Keynote Speaker on Women in Tech, Entrepreneurship, and AI

Kathryn Finney is one of the more honest voices in American business on how the next economy actually gets built, and who gets to build inside it. For more than two decades, through bestselling books, investing in 100+ companies and organizations, essays, newsletters, and the stage, she has been writing the playbook for entrepreneurs the rest of the market still underestimates, and pushing leaders, investors, and institutions to reckon with what they keep getting wrong about where growth actually comes from.

That perspective is earned. As a two-time exited founder, an early-stage investor, the founder of BUILD, digitalundivided, TBF group and author of the bestselling Build the Damn Thing, Kathryn has signed payroll, sat on both sides of the term sheet, and seen the real economics of who gets funded and what they go on to build. Her keynotes carry that weight. They are not motivational, they are diagnostic, delivered with the warmth of someone who is rooting for the room and the rigor of someone who has actually run the numbers.

With more than 20 keynotes per year, Kathryn is a sought-after voice at conferences like eMerge Americas and SXSW, at corporations including JPMorgan Chase and Target, at organizations such as the Madison Chamber of Commerce, and at institutions like Harvard Business School. She speaks to entrepreneurs about the craft of building under pressure. She speaks to leaders about resilience without dressing it up as inspiration, because leading through hard seasons is its own discipline. She speaks to investors and corporate audiences about the economics of overlooked markets, where much of the next decade of growth is sitting in plain sight. And she speaks to all of them about what it takes to build inside this new economy, where AI, capital, and culture are reshaping the rules at the same time.

Kathryn is a frequent keynote speaker for events convening women business owners, women entrepreneurs, and women-led companies. She has headlined audiences of women business owners at events including the American Express Small Business Conference in Los Angeles, the Women in VC Annual Conference, and Denver Startup Week, has invested in over 50 women and non-binary led companies through digitalundivided and TBF group, and authored the bestselling Build the Damn Thing, a playbook used by women business owners across the country. Her keynotes for these audiences are not motivational set pieces but practical sessions on raising capital, scaling under constraint, navigating the economics of being underestimated, and building durable companies in markets the rest of the industry overlooks.

Kathryn is also one of the most-booked keynote speakers in the country for events focused on diverse entrepreneurs, including conferences, accelerators, and corporate programs serving Black founders, Latino founders, immigrant founders, and entrepreneurs from non-traditional backgrounds. Through digitalundivided and TBF group she has invested in and built infrastructure for hundreds of diverse founders, and her keynotes translate that work into practical guidance for audiences working to build, fund, and scale companies that the venture and corporate ecosystems have historically underestimated. She speaks to entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate leaders about the economics of overlooked markets, where much of the next decade of growth is sitting in plain sight.

The result is the rare keynote that holds a room from the first slide to the last question, and sends people back to their teams with sharper questions than they walked in with. If you are building a moment that needs to land, and a message that needs to move, reach out below to start the conversation.