About — Third Places

The Name

Ray Oldenburg coined "third places" to describe the social environments — beyond home (first place) and work (second place) — where community naturally forms: the corner bar, the coffee shop, the mountain ski lodge. These are the places that make a neighborhood feel like home.

Third Places LLC exists to keep these spaces thriving by giving them software that actually fits. The name isn't just branding — it's the whole reason this company exists.

Our Mission

We build software for communities, not for profit margins.

We'll work with nearly any club regardless of member count or budget. We price fairly because access to good tools shouldn't be reserved for large clubs with large wallets. We are a social benefit company — yes, we need to make a living, but we're here to serve.

If your club is small, volunteer-run, and cash-strapped, we want to hear from you anyway. We'd rather find a way to make it work than watch a community struggle with software that was never built for them.

How We Work

We listen first. Every club has a culture. We learn yours before writing a line of code. No templates forced on you, no assumptions about how you operate.
We build custom. No one-size-fits-all. What we deliver is shaped entirely around how your club actually works — not how we think it should work.
We stay involved. This isn't a handoff-and-goodbye arrangement. Ongoing support, adjustments as your needs change, and someone you can actually reach.

Background

Third Places was founded by a club member who got tired of watching small clubs struggle with software built for hotels. The frustration was personal — watching volunteers spend hours coordinating bookings by email, and watching leadership pass on good systems because the pricing was absurd.

We combine a background in data science and systems thinking with hands-on club experience to build systems that are both technically solid and deeply practical. We've been members. We know what the person making a Friday-night booking actually needs — and it's not a 47-step checkout form designed for a resort chain.

What We Believe

Community over profit

Technology should serve the people using it, not extract value from them.

Custom over generic

Every club is different. Software should reflect that, not flatten it.

Fair pricing always

Small clubs deserve the same quality tools as large ones. We price accordingly.

Real support

Not a ticket queue. A person who picks up the phone and knows your system.

"The character of a third place is determined above all else by its regular clientele and is marked by a playful, witty ambiance. Without such places, the urban area fails to nourish the kinds of relationships and the diversity of human contact that are the essence of the city."

— Ray Oldenburg, The Great Good Place (1989)

Let's talk about your club.

No obligation, no sales pitch — just a conversation about fit.