Thane Plummer - AppVizo

‘Relationships are the most important thing in any business, and that’s what theClubhou.se does’

Opening a bank account or conducting an online transaction? You may not know this, but software is automatically checking your name against lists of known terrorists or bad actors so that the bank or other institution knows who’s trying to do business with them.

And that piece of software used by banks, insurance companies, even Expedia? It was written by longtime theClubhou.se member Thane Plummer.

Plummer’s training is in neuroscience, but he always programmed in his spare time for fun. It was a long and winding road to his current career, but for the past decade, Plummer has been the president and founder of AppVizo, which specializes in writing software to solve problems, together with his business partners Chris and Elizabeth Campbell.

Plummer moved to Augusta after being hired by Queensborough Bank to initially develop that scanning software. During an evening walk at Augusta University, he happened across a hackathon organized by theClubhou.se cofounder Eric Parker, which was working on a specific problem: helping disadvantaged people in Augusta’s downtown who didn’t have internet or computer availability. “It was a really cool project,” Plummer remembers. “One of the stations was making 25 raspberry pies that would plug into a TV so it would act as a computer, another was creating internet towers. They pulled it off.”

theClubhou.se was formed a few weeks later, and Plummer has been an active, dues-paying member ever since. Plummer has been a mentor to theClubhou.se’s Startup Life program, he’s lectured at its Code Boot Camp, he’s joined networking events like Beer and Bytes, and he’s even hired employees through connections made at theClubhou.se. As much as he’s given to theClubhou.se, he says he’s received much more in return.

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“What’s the value of theClubhou.se? The word that comes to mind is invaluable, but that’s sort of a cop-out,” he says with a laugh. “Plenty of people are smarter than me, and they’re there at theClubhou.se. I’m delighted to be able to talk with them about different things. That is the power of the organization. It’s a place where people can find other like-minded individuals, and there’s a wealth and breadth of knowledge from the very beginners to tremendously advanced people. I always get something out of it.”

For Plummer, it’s all about those connections. “I think about the jobs, for example,” he says. During his time mentoring two Startup Life students, Plummer met another entrepreneur, Michael Barton. “He asked a question, and I thought, ‘This is a bright guy with a skill set in an area that I don’t have. I need to introduce myself.’ This last weekend, Michael Barton represented AppVizo on Jekyll Island for an app we finished for ServiceWizardPro. I never would have found Michael if it hadn’t been for theClubhou.se.

“LinkedIn doesn’t do it for me. Something about meeting in person is dramatically different from reading a resume. Relationships are the most important thing in any business, and that’s what theClubhou.se does. They not only make that possible, they make it easy.”