Your First Million: Why You Don't Have to Be Born Into a Legacy of Wealth to Leave One Behind

One of the few Black women to break into the boy's club of Silicon Valley offers underrepresented entrepreneurs a guide to building a legacy of wealth and impact.

Having lived nearly her entire life below the poverty line before going on to become one of the wealthiest Black women in America, Arlan Hamilton knows that money is power—but not for the reasons most people believe. Money is power, she says, because it provides us with options: to pursue our passions, take risks, and change our situation in life. In Your First Million, she argues that entrepreneurship is the quickest path to attaining that power—particularly for those who haven’t had much of it in the past.

Drawing on her career as an entrepreneur and investor in companies led by underrepresented founders, Arlan shows how anyone—no matter what they look like or how much money they currently have—can tap into all the new tools, platforms, and sources of funding available to get their million-dollar idea off the ground. Readers will learn: how to identify unmet needs in the market, raise money in ways that preserve ownership, choose the right collaborators, create multiple income streams, and turn their unique knowledge and experience into a profitable businesses—while reinvesting in their communities and empowering others to do the same.

If we can change who gets to decide what new ideas are worthy, and who gets to turn those ideas into reality, not only can we change our own circumstances—we can change the world.