Michael “shroud” Grzesiek is now the co-owner of a PC company
Top Twitch stars and They are valuable pro player Michael “shroud” Grzesiek has announced he is now a co-owner and advisor of MAINGEAR, a New Jersey based PC building company.
The deal sees Grzesiek become a co-owner of the company and will act as an advisor going forward where he will provide key insight on strategic and business considerations such as component selection, marketing initiatives, community building, as well as retail and ecommerce experiences.
The deal also comes as MAINGEAR completes a rebranding, launching new PC lines including some featuring Shroud’s branding. The MG-1: Shroud Edition is a high spec desktop PC, featuring Grzesiek’s name and is targeted at his fans and any gamers who are in need of a new system.
While deals such as this are incredibly common, almost every major influencer has some kind of PC hardware named after them, it is unusual that Grzesiek is also taking on a role as a co-owner of the company. In recent years we have seen top influencers try to diversify their income portfolios, and for Grzesiek this seemed like a natural fit for him, given that he was already using machines built by MAINGEAR.
“First and foremost, I love this company and their products,” said Grzesiek. “After I ordered my first machine, this became my PC of choice so there wasn’t really another option. Once we realized that working together was exciting to both sides, we got to know each other better. I continued ordering machines from MAINGEAR and they continued to impress me. Me and my team also spent more time with the management team at MAINGEAR and they were helpful and generous at every turn. As I learned more about their business I understood that the way I typically work with brands wouldn’t work here: being an independent company in an industry filled with multinational giants allows them to stand out with their build quality and customer service, but it also means they have to make much more strategic marketing investments. Thankfully Wallace and his team were open to figuring out a structure that made sense, which meant coming on as a co-owner, aligning our incentives, and building together for the future.”
Grzesiek also revealed that he first became aware of MAINGEAR after a conversation with musical artist Deadmau5. After the recommendation he tried one of the MAINGEAR products and has been using them ever since. As the two parties started speaking about the products he was looking for Grzesiek became a fan of the team working at the company, and as conversations continued as to how they could work together it became clear that this was an obvious match.
“I’m blessed to be at the point in my career as a creator where I’m able to be very selective about who I work with and in what capacity,” said Grzesiek. “In our conversations with their team it became clear that these guys really care and have built something that is really impressive, and they wanted me to help take them to the next level which is an honor. The bottom line is that I want to work with people who believe in me and who stand for the values I strive for: performance, quality, and fun with games. MAINGEAR represents all three with their brand and product, it made this an easy match.”
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