A prison sentence didn’t stop Frederick Hutson from reaching business success

Most of the time, a criminal record is a deal-breaker in business. Many ex-cons struggle to secure a satisfying job, let alone successfully build a business venture with external funding. American entrepreneur Frederick Hutson, however, didn’t let his past stop him – his company, Pigeonly, started upon the end of his sentence, is now worth several million dollars.

Addressing a need

It was while he was incarcerated that Hutson spotted a desperate need for a service that no one had thought of until then. He found that from his family’s perspective, keeping in touch with him in prison wasn’t easy. Friends and family on the outside could of course send traditional letters to inmates, but because of the lack of internet in U.S. prisons, sending in photos was a major nuisance. “It was difficult to get a loved one to get the photos off their smartphone, take them to CVS or Walgreens, and get them printed—then the person had to go to the post office to mail them,” he says.

His solution, which he began actively developing as a business upon his release from prison, appears simple. The early version of Pigeonly – then known as Fotopigeon – was an online platform where users could upload photos to be sent to a specific inmate. The company would then take care of printing the images and posting them inappropriate envelopes to the right prison.

Using the means he had at his disposal, Hutson enlisted the help of a designer – who had been one of his fellow inmates – to build the website and thus put his plan in motion. He knew that his venture wasn’t likely to attract or even interest the vast majority of investors, so he began by creating proof of the usefulness of his business. Taking the most direct approach possible, he sent postcards advertising his services to several hundred inmates. The response was astonishing: a quarter of the inmates contacted expressed an interest in using his company.

Overcoming obstacles

The research and acquisition of paying customers made it easier for Hutson to secure funding, through the help of NewMe – a residential tech accelerator for startups founded by underrepresented groups. Still, one major problem remained unsolved – namely, the fact that in order to send a photo to an inmate, a user had to first know in which facility that inmate was located. Prisoners are often moved from one facility to another – Hutson himself was moved seven times during his 51-month sentence.

In a bold move, Hutson decided to address the issue once and for all. Together with Fotopigeon’s co-founder Alfonzo Brooks and with the help of an engineer, he created a centralized national database of all inmates in the U.S. – the first of its kind. By registering on the platform and searching for an inmate’s surname and other details, users are now able to locate and reach their family and friends through Hutson’s company.

By 2015, Pigeonly joined the Y Combinator Silicon Valley tech accelerator and raised over $3 million, substantially expanding its services. Against all odds, Hutson succeeded in making his business a reality – users can now send a photo to an inmate with the same effort it takes to share an image on Facebook. “Isolation is the worst thing for an inmate,” says Hutson. “It makes it hard for him to rebuild his life when he gets out.” Thanks to Hutson and Pigeonly, which now offers cheaper prison calls, letters, and even online article sharing with an inmate, life in U.S. prisons might get just a little bit easier.