My name is Brian, and I'm an entrepreneur
Meet the Sober Founder
I’m Brian Miller, a founder, writer, and educator who has spent nearly three decades building brands, teaching future designers and marketers, and learning what clarity really looks like when it’s earned instead of forced. I’ve founded and sold two companies, written two books with Simon & Schuster, and discovered that success feels fundamentally different when it’s built without alcohol in the picture.
I started my first company, MillerSmith, from a blank page and a sketchbook. Years later, I did it again with Seir Hill, a premium non-alcoholic spirits brand inspired by my decision to stop drinking. What began as a personal search for better options grew into a nationally recognized brand and was eventually acquired. Both businesses started small, both were built with intention, and both shaped how I think about leadership, creativity, and what it means to build something that lasts.
I’ve been sober since May 16, 2022. Sobriety didn’t slow me down. It sharpened everything. When I stopped drinking, mornings came back. Focus deepened. Decisions became cleaner. My work improved, my relationships strengthened, and my sense of direction stopped feeling negotiable. Sobriety didn’t take anything away from my career. It gave me the clarity to build without noise.
Teaching has been a constant alongside entrepreneurship. I’m an adjunct professor at Sacred Heart University, where I teach design, marketing, and the realities of building from the ground up. I also mentor students and early-stage founders at Fairfield University. After more than twenty years in higher education, I’ve learned that teaching isn’t about expertise alone. It’s about helping people see what’s possible and giving them the confidence to pursue it.
As an author, I’ve written Above the Fold and Principles of Web Design, both published by Simon & Schuster and used in classrooms and studios across the country. More recently, I’ve written essays like The View from a Windowless Basement, exploring the quieter, less polished moments of work, ambition, and reinvention. These stories sit at the intersection of entrepreneurship and sobriety, where real progress tends to happen.
Outside of work, I’m a husband, a father of two incredible daughters, and someone who lives in a 1744 barn in Wilton, Connecticut with six cats and more ideas than spare time. Most of my best thinking happens early in the morning, before the house wakes up, when the coffee is hot and the world is still.
Thanks for being here.
If you’re building something, rebuilding something, or questioning whether alcohol is helping or hurting your ambition, I hope what I share here offers clarity, perspective, and proof that you can succeed without dulling the edge that got you started in the first place.