Build the Damn Thing

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

By: Kathryn Finney

Narrated by: Kathryn Finney

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.”

So good I have the hard copy + audible

The content is top notch. I wish this book existed earlier in my career, but I’m glad it exists now! This book sheds light on barriers and gives tools to break the barriers down.

Inspired by the story

It's good to have such a relatable business book in my library. I will refer to it often.

Good for new & seasoned entrepreneurs

Here is a business book that is packed with good, educational & useful information. It is easy to understand and to the point. Makes the huge leap of starting a business less daunting. Hats off to the author.

Worth way more!

Her book could have easily been a cohort or program or masterclass for thousands of dollars. The amount of value she gives in this book is a blessing for so many entrepreneurs who truly need it. This is one of the best books I have read in my life and I am so happy I stumbled across it. This book is literally amazing.

Funny, frank and full of facts

Kathryn Finney has spent her career navigating the choppy waters of startup land. This book gives practical, honest and often humorous insights into how folks can become better leaders and better business owners. The audio is great because Kathryn reads it like no one else could. It was a treat to have her in my ears.