Kathryn Finney on Starting a Business and How to Be Successful

On this episode, Kathryn Finney shares her experience in starting a business and provides steps to her success.

Finney is the Managing Partner of Genius Guild, a $20 million dollar venture fund & studio that invests in amazing Black founders. One of the most influential women in tech (Inc Magazine), her groundbreaking work has laid the foundation for generations of black entrepreneurs and investors.

On the heels of the events of the Summer of 2020, Kathryn created Genius Guild, a venture studio (Platform & $20MM Venture Fund) to invest in Black entrepreneurs building scalable businesses that serve black communities and beyond. Kathryn raised investment from a number of partners including Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company founded by Melinda Gates, Impact Seat, an investment company led by serial investor Barbara Clarke, and individual investors such as Andrew Bosworth (Facebook) and the Lorenzini Family (Docusign).

Topics in this episode include:

01:20: About Kathryn Finney

09:15: Building Your Internal Foundation

15:05: Importance of a Personal Advisory Board

26:13: Kathryn's Experience of Building Her First MVP

36:38: Centering Your core Values When Hiring

Get her book here: https://www.kathrynfinney.com/build-the-damn-thing

About Gene: Gene Marks is a former columnist for The New York Times and The Washington Post and now writes weekly on political, economic, management and technology issues affecting small and mid-sized businesses for The Guardian, The Hill, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Times, Forbes and Entrepreneur. He runs a 10 company financial and technology consulting firm near Philadelphia.