A self-professed history nerd and dedicated urbanist, entrepreneur David Naczycz has found a career that merges his two passions. What started as a walking tour guide gig turned into a full-fledged business called Urban Oyster Tours. A resident of New York City for over a decade, David is devoted to educating and showing people neighborhood hidden gems — where the locals shop, eat, and drink (and he’s always open to discovering new places, too).
For this edition of Member Spotlight, a series where we showcase entrepreneurs of emerging companies, we chatted with David about the transition of starting a non-profit to co-founding a tour company that combines his three loves: cities, history, and sustainability. Here’s what he shared:
I’ve been an entrepreneur for a while now. I grew up near Detroit, and I was always inspired by cities, urban development, and what made cities tick. I launched a non-profit organization called Detroit Synergy and our aim was to empower citizens to create projects that would improve the city. That organization is still running today.
When I moved to New York in 2005, I fell in love with the city since Day One. A friend suggested I become a walking tour guide and that set me on the path to eventually launch Urban Oyster. My urban development background showed me the importance of small businesses to the health of cities and communities. When I saw chain stores taking over New York City, I wanted to do something. The idea of Urban Oyster is to educate locals and visitors about shopping, eating, and drinking locally. It’s about keeping the money in the community and creating a more sustainable economy.
The local movement is important because people are realizing that a lot of things are better for individuals, communities, and the planet when we produce and consume locally. Our society went on a binge of mass-produced, globally sourced stuff. There are some items that fit well into that model, but bread and cheese are not on that list. People are simply starting to figure out the error of making and buying everything on a Walmart scale. They are beginning to value where things are produced and how they are produced.
Our tours are very intentional. They’re usually small group tours, 14 people or less. It feels more like walking around the city with friends. Many “tourism” activities insulate you and treat the city like a zoo, encouraging visitors to look and take pictures. We encourage engagement, introduce you to real New Yorkers, ply you with food and drinks so it’s a multi-sensory experience. In fact, over half of our customers are New Yorkers. And at the end of our tours, you will truly feel like you know the neighborhood.
I can’t pick favorites, but I love our newest tour. It’s our first van tour of New York City Craft breweries. Currently we only offer that one to groups, but I love how the craft-brewing scene is finally blowing up in New York City. A lot of people are unaware that there are now 14 breweries operating here.
Here’s my piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: Research your industry and find out how you will become successful by understanding the key competitive levers. I give this advice because in this particular instance, I didn’t follow it and it led to some rough times. Starting this company was always a passion of mine, but I didn’t know the industry and what it would take to make money. I could have saved myself a few years of frustration if I’d just done that work up front.
Photographs by Lauren Kallen