About

Hi, I’m Nick Grossman. Welcome to my internet brain.

I’m a partner at Union Square Ventures, where I invest in internet applications and infrastructure projects.

I think a lot about the parallels between the real world and the internet world, in particular around the nature of governance, markets, and creativity/innovation.

Prior to joining USV, I led an incubator for urban-focused software and media projects at OpenPlans. We created impactful media properties like Streetsblog and Streetfilms, built data platforms like the MTA BusTime API, led and contributed to open source projects like GeoServer, PostGIS and OpenTripPlanner, and supported open data standards like GTFS and Open311. During my time at OpenPlans, I learned a lot about the power dynamics built into technology platforms, and about the nature of open source software development.

Before that, I spent several years consulting on the design and management of public spaces at Project for Public Spaces. The highlight of this work was probably spending a week on the roof of 1 Times Square filming pedestrian and traffic flows, as part of the lead-up to the major redesign of Times Square which vastly expanded pedestrian space including the permanent closing of Broadway through Times Square. During my time at PPS, I learned a lot about the nuances of moving big ideas through public processes.

I grew up in Brooklyn, which is where I learned to love cities. But I actually didn’t understand that until I moved to California for college. Now, I live outside of Boston with my wife and two kids.