Founder

Brian Hamilton

Founder, Brian Hamilton Foundation and Inmates to Entrepreneurs

Founder, Sageworks

Brian Hamilton is the country’s leading advocate for entrepreneurship and small business. He founded Sageworks, the developer of ProfitCents, a technology that converts financial data into plain language so that small business owners can understand their financial situations. It has helped millions of small business owners. He is also founder of Inmates to Entrepreneurs, the longest running program of its kind that teaches those with a criminal record how to start and grow their own business quickly with little capital. Finally, through the Brian Hamilton Foundation, he advocates for the elimination of poverty and the realization of human potential.

Earlier in his career, Hamilton started a chain of inner-city coin laundromats, which he turned into community centers in an effort to improve the experiences of his customers. Brian also served as the minority business consultant for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in the state of North Carolina. It was there that his passion for helping historically disadvantaged groups create and grow businesses grew stronger.
Raised in a working-class neighborhood near Bridgeport, Connecticut, Hamilton has first-hand knowledge of the challenges that people face in breaking out of the socioeconomic categories into which they are born. He is the first in his family to go to college. He graduated summa cum laude from Sacred Heart University, where he later served on the Board of Trustees, and he received an MBA from Duke University.
Hamilton is a regular guest on CNBC and Fox and frequently writes for and is quoted in all major national media publications. Brian is also a contributor to Inc. and Entrepreneur magazines. His work has earned him awards and recognition from organizations including Duke University, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, and George H.W. Bush’s Points of Light.