theClubhou.se will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on Friday.
“As a nonprofit organization, theClubhou.se opened its doors to Augusta on the First Friday of December 2012,” said cofounder Eric Parker. “Since then, thousands of members have been part of the club that anyone can join and where everyone strives to be amazing.”
Launched as a division of Hack Augusta, theClubhou.se has spent the past decade facilitating budding entrepreneurs and innovators, providing everything from certification and mentorship to office space.
Parker, an architect by training, returned to Augusta from California in 2010 for a sabbatical. While biking past past Sibley Mill one day, he got the idea that Augusta has the building blocks to be a powerhouse as an innovation and collaboration center.
“I started asking the question, how would you ‘hack’ Augusta?” he said. “I got to know local programmers and hackers and hosted two hackathons. With the success of those, we launched the nonprofit theClubhou.se as a group, with an initial $15,000 investment to help spur innovation in Augusta.”
The nonprofit’s efforts, backed by grants, philanthropic support and the club’s members, are largely devoted to helping entrepreneurs—including disadvantaged entrepreneurs—start and operate successful enterprises.
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Among the tech-oriented organization’s initiatives to support new business owners was Make Startups, an entrepreneurial training program.
“We were really looking at is this gap that exists in supporting entrepreneurs,” said Parker about the impetus behind Make Startups, noting how the federal government’s support systems are generally designed to benefit established and prosperous business owners.
“Entrepreneurs need to be in business at least two years to access an SBA [Small Business Administration] loan, and need to have equity in their business,” he said. “What that really does is it limits entrepreneurship to reasonably affluent people.”
The Makeup Startups program was designed to help close the gap between aspiring enterprisers and opportunities by not only providing business training, but by facilitating connects with investors.
“We’ve got 25 different banks and venture capital firms to say that they would look at a curriculum and assessment model as essentially a character reference to give people capital to get their business started,” Parker said.
theClubhou.se has also created a network of entrepreneur certification in Atlanta, Columbus, Macon and Savannah, alongside Augusta; and the certification program has been approved in four states.
“Everything is about the members,” Parker said. “My job is to help members succeed in what they want to do, not to do it for them. At the same time, the only way to grow theClubhou.se is to devote the organization to helping others grow.”
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The celebration commemorating the nonprofit’s 10 years will recognizes all those who have participated in events, taken classes, grown businesses, and found new careers. The ticketed event will feature live music by AE the Cool, a silent auction from location merchants, hors d’oeuvres from local food startups Soca Vegan Kitchen and Tastefully Done, theClubhou.se’s Decade Report, and even a birthday cake.
theClubhou.se 10th Birthday Bash will be at its offices at 200 Grace Hopper Ln. in Augusta, Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. For tickets visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/happy-10th-birthday-to-theclubhouse-tickets-446483483117.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
