How to Build a Goddamn Empire: Advice on Creating Your Brand with High-Tech Smarts, Elbow Grease, Infinite Hustle, and a Whole Lotta Heart

From the cofounder of the revolutionary brand Bulletin, a business book that demystifies the world of entrepreneurship in real-time, from Day One through Acquisition.

Filled with heart and humor, How to Build a Goddamn Empire shares the real-world, hard-earned business wisdom of one female entrepreneur who takes readers from Day One through Acquisition. Kriegsman transformed a part-time side hustle into a massive, category-disrupting brand that after six long, hard years, successfully exited to a public company (EEX, US: NYSE).

As a first-time and inexperienced founder, Ali Kriegsman felt like she couldn't relate to the glossy, glamorous entrepreneurs crowding her Instagram feed. In reality, Kriegsman learned, building something from nothing is a daily fight with your imposter syndrome, a crash course in venture-capitalist speak, and, as she learned in 2020, a constant battle to weather the storm of an ever-changing marketplace. While in the thick of scaling her business, making a stressful pivot, and managing a team of employees through an unprecedented global pandemic, Kriegsman decided to write about her experience, in the hopes that it will act as a guidepost to future founders.

With chapters ranging from "The Business You Start Isn't the Business You'll Run" to "Press ≠
Success," Ali Kriegsman demystifies the world of entrepreneurship in real time, from the trenches. In "Hard Decisions" Kriegsman shares her experiences of managing the company through the COVID-19 crisis with heart and searing honesty.
 
How to Build a Goddamn Empire also features words of wisdom from some of Kriegsman's fellow female founders who have built successful companies of radically different stages and sizes. By using the questions she's most frequently asked as her blueprint, Kriegsman offers candid insights into the nuts and bolts of building a brand from scratch—discussing early failures, picking the right cofounder, securing press, finding funding, and even staying afloat during a crisis—to give women the tools that will help take their ideas to the next level.

Ali Kriegsman is the co-founder and COO of Bulletin, a B2B wholesale marketplace acquired by Emerald (EEX, US: NYSE) in 2022. A recipient of Forbes 30 Under 30 and one of Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business, Ali has helped thousands of brands expand their distribution and sell in stores all around the country. She is a salesperson, self-taught publicist, marketer, and growth strategist and has experience scaling both bootstrapped and venture-backed businesses. This is her first book.