The First Hall of Fame for Founders Is Coming — Take a Look Inside the Hall of Giants

John Tillman has spent his career building institutions that defend free enterprise, but a simple question kept nagging at him: Why does America have halls of fame for athletes, tow‑truck drivers and even burlesque performers — but nothing that celebrates the entrepreneurs who built the economy those halls sit in? That question is now turning into the Hall of Giants, a museum and entertainment complex designed as a national stage for entrepreneurs and a rallying point for anyone who believes in building something from nothing.

The missing hall of fame

Tillman calls Hall of Giants “a celebration of American entrepreneurs from the founding of our country all the way to the present and the near-term future.” The project, now in active development as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, aims to become the nation’s first major museum dedicated to entrepreneurship, free enterprise and the individuals whose creativity and grit have changed how we live and work. “There’s a hall of fame celebrating practically everything,” Tillman says. “I cannot believe America has not yet created a Hall of Fame celebrating American entrepreneurs.”

For founders and business-builders, Hall of Giants is both a tribute and a platform — a physical and experiential reminder that what you are doing is not just a job or a cap table, but part of a long American story of solving problems for others.

Credit: Hall of Giants

Why it matters to John Tillman

Tillman’s connection to entrepreneurship started long before he was running think tanks and cultural projects. He still remembers selling Christmas trees from his front yard in his childhood small Michigan town. “That was a really eye‑opening experience,” he recalls. “Learning how to negotiate, how not to give in on a price drop and all the rest of it.”

Decades later, while leading the Illinois Policy Institute, he hosted then-Indiana governor Mitch Daniels at an event shortly after President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” remark about business success. Tillman says he “kind of took offense” at the implication that entrepreneurial success belongs more to systems than to the people who take the risk, especially given that “all the source revenue for government and all the source revenue for charity starts out in the private sector in a business that an entrepreneur started.”

In his closing remarks that night in 2012, he ad‑libbed that America needed a hall of fame for entrepreneurs. That offhand line became the seed for Hall of Giants.

Who the Hall of Giants is for

At its core, Hall of Giants is built for three audiences: founders, future founders and the broader public that benefits from them. Tillman says the Hall of Giants will not be a place where visitors read plaques and move on. The team envisions an immersive, world‑class museum and entertainment complex that blends elements of a traditional museum with Hollywood‑style production, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and an amusement park.

Planned elements include:

• Immersive storytelling using holograms, virtual reality and interactive simulations that drop visitors into key decision points in entrepreneurial journeys.
• Environments where you can stand inside a recreated garage where the next big tech innovation was born, or feel the tension of a high‑stakes boardroom through role‑playing exhibits.
• Experiences that explore the cultural, social and policy conditions that enable innovation — and the obstacles that can stall it.

Credit: Hall of Giants

When it’s expected to open

Building something on this scale is a long game, so Hall of Giants has laid out a roadmap rather than a single date circled on the calendar. The organization is working with top designers, architects and technologists to shape the concept and has set several milestones.

The Hall of Giants team is already on the road as part of a USA 250 tour. They plan to take the traveling exhibit coast-to-coast in the coming years to introduce the Hall of Giants experience to audiences across the country before the physical museum opens at a yet-to-be-determined site. 

How to follow and get involved

The organization invites supporters to “join the movement” on the Hall of Giants site, sign up for updates about the traveling exhibit and milestones and reach out directly to the development team to talk about support or partnerships. You can also follow Hall of Giants on Instagram for ongoing news as it hires designers, prototypes exhibits, and confirms cities.

“Every single private enterprise business starts with an entrepreneur who has an idea to build a product or create a service to serve other people well,” Tillman says. Hall of Giants is being built to make sure those stories — and the entrepreneurs living them now — don’t just get a plaque, but a permanent place in the culture.

John Tillman, Photo Credit: Hall of Giants