Tech guy. Bourbon town. Different brain.
Justin Hamilton — from Bardstown, Kentucky, where the frontier families came to build everything from scratch. I kept that habit.
The short version
I'm a tech guy from Bardstown, Kentucky — bourbon capital of the world. I work in tech across sixteen industries: manufacturing, bourbon, marketing, governance, medicine, and more. Not because I couldn't pick one thing. Because my brain needs to understand all of it.
Sixteen industries. Multiple companies. One philosophy: go ninja first, then samurai.
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Speaking
I talk about the place where the factory floor meets the boardroom — and why Kentucky gets there first.
Turning Meat to Metal
What happens when automation logic meets industries where the labor is the product.
The Ninja-Samurai Framework
How to lead AI adoption in organizations that can't afford to get it wrong the first time.
Kentucky as a Case Study
Reshoring, data centers vs. farmland, bourbon correction, and American manufacturing.
The CAIO Question
Why fractional AI leadership is a better deal for mid-market companies.
What I'm building
Four companies across tech, bourbon, marketing, and media. Different industries, same philosophy.
See the ventures →Writing
The longer arguments. Bourbon, manufacturing, AI adoption, and why Kentucky keeps turning up in all three.
Which Bucket Is This In
I was about to spend money fixing a problem everyone agreed on and nobody had measured. Here's the three-word habit that caught it, and why it matters more now that AI is in the room.
The Green Ribbon
Software has two outcomes on the whiteboard and three in real life. The third one is a room nobody drew, and it's where money goes to stand still.
The Trees
White oak trees in Eastern Kentucky are failing to regenerate. Bourbon barrels require new charred American white oak by law. This is a slow-motion supply crisis that almost nobody is covering yet — and the clock has been running for decades.
Sunday Dispatch
One take. When it's worth sending.
Bourbon, tech, manufacturing, Kentucky. Raw take on whatever's actually on my mind. Comes to your inbox — no algorithm in the way.
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