BUILD, build a business you control
The book

Build the Damn Thing.

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

The Wall Street Journal bestseller that became a platform. Every tool inside BUILD is built from the frameworks in this book. Learn them. Then build your damn thing.

Get the book
Build the Damn Thing book cover by Kathryn FinneyWall Street Journal Bestseller

Stop waiting to feel ready. This is the playbook for founders who build before they're invited.

Every builder the system wrote off deserves a real playbook. Not a motivational speech, not a course about courses — a practical guide to building a real business in an economy that was designed by the "Entitleds," for the "Entitleds." This is that guide. Read it. Then build the damn thing.

Get the book
Kathryn Finney signing books at a tour eventKathryn Finney with a reader holding Build the Damn ThingReaders holding Build the Damn Thing in New York
Kathryn Finney holding Build the Damn Thing
About the book

Hard-won knowledge, honest frameworks, and the playbook the establishment wouldn't write.

Kathryn Finney lays out a direct path from idea to business — from developing your concept to finding investors, growing a team, and shipping a real product. Written for the builders the standard startup playbook was never built for.

Praise

What people are saying.

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

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 and founder of The Human Computer Project

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

"This is worth a look for aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs alike."

Finney has a realistic but inspiring perspective on what it takes to succeed, and quotes from Lizzo, Mariah Carey, and Cardi B are a fun touch.

Publishers Weekly

"Highly recommended."

Inspirational, intriguing and practical, Finney's toolkit is especially good for would-be entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs who have recently started a business, and business students.

Library Journal

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.

Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor and Just Work

Steve Case

"Kathryn was one of the first innovators to shed light on the importance of leveling the playing field."

For far too long, the venture capital industry has not done enough to fund and support underrepresented entrepreneurs. 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

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

Get the book.

TargetAmazonBarnes & NoblePenguin Random House
Get the book
About the author

Kathryn Finney

Kathryn Finney is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, an investor in over 100 companies, and a serial founder who has built and scaled several companies from idea to exit.

She trained as an epidemiologist at Yale before launching The Budget Fashionista in 2003, which she grew into a seven-figure media business. She founded digitalundivided, a social enterprise focused on Black and Latina founders, and Genius Guild, a venture fund investing in diverse health startups.

BUILD is the book productized. Every tool on the platform is built from the frameworks Kathryn developed over two decades of building and investing. When you build inside BUILD, you are building with someone who has actually done it.

Build with Kathryn
Also by Kathryn

Everybody's an Entrepreneur.

Coming soon · 2027

The old definitions of entrepreneurship are too small for the way people are actually working now. Pre-orders open soon.

Join the waitlist
Common questions

Frequently asked questions.

Read the book. Build the damn thing.

Buy it, read it, then bring it with you to BUILD when you're ready to actually build it.

Get the bookBecome a founding member