Michael Gruen is a Gen-Z entrepreneur, political consultant, influencer, marketer, corporate advisor, and public relations specialist. Gruen primarily serves Chief marketing officer and co-founder of Frax (formerly known as Decentral Bank) along with Stephen Moore, former nominee to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Sam Kazemian. ^[12][17] In addition, Gruen advises numerous tech companies, mostly in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, and works with numerous notable figures, including Forbes 400 members, with public relations and business development. He also serves as Vice President of Business Development for Everipedia. In addition, Gruen is an active angel investor, owning stakes in numerous tech and product companies. He was previously an NBA and FIBA sports agent ^[2] where he negotiated over $10,000,000 in deals before he turned 20.

Michael Gruen started college at the age of 15 and holds a Bachelor's degree in Sports Management. Gruen also has a Certificate of Completion in Film Script Writing. ^[6]

At the age of 13, Michael Gruen began volunteering with NBA players’ charities such as the Jason Kidd Foundation. He created a sports management company at 15, where he marketed for athletes across all four major sports. Gruen then went on to become the Senior Vice President of NBPA- and FIBA-certified agency 3PT Sports Management (merged with NEXT Sports in 2017), acting as an agent and scouting talent until he sold the company in June of 2017. He attributes a significant amount of his early success in the sports industry to his mentors, former business partner and NBA agent Zachary Charles, and former New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles general manager Jim Duquette. ^[2] “Without them, I’d be working a nine-to-five right now,” said Gruen in an interview with Forbes. “Jim Duquette is the one who taught me how to negotiate. Every time I was going into a negotiation room with a team or brand, I would call him and talk through my rationale as to why I thought X player should make Z amount. Being a former GM, he would then argue it out with me like it was a real negotiation. We ended up doing a mock negotiation to the students of Chapman Law School, teaching many of the same lessons I learned very early on.”

Gruen is also mentored by former White House Communications Director and founder of SkyBridge Capital Anthony Scaramucci, Tinder founder Sean Rad, and tech investor and founder of After School Cory Levy.

Michael Gruen has worked in social media, marketing, public relations, and multimedia production at Gray Line New York, Twin America, and EZBZ. He has also worked as a Talent Booker on CBS Radio booking guests including Mark Cuban, Dr. Ben Carson, David Hasselhoff, George Foreman, Gil Garcetti, Alan Dershowitz, Matt Barnes, Kevin O'Leary, DJ Khaled, Jesse Ventura, Jay Sean, Walter Koenig, Justice Alan Page, Ken Shamrock, Donald Trump, Burt Ward, and many others. ^[6]

In 2017, Gruen co-founded Creator Edge Media, an influencer marketing company, with Jace Norman, a Nickelodeon actor with over 3 million followers on Instagram. ^[2]“What makes Creator Edge Media different is that we allow our clients to retain more creative control. Most of our clients are actors, so social media is really a side job for them, which means they’d rather make a bit less money to have a team that understands their brand quality over the long term,” explained Gruen in an interview with Forbes. “This is where having someone like Jace—someone who is known in the industry to produce quality YouTube and Instagram content—allows people to know off the bat that we are the real deal, and ready to win on their behalf. Currently, most agencies represent brands as opposed to celebrities. We only represent the talent, which gives us a lot more of the ability to be selective.” ^[2]

Michael Gruen has significant ties with several politicians and political figures from both major American political parties, including U.S.

President Donald Trump, Cameron Kasky (founder of March for Our Lives), and Kyle Kashuv, a school safety activist who is a survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

Gruen was an informal adviser to the Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016. ^[12]

In February 2017, conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro sent Gruen a link to an interview of Kashuv’s from Fox News Channel. After watching the interview, Gruen reached out to Kashuv via Twitter, connected Kashuv with Shapiro, and connected Kashuv with politicians, White House officials, and notable political influencers including President of the United States Donald Trump, First Lady of the United States Melania Trump, Vice President of the United States Mike Pence, Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp, director of Office of Public Liaison Andrew Giuliani, Donald Trump Jr., Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Paul Ryan, President pro tempore of the United States Senate Orrin Hatch, Ron DeSantis, Matt Gaetz, Cory Booker, Supreme Court of the United States Justice Clarence Thomas, Chris Murphy, Chuck Schumer, Louie Gohmert, Jeff Flake, Steve Daines, Marco Rubio, Ivanka Trump, Rick Santorum, Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson, Guy Benson, Cliff Sims, Ambassador Nikki Haley, and Kellyanne Conway. ^{[7] [1]}

Gruen co-created a political conference in Washington, D.C., High School Leadership Summit, which was free for high school students to attend and featured notable speakers such as Mark Cuban, Peter Thiel, Donald Trump Jr., Kevin McCarthy, Anthony Scaramucci , Corey Lewandowski , Cliff Sims , Caroline Sunshine , Rand Paul, Dan Scavino , R. James Woolsey Jr. , Kellyanne Conway , David Perdue , Dennis Prager , Clay Travis , Rudolph Giuliani , Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Ron DeSantis , Thomas Massie , Eric Bolling , Nikki Haley , Betsy DeVos , and Jeff Sessions ^[11].

Gruen helped Cameron Kasky, founder of March for Our Lives, transition after leaving the March by setting meetings for him with investors in Silicon Valley, notable figures such as Los Angeles Lakers' owner Jeanie Buss^[10], and politicians from both parties, including Ivanka Trump and Eric Swalwell, in Washington, D.C. Gruen also introduced Kasky to Kasky's current agent at United Talent Agency.

In January 2017, Michael Gruen organized a fundraiser with New York Mets player Nelson Figueroa and Peri Finkelstein, a teenager with muscular dystrophy, to raise money for Chai Lifeline, a charity which offers a range of support services for kids fighting cancer and other serious conditions. Gruen and Figueroa raised over $440,000 for Chai Lifeline by selling tickets to their First Annual Charity Bowl at Lucky Strike in Manhattan and through selling sports memorabilia in an online auction. ^{[3] [4] [8]}

Gruen and Kasky arranged a live stream with NFL superstar Mike Evans to raise funds for the families of the Jacksonville Landing shooting.^[13] Gruen arranged for celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres and Jake Paul to tweet about the fundraiser ^[14]. They raised a combined $54,947 ^[15]