Ed Sheeran, Pizza Rat & Getting Hacked: Rick McGuire on Running Subway Creatures and Loving New York

Ed Sheeran, Pizza Rat & Getting Hacked: Rick McGuire on Running Subway Creatures and Loving New York

From The Messy Parts by with Maryam Banikarim

June 8, 2026 · 40 min · Episode 48

About this episode

Rick McGuire shares his journey of building Subway Creatures while navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship and a significant account hack.

What does it take to build one of New York City's most recognizable social media brands — from scratch, in secret, while working a day job? Subway Creatures founder Rick McGuire tells Maryam the whole story: from working at VH1 and MTV while quietly building Subway Creatures on the side to Pizza Rat, Ed Sheeran, and a very public account hack that brought him to tears and nearly took everything. Rick gets honest about the chaos of entrepreneurship, learning to value your own work, and why New...

People in this episode

Host: Maryam Banikarim

Guest: Rick McGuire

Topics covered

  • entrepreneurship
  • social media
  • New York City
  • personal branding
  • account hacking

Keywords

  • Subway Creatures
  • Rick McGuire
  • Ed Sheeran
  • Pizza Rat
  • entrepreneurship
  • social media
  • New York City

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Subway Creatures, VH1, MTV

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