Build The Damn Thing

Build The Damn Thing

How to Start a Successful Business if You're Not a Rich White Guy

Summary

Build The Damn Thing is a battle-tested guide for every entrepreneur who the establishment has excluded. Finney, an investor and startup champion, explains how to build a business from the ground up; from developing a business plan to finding investors, growing a team, and refining a product. Finney empowers entrepreneurs to take advantage of their unique networks; arms readers with responses to investors who say, "great pitch but I just don't do Black women"; and inspires them to overcome naysayers.

For all the Builders striving to build their businesses in a world that has overlooked and underestimated them: this is the essential guide to knowing, breaking, remaking and building your own rules of entrepreneurship in a startup and investing world designed by the "Entitleds."

Don't wait for the system to let you in - break down the door and build your damn thing.

Reviews

  • Having been an entrepreneur and founder for over 20 years, I have read my fair share of business books but Build The Damn Thing is like nothing else I've read! Kathryn's honest insights and 'tell it like it is' approach to building is not only refreshing...it's necessary; especially in a time when so much is at stake. I greatly appreciate the attention to principles typically glossed over-or completely ignored-in most books about entrepreneurship, like the importance of core values. That, for me, makes Build The Damn Thing a must-read for any aspiring startup founder grounded in commitment and responsibility.
    Diana Verde Nieto, founder and CEO of Positive Luxury

About the author

Kathryn Finney

Kathryn Finney, named by Inc Magazine as one of the 'Most Influential Women in Tech', is a Yale-trained Epidemiologist, visionary entrepreneur, startup champion and author. Currently CEO of Genius Child and General Partner of the Greenhouse Venture Fund, Kathryn has paved the way for Black women in business. After founding and selling The Budget Fashionista, she became one of the first Black women to have a successful seven-figure startup exit. Prior to this, Kathryn held the role of CEO of the revolutionary social enterprise digitalundivided, focued on empowering Black women to own their work.
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