How to Start a Successful Business If You’re Not a Rich White Guy by Kathryn Finney — Lionesses of Africa

Book Review

Build the Damn Thing, is an indispensable guide to building a startup business and breaking down the barriers for diverse entrepreneurs, written by the visionary venture capitalist and pioneering entrepreneur Kathryn Finney. This riveting book is a hard-won, battle-tested guide for every entrepreneur who the establishment has left out. 

In her new book, ‘Build the Damn Thing: How to Start a Successful Business If You’re Not a Rich White Guy’, Kathryn Finney, an investor and startup champion, explains how to build a business from the ground up. She shares her considerable insights on how to develop a business plan, how to find investors, grow a team, and refine a product. Kathryn empowers entrepreneurs to take advantage of their unique networks and resources; arms readers with responses to investors who say, “great pitch but I just don’t do Black women”; and inspires them to overcome naysayers while remaining “100% That B*tch.”

Kathryn believes that you shouldn’t wait for the system to let you in, instead you should break down the established door and build your own business. For all those 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 for and by the “Entitleds.” 

Author Quotes

Think of entrepreneurship like a video game where everyone starts out on a different level. The goal is always the same: to grow your company quickly and create a life that you control.

Give yourself permission to have a big vision of who you want to become and not let expectations (whether internal or external) influence your ability to make that vision a reality.

The path to success isn’t a straight line. All successful people have stories of deep challenges. Everyone who has ever succeeded has failed, had to pivot, or taken a huge risk-sometimes all three at the same time.

About the author

Tech pioneer and investor Kathryn Finney is the founder and CEO of Genius Guild, a venture capital fund and studio. As the founder of social enterprise digitalundivided and its groundbreaking ProjectDiane report, Kathryn has invested in dozens of startups and venture funds led by founders and investors of color. Kathryn started digitalundivided after selling her company The Budget Fashionista, and she was one of the first Black women to have a successful seven-figure internet startup exit. A Yale-trained epidemiologist, she has been recognized for her pivotal work by the Aspen Institute, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Marie Claire, EBONY, Inc., Black Enterprise, and more.

www.geniusguild.co