About Me
I build businesses, raise capital, and get things done. I'm also a |
About Me
I'm Bret Morgan, an entrepreneur, developer and investor based in Asbury Park, NJ.
I started as a software engineer and computer scientist and learned pretty quickly that I wasn't very good at working for other people, so I started working for myself. I've been building companies since 2002. The first was DBL Systems, the software consultancy I still run today.
The same year, I opened a music venue. Bloomfield Ave Cafe & Stage was a 250-capacity all-ages DIY punk club in Montclair, NJ and from 2002 to 2007 a good part of the New Jersey music scene came through it. My Chemical Romance played it. So did the Jonas Brothers, before most people had heard of them, along with Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and The Gaslight Anthem. But most of the calendar was local bands, and what the room really did was give teenagers somewhere to see a show on a Friday night without needing a ride into the city. We were all kids while we were running it but I learned a ton.
It was a hard business and I was young, but nearly everything I've done since traces back to it. I learned how to book and operate a room, build the systems behind it, solve problems in real time, and how much a place depends on people feeling like it belongs to them. I didn't call that community building at the time, but that's what it was, and I've kept coming back to it ever since.
Bands On A Budget grew out of those years. We started it in 2006 making merchandise for bands and artists, and over the next fourteen years it grew into a full-service merchandising business with much of the ordering, quoting, and logistics software built in-house. It became a substantial business in its own right before we sold it to a group rolling up merch companies.
Cowerks came next. We opened the first space in Asbury Park in 2010 and grew it from a 700-square-foot coworking space into a much larger operation with private offices, common space, and a real community around it. As the business grew, we stopped thinking only about coworking and started buying the buildings underneath it, first in Asbury Park and then in Red Bank. We hosted hundreds of meetups, workshops, and hackathons along the way, and Cowerks became the center of gravity for the Jersey Shore tech scene. We still own both buildings today.
Under the tent at Asbury FRESH
Fresh Markets started in 2012 with four tents in a park. Today we run roughly 200 events a year and work with more than 10,000 local artists, makers, bakers, farmers, and food purveyors. We built the software because we needed it, and eventually turned it into Convene, a platform other organizers use to manage their own events and recruit vendors.
At The Windswept in Point Pleasant Beach
Over the last few years, more of my work has moved into hospitality and real estate. Through Inplace Hospitality, we've acquired and now operate properties including The Surf Village, The Windswept, and 502 Brinley. I also helped develop and open Marée in Spring Lake. Most of what I'm looking at now sits somewhere in that overlap between real estate and operating businesses, especially properties with some history, character, or identity already built into them.
I've kept writing software through all of it. These days that mostly means Convene and the systems that run our properties, with some client work through DBL Systems mixed in.
I'm systems-first. I like clear decisions and simple processes, and I build tools when the existing ones get in the way. I spend a lot more time operating businesses than talking about operating them.
Outside of work, I practice yoga, swim, travel, and spend as much time as I can with my wife and three kids. As the businesses have gotten bigger, I've gotten more protective of that time.
The businesses have changed, but the basic idea hasn't. Build things people care about and then figure out how to run them well.
How I Got Here
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2002 Present
DBL Systems
The software consultancy I started first and still run. Custom software, AI integration, automation and technical strategy, on selective client engagements alongside everything else.
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2002 2007
Bloomfield Ave Cafe & Stage
A 250-capacity all-ages DIY punk room on Bloomfield Avenue, opened the same year as DBL. Mostly local bands, giving teenagers somewhere to see a show on a Friday night without a ride into the city. Nearly everything I've done since traces back to it.
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2006 2020
BandsOnABudget
Merchandise for bands and artists, grown over fourteen years into a full-service merchandising business with the ordering, quoting and logistics software built in-house. Sold in 2020 to a group rolling up merch companies.
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2010 Present
Cowerks
Coworking in Asbury Park, and for about a decade the center of gravity for the Jersey Shore tech scene. We started as tenants in a small office, moved into a larger leased space at the Lakehouse, and eventually bought two buildings of our own, in Asbury Park and Red Bank. That move from tenant to owner was my first venture into real estate. We gave up the leased space during Covid but still own both buildings.
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2012 Present
Fresh Markets
Four tents in a park to start, and roughly 200 events a year now, working with more than 10,000 local artists, makers, bakers, farmers and food purveyors. We built the software to run it, and that became Convene.
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2022 Present
Inplace Hospitality
The management company behind our hospitality properties. We acquire independent places on the Jersey Shore and operate them ourselves rather than handing them to a third party.
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2022 Present
The Surf Village
Nine bungalows on one walkable block near the ocean, acquired and redeveloped rather than torn down. The first property we bought under Inplace.
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2026 Present
Convene
The software we built to run Fresh Markets, rebuilt after thirteen years as a product other organizers use to manage their own events and recruit vendors.
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2026 Present
Marée
An independent neighborhood bistro and bar on the ground floor of a 125-year-old former bank building downtown. The original vault is now a private dining room.
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2026 Present
The Windswept
A 46-room mid-century oceanfront motel at the end of the boardwalk, family run for decades. We bought it as a working business and are renovating it while it stays open.
Speaking at CU Asia 2015 in Ubud, Bali