Mastermind Ian Bick-Epic Parties-Nightclub Owner at 17-Prison-New Success

Sometimes the kid who gets picked on becomes the one everyone’s watching – but not always for the reasons you’d hope.

I just finished recording with Ian Bick, and I’m still processing everything this guy has been through. You might know Ian from the HBO Max documentary or his YouTube show “Locked In” with nearly 200,000 subscribers, but sitting across from him, hearing his story firsthand – that hits different.

Ian’s journey from bullied kid to teen party mastermind to federal prison to redemption is one hell of a ride. What struck me most wasn’t just what happened to him, but how he’s channeled that same entrepreneurial energy that got him in trouble into something that’s helping people.

From Chubby Theater Kid to Epic Party Planner

Ian wasn’t your typical cool kid in school. He was the chubby theater kid who ran lemonade stands and tried selling candy out of his backpack. But at 14, when his dad needed help running a film festival for 400 people, something clicked. Ian took command of the wait staff and volunteers like he’d been doing it for years.

“I was in eighth grade so I was I think I was like 13 almost 14 and while this is all going on there’s like a cop standing behind us that was like the school resource officer that had picked up some extra hours off duty to work this event and he’s like kind of watching this whole thing transpire and then when my dad left I took command,” Ian told me.

That cop went up to Ian’s dad afterward and said he’d never seen anything like it. That moment of recognition sparked something in Ian that would drive everything that came next.

Owning a Nightclub at 18 and Making $10K a Month

What started as community service after getting caught putting foam on cars turned into epic house parties with hundreds of kids. Ian wasn’t just throwing parties – he was creating experiences. Nacho bars, soda stations, foam machines. Everything was an event.

Then came Tuxedo Junction. Ian convinced nightclub owner Al to let him rent the small room, packed it with 300-400 kids on a Wednesday night, and earned his way to the big room. Soon he was pulling 2,500 kids to these teen parties and making $10,000 profit in a single night as a high school junior.

“I’m a junior in high school making 10 grand a month once a month doing this in one night just profit cash it was it was crazy,” he said.

But here’s the thing – Ian never really enjoyed his own parties. All that stress, all those text messages, managing everything. Success looked amazing from the outside, but Ian was working, not partying.

The $600K Electronics Deal That Changed Everything

When Ian tried scaling up with investors and big-name acts, reality hit hard. The night he thought he killed it with 1,300 people, his partner told him they lost money – they needed 2,000 just to break even. That’s when Ian made the choice that defined everything that came next.

Instead of telling his investor friends the truth, he doubled down. An electronics business opportunity came along that seemed like his way out. At one point, Ian had $600,000 in the bank, thinking he’d found his ticket to pay everyone back and start fresh.

“I made a ton of bad Investments I’d put 250 Grand into concerts some more into like random businesses 100,000 into this first nightclub I started,” Ian explained. The money disappeared into failed ventures, and what the feds focused on most? The $20,000 in company jet skis.

Standing Up to Federal Prosecutors

When the feds called Ian in for a reverse proffer – where they lay out their entire case – this 18-year-old kid did something that still amazes me. He sat in a room full of FBI agents and prosecutors, started texting during their presentation, and when they called him out, told them he had more important things to worry about – like his sold-out nightclub show the next night.

Most people take a plea deal. Ian went to trial and fought for almost a month. He testified for two days, never lost his cool with prosecutors, and handled himself like the performer he’d always been. The government wanted 6-8 years. He got three years in prison.

Looking back, Ian sees that moment with the Silver Fox prosecutor as pivotal: “I always bring it up to my lawyer all the time when I’m with them and stuff and he’s like yeah we’ll bring away he just does not like you.”

Prison, Whole Foods, and Finding His Voice Again

Prison wasn’t what Ian expected. The inmates called him McLovin and Squints from The Sandlot. He became the prison baker, made cheesecakes as a hustle, and learned to navigate by helping people who needed commissary money. It wasn’t paying for protection – it was just being decent to people, which came back to him when he needed it.

When he got out, Ian thought he’d go back to nightclubs. Instead, he ended up at Whole Foods making $15 an hour as a hot bar chef. But here’s what impressed me – he worked his way up to team leader making almost $33 an hour within a couple years. Same work ethic, different venue.

The entrepreneurial spirit never left though. A friend convinced him to share his story on TikTok. His fifth video about solitary went viral with 1.5 million views. That’s when Ian realized his second act wasn’t going to be nightclubs – it was using his story to help other people.

“I’m attracting people of all demographics to watching my page and you know going into January this year I had 100,000 followers on Tik Tok a few thousand on every platform,” he said. Now he’s interviewing everyone from other justice-impacted individuals to Chevy Chase, Mike Tyson, and Sylvester Stallone.

What gets me about Ian is how he’s taken everything – the creativity, the hustle, the ability to see what could be – and channeled it into something that matters. He’s the same person who organized those epic parties, just fighting for something bigger now.

His biggest lesson? “It’s never really as bad as what you think it is in the moment. I’ve made a lot of decisions based on thinking it was over and had I not made those decisions if I just was patient and waited and kind of see the whole thing I never would have made those decisions.”