When I look back at the first year of building The Capitalist Club, almost all of my focus was on one thing: creating the space itself.
The early months were spent designing, building, tweaking, and slowly bringing the vision to life. Furniture, layout, lighting, the golf simulator, the poker tables, the lounge areas — every detail mattered because the goal was to build a place people actually wanted to spend time in.
In many ways, that phase felt natural to me. I enjoy building things. I enjoy solving problems and figuring out how to turn an idea into something real.
Now that the facility is largely complete, the focus is shifting.
Instead of asking “How do we build the space?” the question has become “How do we fill it with the right people?”
That means marketing, outreach, and growing our customer base — which, if I’m being honest, is not the part of business that comes most naturally to me.
But like every stage of this journey so far, the answer is to learn by doing.
One thing that has been working extremely well is our networking nights. They’ve become one of the best ways for new people to experience what The Capitalist Club actually is. It’s difficult to fully explain the concept in a sentence or a website description, but when people come in, meet other members, play a little poker, shoot some pool, or just sit down and talk business — it tends to click.
Shared experiences create natural connections.
And that’s really what this place was always meant to be about.
Moving forward, my focus is on doubling down on what works — continuing to host events that bring new people through the door while also building a solid core foundation of members who use the space regularly for work, meetings, and collaboration.
I’m still learning the marketing side of the business as I go, and there will probably be plenty of trial and error along the way. But that’s part of building anything worthwhile.
The goal remains the same as it was on day one: create a place where ambitious people can come together, work, relax, exchange ideas, and build meaningful relationships.
If the first year was about building the club, the next chapter is about growing the community inside it.
And I’m excited to see where that leads.
Cheers, Semper Fi
Matt O’Donnell
Founder & Operator | Capitalist Club
March 9, 2026