BLACK FOUNDER

“Spikes’ story reminds us what’s possible when inspiration meets determination. A must-read for anyone who strives to achieve excellence.”

Smokey D. Fontaine, author of E.A.R.L The Autobiography of DMX

If you are reading this, chances are you might be an entrepreneur too You find yourself walking around in the world thinking, Hey, I have an idea how to improve that You wake up in the middle of the night to scribble an idea in the notepad you keep on your nightstand to collect the thoughts that are always populating your mind You might be starting your first business Maybe you are struggling to raise money Maybe you’ve crashed and burned and have lost hope Maybe you are feeling that familiar feeling that you don’t have the right stuff That you are not good enough That you will be stuck at your desk job forever That you’re not cut out for this That no one understands you and your ideas That you are an outsider who doesn’t fit in Well, if any of that’s true, you are in the right place

Throughout my career and on many occasions, I have been all of these things. The outsider looking in on a world who didn’t think I had what it would take to build a world-class product. I have met so many founders who’ve felt the same, especially women or founders of color. Being a founder is hard; it doesn’t matter who you are. If you want to be a founder, it’s not for the faint of heart.

Being a member of this club means you will give everything you have to make something out of nothing, and if you get lucky, you might get a chance to share your experience to help those coming behind you. That is what I have attempted to do here with Black

Founder

In this book, I have related my personal experiences at different stages of my career When I started out, I worked for others but felt that gnawing feeling that I was working so hard but I didn’t own anything Not only was I living paycheck to paycheck, I didn’t even own my own work Everything I did was in service to someone else I was an instrument to fulfill their dreams Finally, I took the leap to start my own business, crashing and burning several times before I was able to get traction My trajectory had many ups and downs, but I believe there’s a lot to be learned from someone’s successes and failures In fact, I would argue that the failures and challenges offer the greater lessons

As I’ve said, throughout my life I’ve been viewed as an outsider, and that designation has often made my journey a little more difficult. However, being an outsider actually has many advantages. An outsider has a unique point of view and can see things others can’t. Being an outsider, there are lower expectations of you being able to succeed, but being underestimated can make your entry a bit easier; no one is threatened by you because they don’t even think you’re in the game.

Stacy Spikes

Copyright 2023 Kensington Press/Dafina. All rights reserved. ISBN-10: 1496739566. ISBN-13: 978-1496739568