August 25, 2026: Long before brothers Zach and Jason Francis built luxury tiny homes for television or developed an AI platform for entrepreneurs, they learned to trust God while steering a sailboat across the Pacific.
The nine-month journey from San Diego to Australia came just after high school. Their father, who had sailed around the world as a child, treated the trip as an initiation into adulthood. During one crossing, the crew went 21 days without seeing land. Zach and Jason took turns steering through the night beneath brilliant stars and over glowing phosphorescence in the water.
The vastness made them feel small, they recently told host Elliot Sands on the Live Faith First Podcast, but it also deepened their sense that God knew exactly where they were. The experience taught them to accept uncertainty and trust that God remained in control, a lesson they later carried into entrepreneurship.
The brothers have spent roughly 15 years starting and building businesses together. Their ventures include Tiny Heirloom, the luxury tiny-house company featured on HGTV’s Tiny Luxury, and Willo, an AI-powered operating platform designed to help entrepreneurs launch and manage businesses.
Their time in reality television brought opportunity, but it also clarified what they did not want. Filming regularly stopped construction while dozens of employees remained on the clock. As the brothers began raising families, the long hours and competing demands no longer matched the life they wanted. They chose time with their children over building a future dominated by work and filming.
That same values-first approach guides their business decisions. Drawing on the wisdom of Proverbs, they avoid choices that would cost them sleep at night. They also refuse to let money damage relationships with customers, partners or family. They have left money on the table and absorbed losses, they said, rather than protect profit at someone else’s expense.
From Tiny Homes to AI
Their approach to AI is similarly practical. They see it as a powerful tool, not something that should replace human creativity, relationships or judgment. They do not want an AI avatar handling customer conversations, and they are cautious about letting technology erase a person’s distinctive voice.
One brother said giving AI the first attempt at his own writing can make creativity harder, not easier. He prefers to begin with his own ideas and voice, then use AI more like an editor. The goal is to enhance human work rather than remove the human from it.
Faith also shapes how Zach and Jason parent their nine children. Zach has five and Jason has four, and the families live near one another and their parents. They try to connect faith to ordinary moments, whether pulling weeds, fishing, studying the Bible or tending beehives with their children.
Not every family devotion goes according to plan. Sometimes younger children throw pillows while the older ones try to listen. Even then, the brothers said, responding with patience and fatherly love can reflect Christ’s love more powerfully than completing the planned lesson.
Working together as brothers requires that same posture. They do not always agree, but they share an end goal and trust one another’s intentions. Their advice for choosing a cofounder is simple: find someone who will ‘fight fair,’ speak honestly and still seek what is best for everyone involved.
Across sailing, construction, television and technology, the Francis brothers return to the same measures of success: create with purpose, protect people over profit, make room for family and trust God when the outcome is uncertain.
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