Build the Damn Thing : How to Start a Successful Business if You're Not a Rich White Guy
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.
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.”
ABOUT THE BOOK
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.
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![Guy Kawasaki]()
“Kathryn represents the kind of leadership, courage, and ovaries that the future demands."
"She’s an investor and entrepreneur who’s kicking ass and denting the universe. She doesn’t give a shit about playing by the rules of the current elite and status quo. And this is what it takes to build great companies, organizations, and institutions, that break barriers in this post pandemic, post science, post truth world."
- Guy Kawasaki, bestselling author of Art of the Start and Chief Evangelist of Canva
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![Margot Lee Shetterly]()
“Kathryn Finney is the mentor every founder needs."
"Her irreverent, pragmatic, personal advice shows entrepreneurs from all backgrounds how to win a seat at the table.”
– Margot Lee Shetterly, author of Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race and founder of The Human Computer Project
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![Eric Collins]()
“I plan to continue building the damn thing.”
“Hard earned knowledge, practical advice and an authentic engaging style combine to make this business building primer a must read for both wantrepreneurs and early stage business builders. The author's enthusiastic mantra ‘you got this’ is a timely rallying cry for all of us."
– Eric Collins, author of We Don’t Need Permission
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![Kim Scott]()
"Indispensable advice for entrepreneurs!"
"Kathryn Finney will show you how to cut through the bias, prejudice and bullying too often disguised as "feedback" from entitled investors who pretend to be looking for innovation but who are in fact just matching obsolete patterns. She'll reveal how you can get the data, dispense with the BS, and build new companies for a better world!"
- Kim Scott, Author of Radical Candor and Just Work
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![Steve Case]()
"Kathryn was one of the first innovators to shed light on the importance of levelling the playing field for more people in more places."
“For far too long, the venture capital industry has not done enough to fund and support underrepresented entrepreneurs. Kathryn was one of the first innovators to shed light on the importance of levelling the playing field for more people in more places. Her book is a critically important roadmap for founders on their journey to launch and grow a ‘built to last’ company.”
– Steve Case, Chairman and CEO of Revolution, Co-Founder of AOL
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![Bevy Smith]()
“The title says it all. If you’re not a Rich, White Guy this should be your textbook."
Kathryn’s decades of experience will allow you to dodge many of the pitfalls that startup entrepreneurs encounter, especially those of color.”
– Bevy Smith, host of SiriusXM’s Bevelations on Radio Andy and former cohost of Bravo’s Fashion Queens
