The Kathryn Finney Newsletter
Essays on entrepreneurship, capital, power, and the work of building when the rules keep changing. From bestselling author and founder Kathryn Finney. Free. Weekly-ish.
Read by founders, operators, and builders at companies like Google, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and the next 10,000 startups you have never heard of.
01
Long-form pieces on the actual work of building a company in 2026. The thing nobody else is writing because they are too busy posting about morning routines.
02
Real numbers from real founders. What rounds actually closed, who got paid what, which markets are moving, which ones are theater.
03
A new way to think about entrepreneurship that does not require you to quit your job, raise a round, or pretend you have it all figured out.
Kathryn Finney is the bestselling author of Build the Damn Thing, founder of Genius Guild and BUILD, and the person Inc. Magazine called "the godmother of Black tech entrepreneurship." She has invested in over 70 companies, advised the Obama White House on entrepreneurship, and built one of the largest networks of women and underrepresented founders in the country.
She started writing this newsletter because the conversation about entrepreneurship had gotten boring. The same five people repeating the same five things. Meanwhile, the actual builders were doing something interesting and nobody was telling that story honestly.
So she is telling it. Subscribe and read along.
This week is for those of us who are in-between. The job ended… or it’s ending… or it’s bad enough that you’re counting the days. You’ve started to think that maybe now is the time to exploring...
Read on SubstackIf you read last week’s newsletter, you have the math: 40 percent of American businesses owned by women. 6.2 percent of the revenue. $3.3 trillion now. $10.2 trillion at parity. 120 years to close...
Read on SubstackWomen-owned businesses generate $3.3 trillion in annual revenue. That sounds significant until you put it next to the full picture. Women own 40 percent of American businesses, but only account for...
Read on SubstackThe only newsletter I read the minute it hits my inbox. Kathryn writes the truth nobody else will say out loud.
I forwarded the last one to my whole team. This is what business writing should sound like.
She is the smartest person writing about entrepreneurship right now. It is not close.
Free. Weekly-ish. The honest version of the entrepreneurship conversation.