Your First Million

October 30, 2023
In this uplifting manual, Hamilton (It’s About Damn Time)—founder of the venture firm Backstage Capital, which invests in companies “founded by women, people of color, or those in the LGBTQ+ community”—expounds on how readers can start their own business. Emphasizing the importance of “radical self-belief,” Hamilton recounts how her unwavering confidence motivated her to launch Backstage Capital when she was 34, despite being “homeless and sleeping on the floor of the San Francisco airport.” Useful case studies illustrate Hamilton’s guidance, as when she warns against giving investors too much equity in one’s company and tells the story of a backpack design startup that was able to quickly pivot to selling masks at the beginning of the Covid pandemic because the owners still held a majority stake and didn’t need to wait for investors’ approval. Though the recommendations are at times overly general (“The first step toward being truly successful is knowing what that means for you”), Hamilton’s commitment to diversity distinguishes this, and she makes a strong case for how inclusivity can be good for business (she recommends building a “diverse network” because doing so will better prepare readers to “create products and services that appeal to a wide range of people”). Aspiring entrepreneurs will appreciate this.