The Wall Street Journal Bestseller featured in Bloomberg, Fast Company, Masters of Scale, the Motley Fool, Marketplace and more.
An indispensable guide to building a startup and breaking down the barriers for diverse entrepreneurs from the visionary venture capitalist and pioneering entrepreneur Kathryn Finney.
Build the Damn Thing is a hard-won, battle-tested guide for every entrepreneur who the establishment has left out. 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 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.”
Don’t wait for the system to let you in—break down the door and build your damn thing. 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 for and by the “Entitleds.”
Njoi Bronx –
Finally! All the secrets are “exposed” for building a successful business or startup, as detailed by Kathryn Finney, a most effective builder. By applying Finney’s sound advice, readers can’t help but prosper with building their own thriving businesses or startups.
Kristine Nelson –
This book should be required reading for any female founder or person of color founder. Kathryn’s journey as explained in the book is so inspiring and couldn’t have been more perfectly timed.
With the current economy and warning signs from Y Combinator and the likes, it is a discouraging time to be a startup founder. Build the Damn thing provides realistic and practical tips on how to thrive through uncertainty and how to keep going and forge your own way after being told no.
If you know a founder or someone considering starting a business, please buy this book for them. This will be a book I thumb through whenever I need inspiration.
jade floyd –
This book is not one that hints at how to build a successful business, it lists the steps. I believe in imitating what works and Finney has it all in this book!
Thank you! I’m going to Build the Damn Thing!
Brian Laung Aoaeh, CFA –
This book gave me life! Throughout I was saying “yassssssssss” to so many nuggets and knowledge she shared. I wish this was required reading in college classrooms teaching young women and people of color how to navigate a business world NOT build for them. Kathryn Finney has unearthed a real world playbook for anyone seeking to put their mark on the world to build a simple MVP or a global startup.
Kristine Nelson –
Kathryn Finney you are the truth. This book is abundant with what one needs to Build The Damn Thing. Thank you for this!!!! This book is the truth. If YOU WANT TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS, READ THIS BOOK. I mean it. Buy and read this book. It is by far in my top five in all of the books I have read. Period. You will not lose by taking the time to read this book. It contains step by step information that is very clear and speaks to many issues. One key issue is about how family intersects with building a business, what it means, and how to navigate it. That’s just a tip of the iceberg. Kathryn doesn’t beat around the bush. She gives it to you straight with a chaser (humor) that helps to digest the information. Again, amazing book that is already helping me. I hope you read it and allow it to guide you too.
diamond Wade –
For most people, building a business from scratch is an incredibly difficult undertaking even if society were not designed to make it so. Build The Damn Thing is an engaging book with practical tips, tactics, and strategies for anyone who is locked out of the networks of capital – financial and otherwise, that grease the wheels of entrepreneurship and business ownership. It is written for those who realize they are undertaking an incredibly difficult journey, but who have decided to build something, in spite of the risks.
Cinderellas_Closet_Boutique –
Read this book! Any chapter is a great entrepreneurship go-to for those looking to build a successful company without all the advantages of being born rich white dude. Ms Finney’s book is fun, readable and chock-full of info you can actually use.
Bee Law –
This book is amazing!!! I am the owner of my own law firm and the face behind @thelegacycounsel a legal education page on Instagram, and this book had so many gems . If you are seeking a book that is practical but not like any book you have read , definitely get this!!