About

Built by someone who closes the gym at night

Underhook HQ comes out of Cornelius Jiu Jitsu Academy in Cornelius, North Carolina. The academy ran on the usual gym software for years: trial leads in one place, waivers in another, billing with a percentage skimmed off every payment, a schedule that never quite matched the website, and a monthly bill that kept growing with add-ons we did not use.

Before the academy, the founder spent twenty-plus years building infrastructure for other companies. Looking at what a grappling gym actually needs, the list was short: book a trial, sign a waiver, charge a membership, show the schedule, know who is on the mat and what belt they hold. None of it needed a platform the size of the incumbents.

So Underhook HQ is small on purpose. It runs the academy's own front desk first, which keeps the priorities honest: if a feature does not help a coach with a tablet at 6 p.m., it waits. It is priced so that it costs a fraction of what we used to pay, and the money for memberships goes straight to the academy's Stripe account, never through us.

Early access means a few academies at a time, set up by hand, with the founder on the other end of the email. If that sounds right for your gym, request early access.

The name

An underhook is the position that gives you control of the exchange without needing strength to hold it. That is what the software should do for an owner.