It started with one
unfashionable idea.
That you can build something serious — real revenue, real teams, real enterprise value — without leaving your faith, your family or your character at the door.
The American Dream began as a room full of home-service operators in Houston who were tired of conferences that sold hype and skipped the hard parts. Four editions later, that room has grown into something bigger: Faith. Business. Future. — a platform for builders in every industry who want the business answers and the honest ones.
Build Boldly. Lead Faithfully.
Our past is the proof. 2027 is the next step.
- 20231st Annual
Tommy Mello & Carlos Reyes headline the inaugural year.
- 20242nd Annual
Nehal Kaiser, Joe Jordan & Gabriel Najeras headline year two.
- 20253rd Annual
Mario Lopez, Sean Mike Kelly & Kirt Linington keynote — PE buyers and $1B+ operators fill the room.
- 20264th Annual
Paul Hutchinson & Adley Kinsman headline — Justin O'Neal & Sam Stilley anchor the Billion Dollar Panel.
1,200+ founders · $1.4B+ in the room · 92% return rate
Companies worth building. People worth becoming.
To equip entrepreneurs to build companies worth building — profitable, technologically fearless, and grounded in faith, family and integrity — and to create generational opportunity for the people they lead.
The three pillars →Faith
Real founders, real decisions, real cost. Not motivational language — the honest intersection of Christian faith and building a company.
Business
The practical engine of the day. Operators who have actually scaled, sold, recapped and rebuilt — showing the mechanics, not the theory.
Future
Nobody on this stage will tell you AI is the future. They will show you a company running on it, on the clock, in front of you.
Stephen Martinez
Stephen is the founder of The American Dream Event, iSmart Roofing and iSmart A.I., and the host of The American Dream Podcast — an operator who built in the trades first and now spends his time on the two things he believes decide a founder's life: what you build, and who you become while you build it.
Two decades across roofing, technology, events and media taught him the same lesson every year: the business problems are solvable, the character problems are the expensive ones. That conviction — and his faith — is why this event exists, and why it refuses to be another hype conference.
“Wealth is what you keep. Legacy is what you give.”
The annual one-day conference in Houston — faith, business and the future of entrepreneurship, in one room.
A technology-forward roofing company built around innovation, automation, and trust-driven service.
An AI company turning practical automation and workflow systems into everyday tools for operators.
Long-form conversations on founder lessons, faith, growth and legacy — with people building the real thing.