big Noise

In 2018, Gross founded the music group Big Noise together with ex-Vagrant executive Jon Cohen and rock producer

John Feldmann John William Feldmann (born June 29, 1967) is an American musician and record producer. He serves as the lead singer/guitarist of the punk rock band Goldfinger. Early life Feldmann grew up in Saratoga, California. He started writing songs aro ...

. He is

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Big Noise. In 2019 the label's roster included

Ashley Tisdale Ashley Michelle Tisdale (born July 2, 1985) is an American actress and singer. During her childhood, she was featured in over 100 advertisements and had minor roles on-screen and in theatre. She achieved mainstream success as Maddie Fitzpatric ...

and New Politics. In 2019, Big Noise launched the Noise Nest, a 5000-sq. ft recording studio in Los Angeles and launched the FYG U Music + Tech Festival. In June 2019, Big Noise acquired the hip hop label Commission Record. Its roster includes

MadeinTYO Malcolm Jamaal Davis (born April 12, 1992), better known by his stage name MadeinTYO (pronounced Made in Tokyo), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for his 2016 single "Uber Everywhere," which peaked at number 51 on t ...

Lil Dicky David Andrew Burd (born March 15, 1988), better known by his stage name Lil Dicky, is an American rapper, singer, comedian, and actor. He first received recognition after the music video for his 2013 song, "Ex-Boyfriend" became a viral video, v ...

Derez De'Shon Derez De'Shon Lenard (born March 25, 1989), formerly known as D-Dash, is an American rapper and singer from Atlanta, Georgia. He is best known for his 2017 single " Hardaway", which peaked at number 61 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. His debut st ...

and

DJ Envy RaaShaun Casey (born September 3, 1977), known professionally as DJ Envy, is an American disc jockey (DJ), record producer, and radio personality.

at AllMusic, AllmusicBaker, Al (May 13, 2006D.J. Is Arrested Over His Threat to Rival's ...

. On 7 June 2019, The Wrecks signed with Big Noise. The same year The Used and Travis Tritt also signed with Big Noise. On 1 November 2019, New Politics released their fifth album "New Politics (band)#Discography, An Invitation to an Alternate Reality". Tyler Posey and his band Five North released their debut EP Scumbag via Big Noise on 6 March 2020. By 2021 Big Noise had expanded their 10,000 sq ft. recording studio facility The Noise Nest with five recording studios and rooms for streaming and gaming. Alongside the signed artists from Big Noise other clients like Post Malone, DaBaby and ASAP Rocky, A$AP Rocky use the facilities for work. Mod Sun signed a long-term deal with Big Noise in March 2021, and has since released two albums; ''Internet Killed the Rockstar'' in 2021, and ''God Save the Teen'' in 2023, under Big Noise. Both albums were produced by John Feldmann. In March 2022, The Veronicas signed with Big Noise. In March 2023, Independent record label, indie record label Position Music and Big Noise launched a music publishing joint venture. On 1 September 2023, Escape the Fate released their 8th Album "Out of the Shadows via Big Noise.

Goldfinger and Girlfriends

Since 2018, Gross had been touring drummer for Goldfinger. Two years later, he became the official drummer of the band. In 2020, Gross formed the band Girlfriends with Travis Mills, with the duo citing Blink-182, 5 Seconds of Summer and All Time Low as the band's musical influences. The band released the first single "California" on June 26, 2020, with the music video being released on August 11. This was followed by their second single "Eyes Wide Shut" on 21 August 2020. Their self-titled debut album was released on 23 October 2020 featuring 14 tracks. The production was led by

. On 17 June 2022, Girlfriends released their second album "(e)motion sickness". In March 2023, Girlfriends released the single "Over My Dead Body" via Big Noise. They also released "Life's A Brittany" on 14 April 2023.

Esports

In 2018, FYG partnered with esports platform ReKTGlobal, parent company of Rogue (esports), Rogue and London Royal Ravens, in scholarships for students who want to pursue esports. He became a member of the board and the lead investor in ReKTGlobal. In 2022, ReKTGlobal was acquired by entertainment company Infinite Reality and Rogue merged with Spanish esports organization KOI. In 2018, FYG created the Fortnite based Junior Rogue program in partnership with ReKTGlobal to give young people the opportunity to get into esports and receive a scholarship through the Find Your Grind Foundation. DrLupo participated as mentor in the program.

Other investments

In February 2022, Gross became an investor in Mexican football club Club Necaxa, Necaxa.

Awards

Find Your Grind was listed in the 'Brands that Matter in 2022' by Fast Company.

Personal life

Gross is married to Natasha Gross (born Natasha Barritt), the Executive Director of the Find Your Grind Foundation. They have one child together. Gross enjoys surfing, running and skating.

References

External links

Find Your Grind

Gross Labs

Big Noise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Nick Living people People from Laguna Beach, California American male drummers American investors 1988 births Drummers from California