The new book by · May 26, 2026
“I was LOUD. Shouting, loud.”Frances Frei
“A road map to preventing people and organizations from making unethical decisions”Adam Grant
“The best and most important business book of the year”Dan Heath
“Eric Ries gives founders a playbook to help avoid the inevitable pitfalls”Mark Cuban
“A must-read for any founder, board member, investor, or consumer”Reid Hoffman
“a rare joy to read”Bob Sutton
“One of the most important books I've read in the last decade”Kim Scott
“eye-opening how many great, purpose-driven companies eventually get corrupted”Karri Saarinen
“Gravity is real.”Seth Godin
“This book nearly brought me to tears.”Jessica Jackley
“institutions that endure without losing their soul”Nir Eyal
“a bracingly practical vision of how companies can stay true and still win”Daniel Pink
“When will it be seen as founder malpractice to not have read this book?”Scott Cook
“Incorruptible demonstrates the importance of mission-driven leadership and defying the status quo”Ken Chenault
“If you want the world to be a better place than it is, this book is a good place to start.”Tim O'Reilly
Michael Krigsman's CXOTalk announces Eric for its June 26 slot — slotted alongside Box CEO Aaron Levie (June 12) and McKinsey AI lead Alex Singla (June 19) in CXOTalk's June lineup.
“Here's a peek at who'll be on #CXOTalk this June 2026: * @Levie of @Box - 12 June * @AlexSingla of @McKinsey - 19 June * Eric Ries, author of "Lean Startup" and now "Incorruptible" - 26 June” CXOTalk on X
Eric takes the stage at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco — the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum — for a post-launch deep dive into the book's central question. The event marks a major book tour stop, bringing the Incorruptible thesis to the Commonwealth Club's audience of civic and business leaders.
“In his new book Incorruptible, Eric Ries reveals the hidden forces that cause even great organizations to drift from their original reason for being. Success alone will not protect what matters most; only incorruptible design can.” Commonwealth Club of California
Eric joins the Entrepreneurs' Organization Los Angeles chapter for a members fireside on Incorruptible.
“Eric joins the Entrepreneurs' Organization Los Angeles chapter for a members fireside on Incorruptible.” Incorruptible book tour
Randy Mayeux's First Friday Book Synopsis program in Dallas chooses Incorruptible (alongside David Epstein's Inside the Box) for its June 5 session.
“Two really good, brand new books by David Epstein and Eric Ries. Join us at the June 5 First Friday Book Synopsis. -- Inside the Box by David Epstein and Incorruptible by Eric Ries” Randy Mayeux on LinkedIn
Eric visits Book Passage in Corte Madera, Marin County — one of the Bay Area's landmark independent bookstores — in conversation with Alex Komoroske, CEO and co-founder of Common Tools. The event brings the Incorruptible thesis to Marin's community of founders, investors, and business leaders.
“A bold and urgently needed rethink of how modern organizations are built — exploring how success can turn companies against their founding principles.” Book Passage
Eric appears at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, California — one of Silicon Valley's most beloved independent bookstores — in conversation with Kim Scott, bestselling author of Radical Candor. The pairing is fitting: Scott's endorsement of the book calls for 'incorruptible governance' as a prerequisite for companies that want to make the world better in a hundred years.
“Success itself becomes a form of financial gravity, bending companies away from their original purpose.” Kepler's Books
SDAC VIII Finale at San Diego State University — Eric headlines the keynote and joins an intimate fireside chat, followed by a book signing for Incorruptible. Six finalist startups pitch the SDAC Fund VIII investors for a $200K+ investment that same afternoon.
“SDSU 2026 SDAC Finale with keynote speaker Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup” Lavin Entrepreneurship Center, SDSU
Patrick McGinnis — coiner of 'FOMO,' host of FOMO Sapiens, author of The 10% Entrepreneur — runs a launch-week conversation built around the opening 'wake' scene from Incorruptible, with Eric arguing that shareholder primacy is 'not Mozart, this is Depeche Mode' — a recent doctrine, not a law of business.
“You're not understanding. He doesn't work there anymore. This isn't a party. It's a wake.” Eric Ries on FOMO Sapiens (quoted by Patrick McGinnis on LinkedIn)
Kevin Henrikson (built Microsoft Outlook Mobile, scaled engineering at Instacart) and Jason Shafton run a launch-week Founder Mode conversation tracing the Sol Price / FedMart story, the 80% post-IPO founder-displacement statistic, and the Anthropic Pentagon decision — landing on the ethos-plus-integrity formula as the book's core takeaway.
“Remember nothing else about this book the formula is ethos plus integrity.” Eric Ries on Founder Mode
Todd Bishop — GeekWire co-founder and Seattle tech journalist — publishes a launch-week podcast and companion article framing Incorruptible's redefinition of profit as 'mission primacy,' with Eric discussing Anthropic's governance structure, the Whole Foods collapse, the Musk v. OpenAI trial, and his case that the era of shareholder primacy is already over.
“Ries explains why he's redefining profit as the maximization of human flourishing, reveals his role advising Anthropic's founders on their corporate structure, and makes the case that the era of shareholder primacy is already over.” GeekWire podcast episode description (Todd Bishop)
Aidan McCullen — Thinkers50 Award winner, host of the long-running Innovation Show — runs an Incorruptible episode framing the book through the Sears/Toys R Us/Nokia collapses as cautionary tales of mission drift driven by the Drama Triangle of investor 'rescuers' and management's mistaken trust.
“This week on The Innovation Show, Eric Ries walks through how to build the governance fortress that Sears, Toys R Us, and Nokia never had. Nokia, to their credit, eventually built one. The other two were devoured by the cats.” Aidan McCullen on LinkedIn
Pete Townsend — Norio Ventures GP and Techstars MD Emeritus, who used The Lean Startup as required reading for portfolio founders — drops a special double-length MoneyNeverSleeps episode covering the Long-Term Benefit Trust, the 100-year-old Danish insulin company protecting $500B in shareholder value, and the one two-page filing most founders never make.
“The more golden the goose, the greater the temptation to butcher it.” Eric Ries on MoneyNeverSleeps (quoted by Pete Townsend on X)
Netguru — the Polish design/engineering firm (60K+ LinkedIn followers) — books Eric for its long-running 190+ episode podcast Next in Commerce (formerly 'Disruption Talks'). Hosted by Netguru co-founder & CEO Kuba Filipowski, recording May 28 at 3 PM CEST, two days after Incorruptible's launch.
“So, this is BIG: Eric Ries comes to our Next in Commerce Podcast 🔥🔥🔥 The one and only bestselling author and visionary founder will join a conversation with Kuba Filipowski, Netguru's Co-Founder & CEO. Join us on Thursday, May 28, at 3 PM CEST to hear about: -Eric's brand new book, "Incorruptible", that launches May 26 -the Lean Startup principles in the AI Era -the vibe-coding trap and how real-world feedback is the antidote -how mission-driven companies can thrive in a profit-oriented world” Netguru on LinkedIn
Matt James — Senior Commissioning Editor at Penguin Life — marks the UK launch day with a four-quote blurb compilation pulling Rory Sutherland, Kim Scott, Reid Hoffman, and Dan Heath into a single launch post.
“"MAGNIFICENT" - Rory Sutherland "INDISPENSIBLE" - Kim Scott "A MUST-READ" - Reid Hoffman "THE BEST AND MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR" - Dan Heath” Matt James, Penguin Life UK, on LinkedIn
Greg Head — 30-year SaaS veteran, advisor to bootstrapped SaaS founders — runs a launch-week Practical Founders episode arguing financial gravity hits bootstrapped companies too, not just venture-backed ones, with Eric tracing why he considered the LTSE governance norms 'frankly insane' once he had to learn them.
“Financial gravity is one of the most underrated concepts. It is like trying to direct our attention away from the surface characteristics of an organization to the deeper forces that act on it.” Eric Ries on Practical Founders
Ryan — author of The B Corp Handbook, the canonical reference for the B Corp movement — posts a launch-week Goodreads review framing Incorruptible as essential reading for B Corps, citing Allbirds as a cautionary case where benefit-corporation status alone wasn't enough to resist financial gravity.
“I am the author of "The B Corp Handbook." Incorruptible is one of the most important books for the B Corp movement I have ever read.” Ryan on Goodreads
STATION DC hosts Eric in conversation with NPR's Ari Shapiro — a fireside chat for DC founders, operators, and policymakers, followed by a happy hour and book signing at STATION's Union Market space.
“STATION DC is proud to host an evening with Eric Ries to celebrate the release of his new book, Incorruptible — an unflinching look at how incentives, systems, and human behavior shape outcomes in ways we don't always see, but feel every day.” STATION DC event listing on Luma
Incorruptible takes the top New Release slot in Amazon's Business Management & Leadership category.
“#1 New Release in Business Management & Leadership” Amazon
Incorruptible takes the top Best Seller slot in Amazon's Business Development & Entrepreneurship category.
“#1 Best Seller in Business Development & Entrepreneurship” Amazon
Incorruptible takes the top Best Seller slot in Amazon's Entrepreneurship category.
“#1 Best Seller in Entrepreneurship” Amazon
Incorruptible takes the top Best Seller slot in Amazon's Entrepreneurship Management category.
“#1 Best Seller in Entrepreneurship Management” Amazon
Incorruptible takes the top Best Seller slot in Amazon's Entrepreneurship category.
“#1 Best Seller in Entrepreneurship” Amazon
Beyond the Prompt — an AI-focused podcast — runs a launch-week episode opening with Eric's case that the gap between a company's mission statement and its legal charter is a self-inflicted wound, and tracing why he was brought in early to advise Anthropic on governance.
“You may have a mission statement that says we're going to build a high-quality product, but your legal charter says you're going to maximize shareholder value. And this disconnect between what you claim your mission is and what your purpose actually is means you are lying to your customers, to your employees, to everybody. You're probably even lying to yourself.” Eric Ries on Beyond the Prompt
CNBC books Eric for a launch-week Squawk Box segment on building businesses in the AI age, corporate governance, and his SEC petition to end quarterly earnings reporting — the first time the SEC has reconsidered the rule in 40 years.
“'Incorruptible' author Eric Ries on building business in the AI age, push to end quarterly earnings” CNBC Squawk Box (video segment title)
Private DC gathering with Eric the day after launch — details by invitation.
“Private DC gathering with Eric the day after launch — details by invitation.” Incorruptible book tour
Jothy Rosenberg — 9X founder, Tech Startup Toolkit author, Silicon Catalyst advisor — releases a launch-week conversation framing Incorruptible's deeper claim: founders are the structural foundation of the economy, and the system as currently designed is hollowing them out.
“We who create new companies are the foundation of our entire economic system. If all the entrepreneurs in the world went on strike, it would be a disaster.” Eric Ries on Designing Successful Startups
Guy Kawasaki — former Apple chief evangelist and multi-bestselling business author — drops a launch-week episode of Remarkable People framing Incorruptible as a challenge to Silicon Valley's success orthodoxy, with Kawasaki publishing a companion LinkedIn essay on the conversation.
“That phrase alone made my head explode.” Guy Kawasaki on governance-as-soulcraft, in his Incorruptible essay
Brian Bell — host of the Ignite Podcast (Team Ignite Ventures) — drops a launch-week episode framing Incorruptible as a direct attack on the incentives driving modern corporate behavior, with Eric pinning AI's role as an amplifier of existing governance problems.
“AI is an amplifier. Whatever problems you had before, you're going to have much worse with AI.” Eric Ries on the Ignite Podcast
“Haven't finished it yet, but I'm really enjoying 'Incorruptible' by @ericries It's kind of eye-opening how many great, purpose-driven companies eventually get corrupted. Purpose and quality are what drive their success in the beginning, but over time there will be some who see it something to extract value from, which eventually destroys the whole thing.”
Masters of Scale — Reid Hoffman's media brand (44K LinkedIn followers) — publishes a launch-week newsletter feature on Incorruptible, leading with Eric's blunt definition of corporate corruption and walking through three case studies of companies that escaped or fell into the trap.
“When people find ways to make money without creating any value, they have committed a corrupt act.” Eric Ries in the Masters of Scale newsletter
James Taylor — keynote speaker on creativity/AI, host of the SuperCreativity Podcast — brings Eric back for episode 375 to frame governance as a creative discipline, not a compliance one, and to argue that the boldest move on most boards is to look slightly different from everyone else.
“Governance is one of the most powerful and exciting things in the world. And, you know, it's weird. Like my previous books have been about management and accounting and now governance. I've like, I've taken the most boring topics imaginable and tried to make them” Eric Ries on the SuperCreativity Podcast
Craig Rosenberg (TOPO founder, B2B GTM author) and returning guest host Scott Albro publish a launch-week episode of The Transaction framing Incorruptible for go-to-market leaders — trust as the compounding asset, ARR creative-accounting risk, and why so-called best practices are quietly value-destroying.
“We have built an economy that is eating itself alive as we hollow company after company after company. Trust is the asset that compounds.” Eric Ries on The Transaction
TIME magazine publishes a launch-week excerpt from Incorruptible — 'Why Corporate Corruption Is so Common' — surfacing Eric's case that the structural force he calls financial gravity is what's behind spiraling infrastructure costs, declining journalism, social media decay, medical errors, and bad customer service. TIME's @TIME promo tweet hit 13K+ views on day one.
“We've come to accept that the gradual corruption of successful companies is as natural and inevitable as gravity.” Eric Ries in TIME magazine
Ian Bergman and Layne Fawns — Alchemist Accelerator partners — drop a launch-day 80-minute deep dive on Innovators Inside, covering financial gravity, the value-creation-vs-extraction split, and Eric's argument that committing publicly to a slice of human flourishing unleashes 'almost unimaginable power' inside an organization.
“Human flourishing is a vast tapestry that can support quite a lot of different missions and visions, but everyone's got to slice off some piece. And the counterintuitive finding in my research and in my experience is that if you make that declaration consciously and you take the steps to protect it, this crazy almost unimaginable power is unleashed.” Eric Ries on AlchemistX: Innovators Inside
“When a company goes bad, it's not because they hired bad people. They go bad because good people make small compromises that compound over time. That's one of the key insights that stuck with me from my friend Eric Ries' new book "Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad... and How Great Companies Stay Great."”
Incorruptible takes the top New Release slot in Amazon's Business Management category.
“#1 New Release in Business Management” Amazon
Incorruptible takes the top New Release slot in Amazon's Entrepreneurship category.
“#1 New Release in Entrepreneurship” Amazon
Incorruptible takes the top New Release slot in Amazon's Leadership & Motivation category.
“#1 New Release in Leadership & Motivation” Amazon
Incorruptible takes the top New Release slot in Amazon's Startups category.
“#1 New Release in Startups” Amazon
Incorruptible takes the top Best Seller slot in Amazon's Startups category.
“#1 Best Seller in Startups” Amazon
Paul Zelizer's Awarepreneurs — the podcast for conscious entrepreneurs and social-impact founders — ends a six-week creative pause with a launch-day Eric Ries episode for #396, framed around two decades of continuous innovation, long-term thinking, governance, and market reform.
“Over the last two decades, Eric Ries's ideas about continuous innovation, long-term thinking, governance, and market reform have reshaped company building and management practices.” Paul Zelizer, Awarepreneurs Podcast
Adam Job, senior director at the BCG Henderson Institute — BCG's in-house think tank — drops a 36-minute Thinkers & Ideas episode with Eric on launch day. The Institute's launch promo pulls the line that frames the book's argument as a security problem: build a vault full of value, leave it unlocked, then act surprised.
“If you create a massive vault full of the most valuable assets in the world, people are going to try to steal it from you. Obviously. But we built these companies with no locks on the vault. What are we doing?” Eric Ries on Thinkers & Ideas (BCG Henderson Institute)
“Incorruptible destroys the myth that only sleazy founders and companies get rich. Eric Ries shows you how to build a mission-driven company that will be humane, ethical, and make piles of money for decades. And Eric's charm, wonderful writing, and warm wisdom make this book a rare joy to read.”
Emmanuel Straschnov — co-founder and co-CEO of no-code platform Bubble — hosts Eric on The New Build for a launch-day conversation centered on the distinction between 'mission driven' and 'mission hopeful,' and how governance does the structural work most founders attribute to culture.
“Central to that is the distinction he draws between being "mission driven" and "mission hopeful," which reframes a lot of what founders are usually told to prioritize.” Emmanuel Straschnov on LinkedIn
Fast Company runs a launch-day Work Life excerpt under Eric's byline, opening on Ted Chiang's observation that AI anxiety is really capitalism anxiety in disguise — and threading it into Incorruptible's argument about institutions that evolve beyond human control.
“Our fears about AI mirror something older and more dangerous: institutions that evolve beyond human control.” Fast Company (excerpt from Incorruptible)
Mark Graban — Lean Hospitals author and long-running continuous-improvement podcaster — runs a launch-day episode of My Favorite Mistake, with Eric tracing the dorm-room startup failure that exposed the gap between writing a business plan and having a strategy. The conversation ends with Eric's Novo Nordisk industrial-foundation challenge: are best-practice consultants really smarter than a Nobel laureate?
“Why are we building these extractive, weak-ass companies that are like addicted to quick, short-term growth, cutting costs, disregarding quality, and human lives? Like, why when we have a template for how to do it better?” Eric Ries on My Favorite Mistake with Mark Graban
Fortune runs a launch-day book excerpt under Eric's byline — opening with The Professor, the founder whose AI could either heal or kill, who calls Eric on the way to a wake disguised as a celebration.
“It was happening again. The Professor's voice had an intensity—and fear—that was impossible to ignore.” Fortune (excerpt from Incorruptible)
“Eric Ries' new book 'Incorruptible' tackles one of the hardest problems in business strategy: GOVERNANCE. If 'culture eats strategy for breakfast,' then governance cooked the meal, set the table & invited the guests. The political dynamics & structural mechanics of governance set the stage for all corporate culture & strategy to flourish.”
Harvard Business Review's flagship podcast IdeaCast drops a launch-day episode with editor-in-chief Adi Ignatius and senior editor Alison Beard. Ignatius pulls Eric's 'sophisticated zombies' line out of the book on air — 'I love it' — and runs the conversation through corruption-as-design-failure, broken incentives, and trustworthiness as a financial asset.
“Most organizations operate as sophisticated zombies.” Eric Ries on HBR IdeaCast (quoted by Adi Ignatius)
Seb Agertoft releases the full 53-minute Humans in the Loop episode with Eric on launch day, six weeks after announcing the booking. Eric opens cold with a frontlines framing — a battle for the soul of the economy that most builders haven't realized is happening.
“I've been at the front lines of a battle that most builders don't even know is going on. A battle for the soul of our economy.” Eric Ries on Humans in the Loop
Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad… and How Great Companies Stay Great is officially out everywhere books are sold.
“Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad… and How Great Companies Stay Great is officially out everywhere books are sold.” Incorruptible launch
Brian Ardinger's Inside Outside Innovation Podcast publishes a launch-day conversation with Eric on value creation vs. value extraction, and how companies like Costco and Patagonia compound advantage by violating conventional best practices.
“Eric and I talk about the challenges and opportunities of creating incorruptible company, the difference between value creation and value extraction, and how companies like Costco and Patagonia build value by violating conventional best practices.” Brian Ardinger on Inside Outside Innovation
The Inverted Podcast — hosted by Jeroen, Dana, and Dario — drops a launch-day episode using Costco, Cloudflare, and Anthropic as case studies for how trust, governance, and long-term purpose become competitive advantages rather than ideals.
“Eric shares powerful stories from companies like Costco, Cloudflare, and Anthropic, explaining how trust, governance, and long-term purpose can become real competitive advantages—not just ideals.” The Inverted Podcast (Spotify episode description)
“A big day. I'm excited for all the long term companies you're going to help. We need more of them around.”
Andrew Keen — tech-skeptic author and host of Keen On — publishes a launch-day essay and episode framing Incorruptible as Eric's structural corrective to The Lean Startup, with Eric on tape admitting that 2011's tech optimism was naive about what 'making the world a better place' actually meant.
“I took it for granted that we were trying to make the world a better place. But I think in retrospect that was naïve.” Eric Ries, quoted by Andrew Keen in 'Beyond the Lean Startup'
Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele's Leading Learning Podcast — the long-running show for the professional learning industry — drops a launch-day episode walking through Incorruptible's four-part governance framework (compliance, purpose, coherence, integrity) and the principle that 'harder is easier.'
“Mission drift doesn't happen all at once. It creeps in—and, according to our guest, it often happens because organizations are following the so‑called best practices for how to grow and govern.” Jeff Cobb on the Leading Learning Podcast
“One of the book's core insights is that organizational corruption rarely starts with bad people. More often, it emerges gradually through incentive structures, metrics, governance systems, and small compromises that compound over time. That idea deeply resonated with me because it mirrors something we see in behavioral design: the environment shapes behavior far more than intention alone. A thoughtful, timely, and important read for founders, leaders, and anyone trying to build institutions that endure without losing their soul.”
Nielsen Norman Group — the UX research consultancy founded by Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman — releases a 38-minute launch-day NN/g UX Podcast episode with Eric. The arc reframes Incorruptible's argument for a UX audience: caring about product quality is itself a structural rebellion against the dominant business culture.
“Most people who encounter this book for the first time don't realize what a revolutionary they already are. If you have a simple belief as simple as you think that you should make products good… you're already so at odds with our dominant business culture that you are a revolutionary whether you admit it or not.” Eric Ries on the NN/g UX Podcast
Porchlight Book Company picks Incorruptible as one of four featured new releases for the week of May 26, slotting it between The Art of Thinking, Ecocivilization, and A Time to Gather.
“From Eric Ries, creator of The Lean Startup, comes a bold and urgently needed rethink of how organizations are built—and why success itself so often turns companies against the people and principles that made them worth building in the first place.” Porchlight Books, New Releases — May 26, 2026
Porchlight Book Company — the largest US distributor of business books to corporate buyers and curator of the long-running Porchlight Business Book Awards — publishes a seven-question launch-day Q&A with Eric, framing Incorruptible as a structural diagnosis of corporate drift rather than a moral one.
“This failure is not primarily ethical. It is structural. Success itself becomes a form of financial gravity, bending companies away from their original purpose.” Porchlight Books, intro to Eric Ries Q&A
Product School CEO Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia books Eric for The Product Podcast on the exact day Incorruptible launches. 11:30am PST livestream, going deep on financial gravity, Anthropic's governance fortress, and Eric's new definition of profit.
“After starting The Lean Startup movement that changed how companies build digital products, Eric Ries is back with his new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad, and How Great Companies Stay Great. He'll be joining me on #TheProductPodcast next Tuesday, May 26 at 11:30am PST for a conversation to unpack the key concepts of his new movement: ✅ Why success itself makes companies vulnerable to corruption ✅ The governance fortress that protects Anthropic's soul ✅ How any builder — not just CEOs — can architect mission into the DNA of their company ✅ His new definition of profit, and how embracing it unlocks greater success” Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia on LinkedIn
“Some people collect butterfly wings, some people collect baseball cards. I collected obscure alternative governance systems and setups for companies. And I was just shocked how many of them there are, when I was taught that there was only one.”
Bob Safian — former Fast Company editor-in-chief, now host of the Masters of Scale spinoff Rapid Response — drops a 48-minute launch-day episode with Eric, including the Anthropic vs. US government clash Eric witnessed firsthand alongside in-the-trenches stories from Cloudflare, Novo Nordisk, and Whole Foods.
“Ries joins Rapid Response to share what he witnessed firsthand in the clash between Anthropic and the US government, and why he believes the current system is failing the very people it's supposed to serve. He also brings in-the-trenches stories from Cloudflare, Novo Nordisk, and Whole Foods to make the case that courage, not capital, may be the most undervalued asset in business right now.” Rapid Response episode description
Rob Walling — bootstrapper-investor-podcaster behind Startups For the Rest of Us (15M+ downloads), MicroConf, and TinySeed — drops a launch-day episode reframing Eric's argument as a debate over what profit even means.
“Tobacco companies are technically profitable. So are Ponzi schemes. Eric Ries says the definition is broken, and he has a better one. The author of The Lean Startup and his new book Incorruptible joined me to revisit the ideas that changed how founders think about building companies and explore where he believes we've gone wrong as an industry. His new definition of profit isn't idealistic: it's concrete, and it has real implications for how you structure your company, write your charter, and decide what you stand for.” Rob Walling on LinkedIn
Jake Humphrey — UK broadcaster, NBC Sports/BBC presenter, and co-founder of The High Performance Podcast — drops a launch-week episode of his new show The Room Where It Happened ahead of Incorruptible's UK release (Penguin Life, May 28). Eric walks Humphrey through the structural betrayal of mission-driven companies via private equity, scale, and broken governance.
“How can it be that you can taste private equity in the food?” Eric Ries on The Room Where It Happened
Jim Beach — 100-station AM/FM radio host (USAToday '#2 Business Speaker to Follow in 2025'), McGraw-Hill bestselling author — runs a launch-day episode of School for Startups Radio with Eric on the structural ways success undermines mission.
“Eric shares a powerful warning for leaders: success can quietly create the conditions for failure. Great companies do not stay great automatically. They stay great through trust, accountability, innovation, and the courage to adapt.” Jim Beach on LinkedIn
Scott, co-founder of the Slightly Smarter newsletter, reviews Incorruptible on launch day — distilling Eric's structural argument into a single framing: governance is the design work that decides whether a mission outlives its success.
“Ries reframes corporate governance not as bureaucracy or a compliance chore, but as a creative and strategic act. Done right, it's the design work that decides whether a mission survives its own success.” Scott on Slightly Smarter
The Startup Leap publishes a launch-day episode framing Incorruptible around the hidden cost of startup success: mission drift, shareholder pressure, and the founders who lose what made the company great the moment scale enters the picture.
“This week, Eric Ries joins us for a conversation about the hidden cost of startup success. From mission drift and shareholder pressure to governance structures and long-term thinking, Eric explains why many companies lose the very thing that made them great once scale enters the picture.” The Startup Leap Podcast
Technology Brothers Podcast Network — John Coogan and Jordi Hays's daily Silicon Valley show (recent guests: Zuckerberg, Altman, Cuban, Nadella) — pulls multiple Eric quotes from a launch-day appearance, including former Costco CEO Jim Sinegal's refusal to lift prices three cents and the academic finding that quarterly reporting costs companies 5% of equity value.
“He says, 'It's like the business equivalent of taking heroin. You do it once, and then you got to do it again, and again, and again. Next thing you know, you're not the low-price leader.'” Eric Ries on TBPN (quoting Jim Sinegal)
Columbia Business School professor and Thinkers50 Top 10 strategist Rita McGrath drops her Thought Sparks Podcast episode with Eric on launch day — financial gravity, shareholder primacy vs fiduciary duty to customers, and value creation beyond extraction.
“What if we reframed how we think of corporate corruption? Next week on the Thought Sparks Podcast, Eric Ries will be joining me to share the findings of he new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad... and How Great Companies Stay Great. His thesis is that corporate corruption does not stem from a few bad actors or scandalous headlines, but rather, it's baked into the structure of poorly designed corporate governance systems. We discuss how financial gravity invisibly corrupts organizations, the push and pull between shareholder primacy and fiduciary duty to your customers, and what it looks like to create value beyond extraction and free of corruption. His episode, and the book, come out May 26.” Rita McGrath on LinkedIn
Eric posts a launch-day TikTok pulling the Costco hot dog story straight from Incorruptible — pegging the $1.50 combo as a governance signal, not a pricing quirk.
“$1.50 Costco Hot Dog & Soda. How is that still the price? The full story is in my new book Incorruptible. On sale now.” @ericriesactual on TikTok
Brandon Laws — VP at Xenium HR and host of Transform Your Workplace — runs a launch-day episode framing financial gravity and mission protection for an HR/people-leader audience, with Eric pinpointing the governance timing trap: lawyers say 'too early' until bankers say 'too late.'
“It's always too early until it's too late.” Eric Ries on Transform Your Workplace
Mark Blackwell hosts a 47-minute Arkaro Insights episode tracing Incorruptible's arc — Grundfos, Bosch, Novo Nordisk, Costco, H-E-B, Devoted Health, Mary Parker Follett's invisible leader, and what to do on Monday morning.
“We run rings around our conventional competitors because they can't think past the current quarter and we can make multi-decade investments.” Eric Ries on Arkaro Insights
Alex Strathdee, founder of book-marketing firm Influential Books, hosts Eric on Before the Bestseller — framing Incorruptible as a book about the slow collapse of institutional trust, not just business strategy.
“How do we create organizations people can still believe in? Eric Ries, bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way, joins us on Before the Bestseller to talk about his new book, Incorruptible. In this episode, we go beyond business strategy and talk about the slow collapse of trust in institutions, communities, and organizations, and what that means for anyone trying to build, lead, work for, or support something with a real mission.” Alex Strathdee on LinkedIn
Dave Stachowiak — host of one of the longest-running leadership podcasts on the network (1,000+ episodes, top of the leadership charts since 2011) — drops a 38-minute launch-eve episode with Eric, framed around a single instruction: protect what you've built before it gets taken.
“If you build a great organization, the predators will come. With the right principles in place, not only can you protect what you love, but help many people flourish because of it. In this conversation, Eric and I show you exactly where to start.” Coaching for Leaders episode description
Alison Jones drops Episode 494 of The Extraordinary Business Book Club with Eric — a 55-minute conversation about Incorruptible, governance, trust as an asset, and the relationship between The Lean Startup and the new book.
“The more successful an organization is, the more valuable it is as a target. So the more golden the goose, the more the temptation to butcher it. So we actually create the conditions for our own failure by blindly pursuing success.” Eric Ries on The Extraordinary Business Book Club, Ep 494
“Two big and bigly important books dropping this week: Jeremy Lent's "EcoCivilization: Making a World That Works For All" and Eric Ries' "Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad…And How Great Companies Stay Great." Both of them fierce, full of love, complementary, and potentially seminal for the times to comes.”
Info-Tech Research Group (72k LinkedIn followers, major IT-industry analyst firm) announces its Digital Disruption podcast episode with Eric for launch-day-eve — host Geoff Nielson on financial gravity, AI as ultimate cost-cutting machine vs unlocker of human creativity, and the incentives shaping the people building AI.
“Eric Ries thinks a lot of the fear around AI… is actually fear about capitalism. This Monday on the Digital Disruption podcast, the creator of The Lean Startup Co. joins Geoff Nielson to unpack why great companies decline over time, how "financial gravity" quietly reshapes leadership decisions, and why AI could either unlock human creativity or become the ultimate cost-cutting machine. If AI is changing business, the bigger question is: what incentives are shaping the people building it?” Info-Tech Research Group on LinkedIn
Anna at SaaS Group hosts Eric on SaaS Unbound for a 57-minute conversation pairing Incorruptible's governance argument with a sharp critique of vibe coding — including the METR study showing AI made developers 19% less productive while they felt 20% faster.
“I taught people how to build something worth protecting but not how to protect it. And the sad reality like everything that is worth protecting will eventually need protection. It's always too early and then one day it's too late.” Eric Ries on SaaS Unbound
Yaniv Bernstein (founder of Vera) drops a special episode of The Startup Podcast with Eric on the launch-eve slot, framing Incorruptible as Eric's case for how to avoid the slide toward enshittification once a company succeeds.
“But what happens once the product is built, and becomes successful? How do we stop what sometimes feel like the inevitable slide towards enshittification? Well, Eric has not been resting on his laurels. His new book "Incorruptible" explains the forces driving the corruption of once-great companies, and makes a concrete and entertaining case for how your company can avoid the same fate. Trust the guy who made project management exciting, to make governance exciting.” Yaniv Bernstein on LinkedIn
Andy Walsh hosts Eric on Startups Decoded (top-2%-globally podcast, 500K+ downloads) for an hour-long launch-week conversation on why founders drift from purpose — pulling the Saul Price / FedMart / Costco arc into the spotlight.
“We basically are teaching people this philosophy that is about using the startup as a financial instrument to enrich its shareholders. Like that's its essential purpose. That's what it does. And we teach people that if you do this well, you show obeisance to this idea, from that you will gain leverage.” Eric Ries on Startups Decoded, Ep 70
“Back in 2010, I bought @ericries' Startup Lessons Learned compilation after loving his blog. 16 years later, I'm still learning from him with his great new book 'Incorruptible'. One of the few essential thinkers for entrepreneurs.”
“Go Eric! Your book can make companies better for all us… a compelling argument that capitalism and compassion need not be treated as trade-offs.”
Ryan Hawk drops a 57-minute Learning Leader Show episode with Eric two days from launch — the Saul Price/FedMart founding story, the ketchup-as-heroin metaphor for price hikes, governance as 'organizational soul craft,' and the Harvard Law research on founder ouster after IPO.
“In this episode, you will learn: ❖ Why success makes your company a target for takeover, and why the most successful companies are the most vulnerable ❖ The story of Saul Price, the father of modern retail, and the governance lesson hidden in Costco's origin ❖ Why a tiny price increase is the business equivalent of taking heroin, and what Costco's $1.50 hot dog reveals about the most underrated asset in business ❖ Why it was not Whole Foods' mistakes that doomed them. It was their success. ❖ What governance actually means and why Eric calls it "organizational soul craft." ❖ What Harvard Law School research reveals about how many founders lose control within three years of going public” Ryan Hawk on YouTube (The Learning Leader Show)
“If you have ever wondered why 90% of interesting companies are either founder-run or family owned, this explains a lot.”
“I have selected this book as Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 5/24, as it stands heads above other recently published books on this topic.”
Founder's Story drops a 31-minute episode with Eric, opening on a study showing 75% of founders regret selling their company one year after exit. Goes deep on Taylor Guitars and Patagonia as alternative liquidity playbooks, why Eric isn't bullish on AI agents, and the legal filing every founder should make in year one.
“A recent study found that 75% of founders regret selling their company one year after the exit. Eric Ries, the author of The Lean Startup and one of the most influential business thinkers of the last 20 years, has spent his career trying to understand why. In this episode, Eric breaks down why the traditional exit playbook is destroying the companies it claims to reward, the contrarian frameworks behind his new book Incorruptible, and the alternative liquidity structures that founders like Taylor Guitars and Patagonia are using instead of selling. He explains why he is not bullish on AI agents despite the hype, why "attention is all you get" is the misunderstood truth about LLMs, and the simple legal filing every founder should make in the first year to protect their company's mission for the long run.” Founder's Story on YouTube
Goodword (Caroline Dell) partners with Startups Decoded (Andy Walsh) to host an intimate New York fireside with Eric on May 22 — billed as a deep dive on Incorruptible's structural argument.
“Most founders don't set out to compromise their values. They just don't build systems to protect them. That's the argument at the center of Eric Ries' new book, Incorruptible. Not that companies go bad because of bad people. But that success itself creates structural forces that pull even principled leaders off course.” Caroline Dell on LinkedIn
Rajiv Parikh hosts Eric for a 50-minute Spark of Ages episode connecting Incorruptible's governance argument to AI agents, superorganisms, Devoted Health's operationalized empathy, and H-E-B's crisis-time customer trust.
“I advocate in the book for the creation of what I call mission controlled companies and that is a very specific structure that the data shows is more stable just like a unicameral legislature is is not as good as a bicameral legislature. We got all this data from political philosophy that like it's like a multibranch governmental system with checks and balances is more stable.” Eric Ries on Spark of Ages podcast
Y Combinator drops a 50-minute Main Function episode of Garry Tan interviewing Eric — taking the YC founder community deep on shareholder primacy, mission-controlled companies, PBCs, Novo Nordisk's $600B foundation bet, and Anthropic's governance design. Posted from YC's main YouTube channel on launch-week eve.
“The best way to make money is to create more value than you capture, right? To build something that people want. And yet, we're all supposed to pretend these days that we think all kinds of making money is equally good. And there's so many ways of making money in our economy today where you can get rich without creating any value at all. And I just think like why don't we just stop pretending that we think that's good?” Eric Ries on Y Combinator's Main Function podcast
Nathan Chan's Foundr Podcast drops a 58-minute launch-week interview with Eric — covering IMVU's six-month pivot, the Saul Price/Costco story, Novo Nordisk's century-old governance design, and why corporate structure is the founder's most important product.
“Eric Ries wrote the book that changed how the entire world builds startups. Now he's back with a more urgent argument: the way we're taught to build companies is quietly turning them against everything that made them worth building in the first place. The creator of The Lean Startup has spent years watching mission-driven founders get fired from their own companies, watching the spark that started everything get extinguished by the very success they worked so hard to create—and he's finally written the blueprint to stop it.” Foundr on YouTube
Steward-ownership advocacy nonprofit PURPOSE publishes its fireside chat writeup with Eric, anchoring on his framing of financial gravity as a structural — not moral — problem and pointing to Patagonia, Novo Nordisk, Ecosia, and Buurtzorg as proof other forms are possible.
“A few years ago, Eric Ries wrote "the Lean Startup" and taught a generation of founders how to build a business. Now he wrote "Incorruptible", asking the harder question: how do you protect what you've built? We had a fireside chat with Eric about his new book, and one picture keeps coming back to us. One that many founders will recognise. 👉 He calls it 'financial gravity' – the force that no one controls but everyone obeys. A quiet pull that draws companies away from their mission over time, not because of bad intentions, but because of how they're structured: "Psychological pressure that shapes behavior, and eventually values, based on the desire to succeed at future transactions. Our reflexes kick in automatically in the face of money, power, or status disparities, which, in our hyper-financialized world, have become interchangeable." The result, as Eric puts it, is its most insidious effect: "The gravitational field has become so strong that we've forgotten that other organizational forms are possible."” PURPOSE® on LinkedIn
Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL — UK entrepreneur, government board member, and host of Thought Economics (600+ long-form interviews with Nobel laureates, heads of state, and cultural icons) — publishes his interview with Eric, anchoring on the 'spiritual holding company' governance blueprint, mission-controlled organizations, and profit redefined as human flourishing.
“Governance has become very convenient for a lot of people to hide behind by making it sound boring, complicated, and not really related to the things we get excited about — mission, product, culture. But my contention is that if you don't get the governance right, in the long run nothing else you do will matter, because you won't be the one making the decisions.” Eric Ries, quoted by Vikas Shah in Thought Economics
Hint Water founder Kara Goldin drops Episode 841 of her show with Eric — a launch-week conversation on financial gravity, governance, and why mission has to be wired into the operating system, not just the brand.
“Building a company is hard. Keeping it from losing its way may be even harder — that's the conversation 🧭✨ On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Eric Ries , bestselling author of The Lean Startup and now Incorruptible. We talk about why good companies go bad, what happens when pressure builds and incentives shift, and why mission has to be built into the operating system — not just the brand. Eric also breaks down "financial gravity," governance, long-term thinking, and what founders often miss as companies scale. If you care about building something that lasts — or making sure what you build doesn't turn into something you never intended — this is a conversation you'll want to hear.” Kara Goldin on LinkedIn
Eric speaks at ProductCon New York at the Metropolitan Pavilion, joining product leaders from Slack, Business Insider, and Miro at the flagship AI and product leadership conference. Billed as 'Author, The Lean Startup & Incorruptible,' Ries brings the book's governance framework to an audience of thousands of product managers and tech leaders grappling with how to build AI-era products responsibly.
“Bringing together global leaders in AI and product for actionable takeaways, real-world use cases, and demos.” Product School
Got to meet Eric Ries today and hear him speak at #productconnyc. Walked away with a signed copy of Incorruptible and one idea I can't stop thinking about: Costco breaks every rule about maximizing shareholder value. Higher wages than competitors. Lower margins. Better treatment of suppliers. By the standard playbook, it shouldn't work. It's also one of the most successful companies of the last 40 years. Ries's point: shareholder return isn't a mission. It's the output of having one. Companies that flip that order, treating shareholders as the fiduciary north star, drift toward mediocrity. The gravity is real. Most don't fight it. Incorruptible looks like it's about that fight.
source ↗ImpactAlpha — the impact-investing publication — drops a 40-minute Agents of Impact podcast episode hosted by Amy Cortezy and introduced by David Bang. Eric on the through-line from Lean Startup to Incorruptible and why so many of the 'best practices' in corporate governance actively destroy value.
“There's a through line through all of my work which is really about how to build great organizations. Not just okay, we made a little money. We got lucky. But no, how do we create innovation that can really work in any kind of environment, no matter how much uncertainty, and one that really uses the scientific method, that has more humane values than others in business. I've had the privilege over the past 15 years to help a lot of people build a lot of companies. I'm really proud of that. Those companies are incredible. People have made billions of dollars, had really positive impact. And yet a lot of those companies have ultimately been destroyed. It's not so much that they failed in the marketplace. We've got plenty of that. But then we have these companies that exhibit what I call unusual failures, where their very success becomes a liability and they lose that special spark, the thing that made them worth creating in the first place.” Eric Ries on ImpactAlpha's Agents of Impact podcast
James Birchler — environmental scientist turned founder, Eric's IMVU-era colleague, and member of NICER's Advisory Board with Eric himself on it — publishes a long-form LinkedIn post documenting how he built NICER chapter-by-chapter against the Incorruptible manuscript as a real-world founder's-guide stress test.
“Eric Ries has a new book out May 26 called Incorruptible. It's about why good companies go bad, and how to design ones that don't. I've been building NICER on those ideas for years, working through them with Eric the whole way. He asked me to test whether his manuscript could work as a founder's guide in time to share findings before publication. NICER became the proof of concept. A bodycare company built on the precautionary principle, with the wrong ownership structure, abandons that principle within a few years. The same way a chemical drifts through an ecosystem, mission drifts through a company. Eric calls the force "financial gravity." It bends every company toward extraction unless the architecture stops it. So I worked through the manuscript chapter by chapter. NICER is a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation with 10x founder voting, Class FF stock, mission pledges for directors and officers, and an equity reservation for a future mission-controlled foundation. Eric likes to say: "It is always too early to protect your company. Until it's too late." The window is at incorporation, before investor constraints make it impossible.” James Birchler on LinkedIn
Ksenia Se, founder of AI newsletter Turing Post, drops a 31-minute Inference podcast episode with Eric for an audience of ML engineers, data scientists, and AI builders — pulling the book's argument into the AI-builder frame.
“What if the biggest threat to a great company isn't failure — but success? And why it becomes even more relevant now – when everyone becomes an AI builder? Eric Ries, entrepreneur and author of The Lean Startup and Incorruptible, argues that the more valuable a company becomes, the more pressure it faces to make money without creating real value. In other words: corruption in business doesn't begin at the margins. It begins when builders stop protecting what made their company worth building in the first place.” Ksenia Se on Turing Post's YouTube channel
Tech journalist Sarah Lacy (formerly TechCrunch, founder of Pando) hosts the first official Incorruptible launch event at Best Bookstore in Union Square, San Francisco — a week ahead of the May 26 release. $32 ticket includes a signed copy of the book.
“It is not hyperbole to call "the Lean Startup" the most important startup book in history (or one of them). @ericries new book "Incorruptible" will be the most important startup book of the next decade. And the first event will be at our store in downtown San Francisco.” Sarah Lacy on X
Software designer and 'The Way of Product' podcast host Caden Damiano publishes a 2,100-word LinkedIn Pulse interview profile of Eric and Incorruptible, opening with the founder-at-a-wake story that anchors the book.
“You're not hearing me, man. This isn't a party. It's a wake. He doesn't work there anymore.” Eric Ries, quoted by Caden Damiano
Purpose Foundation partner Ryan Honeyman releases his Incorruptible interview with Eric — singling out the book's warning that B Corp certification and benefit-corporation status aren't enough on their own, citing Allbirds' unraveling as the cautionary case.
“I am excited to release this interview with Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup," about his forthcoming book "Incorruptible." Incorruptible is one of the most important books for B Corps and mission-driven businesses I have ever read. Eric's main point in the book is that good companies do not usually lose their way because people stop caring. They drift because "financial gravity" pulls their ownership, governance, incentives, investors, and accountability systems away from their stated purpose. His warning for the #BCorp movement is especially important: benefit corporation status helps, but it is not enough.” Ryan Honeyman on LinkedIn
“His book is the explanation of why and an answer on how to fix what he, me, we, our entire generation of Internet people who largely moved here in the dot com bubble or a little later too, what all of us mostly unintentionally broke in the world.”
“It is a big deal that one of the most influential voices in entrepreneurship, especially in Silicon Valley, is talking about how companies stay focused — and stay accountable. This book is a big deal, and helps shift the conversation exactly the direction it needs to be.”
“I have recommended this book to all 3 teams regardless. There are fantastic principles of governance to be found here. Best book that I have read this year!”
“I typically read in silence, either in deep thought, or if Im honest, in pleasant distraction. But reading Incorruptible, I was LOUD. Shouting, loud. Exclaiming, loud. Hooting and hollering, loud. You introduce us to the best version of ourselves and then give us a playbook to get there. Gratitude.”
Sarah Kessler interviews Eric for The New York Times' DealBook newsletter, framing the book inside a piece on the macroeconomic backdrop of U.S. debt reaching 100% of GDP. Eric's core line: the financial system has a gravitational pull toward mediocrity that organizations must be designed to resist.
“We built this financial system that has this gravitational pull down into mediocrity and to extraction and exploitation. You can imagine building a different financial system, but until we get there, my goal is simply to have people be able to build organizations that can resist that.” Sarah Kessler in NYT DealBook (quoting Eric Ries)
Eric delivers a keynote at Startup Day 2026 at the Bell Harbor Conference Center on Seattle's waterfront, speaking to 400+ founders, investors, and ecosystem builders. Every full-access ticket includes a complimentary copy of Incorruptible, shipped after the May 26 launch — a strong signal of the conference organizers' confidence in the book. Other speakers include Terry Myerson (Truveta CEO), Rand Fishkin (SparkToro), and Ian Swanson (Palo Alto Networks).
“All full-access tickets include a complimentary copy of Incorruptible — because every founder in the room needs to read this book.” Startup Day Seattle
I'll likely post more later, but it was so refreshing to have #StartupDay kick off with a focus on the importance of mission over money. In this interview with Eric Ries (author of The Lean Startup and now Incorruptible) and Todd Bishop, Eric redefined profit as the "maximization of human flourishing." As Eric stated, "We treat mission like the dessert you get to have after eating your vegetables of being a serious business person." But I'd argue it's the whole meal.
source ↗The day opened with Todd Bishop (GeekWire) interviewing Eric Ries — author of The Lean Startup — on his new book, Incorruptible. His book's argument: profit is the maximization of human flourishing. That framing stopped me cold. Mine is on the way, and I can't wait to dig in.
source ↗Eric proposes building "mission-controlled" companies with strong "governance exoskeletons" to preserve values and reframe profit as human flourishing. In a time of value concentration, shitcoins and short-term corporate thinking, it's a timely message.
source ↗One thing Eric Ries said that stuck with me: On Lean Startup he told builders to change the world. But he left out 3 words: "for the better." His new book, Incorruptible, is about exactly that. How companies drift from their mission as they scale. And anything that lasts requires you to build ones that don't. For someone who spent 20 years inside systems optimized for shareholder value at all permissable legal costs... hearing him talk about building for human flourishing felt different.
source ↗Andrew Hill — FT Senior Business Writer, Consulting Editor of FT Live, and the paper's longtime management columnist — interviews Eric about Incorruptible, framing the writing process as a Heart of Darkness journey through modern finance.
“'If you know Heart of Darkness, I feel like I did a bit of the journey down the river and got to see how our modern financial system works, up close' - Eric Ries, of "Lean Startup" fame, talks to me about the horrors he discovered while writing his new book Incorruptible” Andrew Hill on LinkedIn
UC Berkeley's accelerator hosts a sold-out fireside chat and book signing with Eric for SkyDeck founders, mentors, and advisors. Official recap goes up the next day with 79 likes; SkyDeck GM Sibyl Chen calls Incorruptible 'essential reading for founders. PERIOD.'
“Eric has spent 20 years working with founders, CEOs, and investors, and his core message landed hard: trust is the most important asset a company can build. The best talent, your earliest customers, your investors - they all show up because of trust. Lose it, and success won't save you. That's also the thesis behind his new book, "Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad…and How Great Companies Stay Great." Corporate corruption isn't a moral failure - it's a structural one. And it can be designed against.” Berkeley SkyDeck on LinkedIn
Meeting Eric Ries through Berkeley SkyDeck felt like a full circle moment. The thinking that once shaped how I understood startups is now embedded in how we operate every week at Centscape.
source ↗Berkeley SkyDeck was fortunate to have author Eric Ries (The Lean Startup, Incorruptible) participate in a fireside chat yesterday. Thanks Eric for sharing your insights with our founder, mentor and advisor community.
source ↗From The Lean Startup to his latest book, Incorruptible, Eric Ries has shaped how generations of founders think about building enduring companies. We were excited to host Eric at Berkeley SkyDeck for a fireside chat with our founders on founder-led governance, long-term company building, and preserving mission as startups scale. A huge opportunity for our founders to learn directly from one of the most influential voices in entrepreneurship.
source ↗This is my APB to startup founders, leaders running innovation & entrepreneurship ecosystems and accelerators, professors teaching B-school and the like - YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK. Those of you who know me understand that I've been speaking about this when I can, most recently at the AI for Good Summit and also at Tech Pulse during the HumanX conference in April. There are frameworks out founders can leverage that can guide them to building better without compromising our principles. "Incorruptible" should become essential reading for founders. PERIOD.
source ↗Eric joins Gildre for a virtual interactive workshop on Lean in the age of AI, the proven blueprints from Anthropic, Novo Nordisk, Costco, and Patagonia, and a new definition of profit. May 13 at 11 AM CST.
“On May 13, we're hosting a session with Eric Ries that goes a bit deeper than the usual playbooks. He's coming in right before releasing Incorruptible, and the conversation is built around a real tension most founders feel: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲?” Gildre on LinkedIn
Earlier today, I had the chance to spend an hour in a virtual room with Eric Ries, listen to his perspective on the very reason why we build, on considering B Corp and loosing control, and hear him answer one of my questions.
source ↗Listening to Eric explain where the country is headed, from the business perspective, based on so many financial variables, was absolutely thought evoking.
source ↗Thinkers50 Award winner and Innovation Show host Aidan McCullen — an early manuscript reader — frames Incorruptible as the through-line between Stephen Covey's clam-chowder fable and Sol Price's FedMart story: a 200-year pattern of 'enlightened capitalism' founders who get butchered by the investors meant to protect them.
“Covey borrowed that image from Aesop, today we see it was a prophecy about capitalism itself. Another great book that shaped how many of us see the world is Eric Ries's The Lean Startup. It changed how a generation of founders thought about building. But what we didn't know then was what Ries was watching the Golden Geese get strangled from a front-row seat in many businesses that he helped scale. In his new book Incorruptible, Ries takes us back to 1975 and a man named Sol Price. Price built FedMart on the radical idea that a business owes its first duty to its customers, its second to its employees, and only its third to its shareholders. Price paid workers twice the going rate. He capped his own margins. He operated like a fiduciary and it worked spectacularly. Eventually, his investors sacked him at a time when FedMart was thriving. What Ries discovered is that Sol Price was not an anomaly. He was part of a pattern stretching back over 200 years, what he calls "enlightened capitalism" where founders who discover that doing right by people is the most profitable path, only to have that goose butchered by the very investors who were meant to protect it. The more golden the goose, Ries writes, the stronger the temptation to butcher it.” Aidan McCullen on LinkedIn
Prolific Goodreads reviewer Cindy (1,877 reviews) posts a 5-star audiobook review framing Incorruptible alongside Cory Doctorow's Enshittification: short-term ROI superseding mission, founders voted out, companies drifting from purpose. Notes the audiobook's narration by Eric and the companion PDF with interview snippets.
“Most importantly, Ries illustrates that it is possible (and, of course, preferable) for people to build thriving companies (like Costco and its predecessors) that contribute in a positive way to their communities, support their partner-suppliers, respect their employees, and delight their customers. The quarterly earnings report isn’t the be-all and end-all of running a successful business and, in fact, is to blame for a lot of what ails our corporations today. If only we could all work for companies that align with our personal values and that put their mission above short term gains.” Cindy on Goodreads
“Eric Ries's new book Incorruptible is one of the most important books of the decade. If you are a leader committed to doing good things in a flawed world, this is your guide.”
The world's leading expert on trust — Oxford lecturer Rachel Botsman, author of 'Who Can You Trust?' and 'How to Trust & Be Trusted' — hosts Eric on her RETHINK newsletter for a long-form conversation framed as: trust isn't disappearing, it's being redesigned, and the same thing is happening inside companies.
“Trust in institutions is eroding. But that's not the whole story: trust isn't disappearing, it's being redesigned. Rachel sits down with Eric Ries, author of 'Incorruptible', who argues the same thing is happening inside companies. The structures we build either earn trust or quietly destroy it. This is a conversation about what it actually takes to build organizations and ideas worthy of trust.” Rachel Botsman on LinkedIn
Kingscrowd CEO Chris Lustrino moderates a conversation between Eric and Alumni Ventures CEO Mike Collins — exploring what's changed since The Lean Startup, where AI is creating real venture opportunity, and how the venture model is evolving.
“On May 11, Kingscrowd CEO Chris Lustrino sits down with Eric Ries — author of The Lean Startup and the forthcoming Incorruptible — and Mike Collins, CEO of Alumni Ventures, for a candid discussion on what it takes to build and back companies that last. Topics on the table: → What's changed since The Lean Startup reshaped how founders build → Where AI and emerging tech are creating real venture opportunity → How the venture model is evolving for the next generation of investors” Kingscrowd on LinkedIn
Longtime entrepreneurship policy leader Lesa Mitchell (Alloy Partners, formerly Kauffman Foundation, Network Kansas) finishes the book and posts a comparison that lands — founders' standard reading list ranks Venture Deals near the top, and she's saying Incorruptible belongs ahead of it.
“Just finished Eric Ries new book *Incorruptible*. The world needs this book now more than ever. Having witnessed countless CEO's of large, med and small companies hit some of the walls he describes in the book; I was both smiling and crying my way through the book. All founders think they need to read Venture Deals when starting s company. You really need to read this book FIRST. Then Venture Deals.” Lesa Mitchell on LinkedIn
Independent bookstore The Thinking Spot in St. Paul hosts an in-person book launch event for Incorruptible. Eric joins virtually in conversation with Lab651's Justin Grammens, hosted at Lab 651 on Vandalia St. Pre-orders through The Thinking Spot get the signed copy at 20% off, ready to walk out with on release day.
“Eric Ries is coming to St. Paul. (Well, to our screens — but the conversation is live and in person.) On May 11, my wife Rima Parikh's bookstore, The Thinking Spot, is hosting Eric Ries in conversation with Justin Grammens of Lab651 | Custom Software Development & Process to #launch his new #book: "Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad… and How Great Companies Stay Great".” Arun Batchu on LinkedIn
Lenny Rachitsky — host of the top startup/product podcast (348K X followers) — drops a 99-minute conversation with Eric and opens with the line that sets the tone for the whole launch arc. Announcement tweet hits 110K+ views and 200+ bookmarks within 24 hours; Lenny's follow-up the next day: 'I record a lot of podcasts. The reaction to the @EricRies episode is hitting different.'
“"A lot of people liked the Lean Startup, but no one ever said it made them cry." In 16 days, @EricRies's new book Incorruptible comes out. It's about why you can taste it when your favorite restaurant gets bought by a PE firm, why even Steve Jobs got fired from Apple, and why over 80% of founders get fired within 3 years of taking their company public. In our real-talk conversation, we discuss: 🔸 "Financial gravity": the force that predictably pushes successful companies into mediocrity 🔸 The Groupon email death spiral every public company eventually runs 🔸 "It is always too early to protect your company. Until it's too late." 🔸 The "governance fortress" Anthropic, Costco, and Patagonia all have—and your company probably doesn't 🔸 Three things founders can do this week to protect their company long-term.” Lenny Rachitsky on X (Lenny's Podcast announcement)
The latest episode of Lenny's Podcast with Eric Ries is amazing. They talk about Eric's new book „Incorruptible“. Eric shares some eye-opening (and fun) stories about how companies manage to stay great over time rather than being corrupted into mediocrity by their own success.
source ↗I came across it through Lenny Rachitsky's Podcast – a long conversation with Eric that's worth the full listen. By the end of the episode, I had the book on order.
source ↗Eric Ries (author of The Lean Startup) has a new book called Incorruptible. He was on Lenny Rachitsky's podcast talking about it, and the one idea I couldn't move past: *Mission* isn't a values statement. It's *how you earn trust*. And there's another important outcome: a company with a real mission needs fewer meetings. Everyone is aligned - the mission answers the questions before they get asked. What's in scope, what isn't, how to decide when it's close.
source ↗Marc and I are making Insider Loops incorruptible. Our inspiration comes directly from what Eric Ries shared on his recent episode of Lenny Rachitsky's podcast. Eric's new book, Incorruptible, dives into the core idea that most "mission-driven" companies are just mission-hopeful and the mission only survives when you build governance around it (before being forced to choose between the mission and the money). Insider Loops is small today and we're still early. We have every excuse to wait on this stuff. But Eric's point is that the best time to make a company incorruptible is when there's not much to corrupt. So we're starting now. We're writing a mission statement directly into our operating agreement, with both partners required to unanimously agree before it can change.
source ↗Roy Bahat hosts Eric for a pre-launch Incorruptible book talk on Zoom — Bloomberg Beta's investor and operator network gets the book a week before publication, with attendees receiving pre-order copies.
“This should be fun, and important -- Eric Ries, as you may have heard, has a new book coming out. Around how to design companies so that they resist the corrosive underside of success -- and stay true to the founder's intent. Incorruptible! We're hosting Eric for a book talk *before his book comes out* -- a week from Friday. May 8 at 12p PT on Zoom.” Roy E. Bahat on LinkedIn
“It was such a delight to interview Eric Ries and to engage with the thoughtful crowd at Manny's, a wonderful community gathering place in San Francisco's Mission District. Dar has a wonderful take below. I was struck by Eric's remarkable ability to weave together complex elements--leadership, mission, organizational design, governance, and love (yes love!)--to make such a compelling argument about what makes organizations great, why once great organizations turn corrupt, and how to build and sustain organizations stop the rot from creeping in. And he also has the rare gift of telling stories, stories with beautiful arc, to make his points...about Costco Wholesale, Patagonia, Novo Nordisk, to name a few. Eric is a compassionate capitalist, making a compelling argument that if you treat your customers and employees well, and resist the inevitable pressure to slowly treat them worse and and worse (to give more money to shareholders and senior management in the short-term), your company is more likely to survive and to make more money in the long-term. I hope he is right, I think he is right, and I am 100% sure that Eric is the mensch we need right now.”
Alex Shevelenko (CEO, RELAYTO AI) drops his Eric Ries interview — episode titled 'Surgically Deboned: How Modern Finance Kills Great Companies.' Eric on why evidence beats plausibility, why trust is underrated, and on the difference between ethos and integrity.
“Too many companies still run on opinions that "sound good." But as Eric puts it: "'Sounds good' are the two most dangerous words in entrepreneurship."” Alex Shevelenko on LinkedIn (quoting Eric on RELAYTO AI's Surgically Deboned podcast)
Stanford professor and bestselling author Bob Sutton joins Eric for an in-person Incorruptible conversation at Manny's, San Francisco's civic gathering space. 6 PM, with Zoom option for those outside the Bay Area.
“Please join the wise and entertaining Eric Ries and me for a conversation on Thursday May 7th at Manny's in San Francisco at 6PM. We are talking about Eric's edgy, inspired, and oh-so-well-written new book "Incorruptible." On why companies go bad--but it doesn't need to be that way.” Bob Sutton on LinkedIn
Eric closes the fifth annual North Bay NEXT (350+ founders, investors, operators in Marin/Sonoma) in conversation with Semafor's Reed Albergotti — three weeks before Incorruptible's public release. MSIV founder Zachary Kushel's post-event recap surfaces Eric's challenge to the region's civic engagement.
“I travel the world over and people would kill for the combination of resources that we have here [in the North Bay]... [yet] the level of civic engagement and … idea that we should want to leave this place bigger, more inclusive, more of an economic engine than where we inherited it, I don't encounter that a lot … [and] that's a shame.” Eric Ries, quoted by Zachary Kushel on LinkedIn
Responsive Conference founder and Snafu podcast host Robin P. Zander — who's spent a decade studying organizational resilience — drops a 55-minute interview with Eric on financial gravity, mission drift, and interlocking rings of resilience.
“As somebody who's been studying resilience in organizations for a decade through Responsive, this is perhaps the best book I've read certainly in the last handful of years on organizational design, company culture, and how to create interlocking rings of resilience that can allow any organization to thrive amidst uncertainty.” Robin P. Zander on Snafu (YouTube)
Storm Flag CEO Fernando Paiz — heir to one of Central America's largest grocery chains — reads Incorruptible and connects it to three generations of his family's principled-leadership playbook in Guatemala.
“I just finished reading Incorruptible by Eric Ries. Once again, Eric cuts right to the heart of issues that weigh on company founders, sharing anecdotes and insightfully breaking down concepts like only he can. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs from Guatemala, I saw early on the power that principled leadership has to drive a company's success. My grandfather, uncles and aunts showed us this every day in how they led our family's grocery chain to become one of the largest companies in Central America. Honesty, generosity and commitment to quality may have short-term costs but the long-term value from building real trust with partners, employees and customers far outweighs them. Eric doesn't sugarcoat it. Success will bring hidden dangers that will try to alter your company's principles and focus. Eric provides a playbook for founders to ensure that what is important to them always remains a strength of their company in the face of these pressures.” Fernando Paiz on LinkedIn
B Corp Handbook co-author Ryan Honeyman releases his Next Economy Now interview with Eric and warns the B Corp movement that benefit corporation status helps but isn't enough — Allbirds was a B Corp and a public benefit corporation, but financial gravity still unraveled it. The mission-locked architectures that hold steady, he says, are companies like Tony's Chocolonely, Patagonia, Mondragon, Anthropic, IKEA, Novo Nordisk, and Costco.
“Incorruptible is one of the most important books for B Corps and mission-driven businesses I have ever read. Eric's main point in the book is that good companies do not usually lose their way because people stop caring. They drift because "financial gravity" pulls their ownership, governance, incentives, investors, and accountability systems away from their stated purpose. His warning for the #BCorp movement is especially important: benefit corporation status helps, but it is not enough. Allbirds is a vivid example. The company was both a B Corp and a public benefit corporation, yet financial gravity pushed them to rapidly scale and overextend in search of profitability. Eventually, as we saw in recent news headlines, this pressure contributed to a dramatic unraveling of the company's original business model and mission identity. For B Corps, Incorruptible is a reminder that going beyond the standard "B Corp + benefit corp" structure is needed to build companies that are set up for the next 50 to 100 years or longer.” Ryan Honeyman on LinkedIn
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced today a proposal to allow public companies the option to report semiannually instead of quarterly, following a petition submitted by the Long-Term Stock Exchange. A direct regulatory beachhead against the short-termism Incorruptible argues against — three weeks before the book launches.
“This is an important step toward modernizing market structure to better support long-term value creation. We founded LTSE to address the structural pressures that drive short-term decision-making in public markets. This proposal reflects a simple idea: companies and investors benefit when disclosure emphasizes long-term fundamentals rather than short-term expectation management.” Long-Term Stock Exchange press release (Eric Ries quote)
Lean Enterprise author Barry O'Reilly announces an upcoming Unlearn Podcast episode with Eric — covering Volvo's seatbelt patent, Tony's Chocolonely's ethical economics, Mary Parker Follett's 'invisible leader,' and why AI makes incorruptible governance more urgent.
“What does it take to build companies that don't just grow fast but last? Next week on the Unlearn Podcast, I'm joined by Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup and his new book Incorruptible, for a timely conversation on how to build organizations that can resist short-term thinking, stay true to their mission, and create lasting value in the age of AI.” Barry O'Reilly on LinkedIn
Humanocracy co-author Michele Zanini publishes a full-throated endorsement of Incorruptible — calling culture-first thinking wishful, pointing readers to Eric's architecture of PBCs, perpetual purpose trusts, supervoting structures, and spiritual holding companies, and ending with a direct call to buy the book.
“Most founders believe a strong "culture" is what keeps a company on track: hire well, promote the believers, tell the origin stories often enough that they stick. Eric Ries' terrific new book, Incorruptible, shows this is wishful thinking. Good intentions are no match for the charter, the fiduciary duties, the capital structure. These things quietly define who the company is for, what the board is allowed to consider, what happens the day the founder leaves. They keep pulling, quarter after quarter, until they win. Eric's argument is that what's needed isn't better intentions but better architecture. He lays out the actual mechanisms — public benefit corporations, perpetual purpose trusts, supervoting structures, what he calls spiritual holding companies (love that name) — and shows how to put them to use. This isn't only a book for CEOs and boards. We can all play a role in building organizations that advance human flourishing. Get yourself a copy asap!” Michele Zanini on LinkedIn
Product Mastery Now host Chad McAllister releases a 48-minute interview with Eric on why traditional management tools (variation-reducing) collide with entrepreneurship (variation-increasing) — and why Incorruptible's blueprint matters for product leaders.
“There's a fundamental misalignment between the basic tools of management that most companies embrace and entrepreneurship. A lot of our management tools are variation reducing — which is good in a factory, very important. But entrepreneurship is variability increasing — positive variability, what Paul Graham calls black swan farming. People who are traditional managers find that hard to believe.” Eric Ries on Product Mastery Now (YouTube)
Maike Kauffmann (Purpose Foundation) hosts a fireside with Eric on the structures that hold mission steady under systemic pressure. The recap leads with Novo Nordisk: a board of trustees blocked a 1990s merger because the ownership structure made protecting the mission non-negotiable — two years later the merger target was acquired and shut down, and Novo Nordisk went on to invent Ozempic and exceed Denmark's GDP in market cap.
“In the late 90s, a board of trustees blocked a merger that would have made everyone in the room very, very rich. Two years later, the company they were about to merge with was acquired and shut down. Meanwhile, the company they protected went on to invent Ozempic, a groundbreaking diabetes drug. From that blocked merger to the moment Novo Nordisk's market cap exceeded the GDP of Denmark: $500 billion in shareholder value created. Not just because someone (or some trustees in this case) said no. But because the ownership structure made protecting the mission non-negotiable, even when the "dump trucks of money" were pulling up outside.” PURPOSE® on LinkedIn
Eric joins SPILL Co-Founder & CEO Alphonzo Terrell for a live book event streaming on SPILL — bringing the Incorruptible conversation to the platform's audience of culture-makers and community builders.
“Join us for a special live book event with 'Incorruptible' Author Eric Ries with SPILL Co-Founder & CEO Alphonzo Terrell! Monday, May 4 at 3:30p PT 📍 Streaming Live on SPILL” SPILL on LinkedIn
Stripe's Global Head of Public Sector and former 3rd NYC CTO recaps the inaugural Stripe Public Sector Summit — a half-day event for governments, universities, and nonprofits at Stripe Sessions — with Eric giving a sneak peek of Incorruptible to a standing-room crowd including a Singapore government leader, a Stanford director, AFGE, and Congressman Patrick McHenry.
“As we got ready to welcome 10,000 of our closest friends, Stripe hosted governments, universities, and nonprofits for a standing-room-only half-day event. Thanks to Hongyi Li of the Government of Singapore, Karen Kearney of Stanford University, Taylor Higley of AFGE, and Congressman Patrick McHenry for showing what's possible. Thanks to Eric Ries for the sneak peek at his soon-to-be-released book Incorruptible and for coaching us all on what it takes to build mission-driven orgs that last.” John Paul Farmer on LinkedIn
On a personal level, the highlight of the event was a fireside chat with author Eric Ries about his book, Incorruptible that's coming out next month, and the keynote by John Collison on Indexing the Economy. My mind is definitely pinging with new ideas that I can't wait to explore further!
source ↗Eric Ries of The Lean Startup challenged us to push on making MVPs work in the public sector - an industry that "can't afford failure" – arguing that waterfall style development is, in fact, the least failure protective
source ↗“'Incorruptible' by Eric Ries on scaling without losing integrity or purpose through creative and strategic change”
“Incorruptible by Eric Ries: A road map to preventing people and organizations from making unethical decisions.”
Y Combinator president Garry Tan launches 'book-mirror,' an AI tool that maps a book's ideas to your own life, and uses Eric's still-unreleased Incorruptible as the inaugural example.
“book-mirror is the flagship. Hand it a book, get a personalized two-column analysis. Left shows the author's idea. Right maps every idea to your actual life using your own words from the brain. Here's the example based on a yet-unreleased book by @ericries Incorruptible” Garry Tan on X
Goodreads reviewer Demetri Papadimitropoulos publishes a deeply analytical 4-star review of Incorruptible — accompanied by a series of original watercolor studies titled 'After the Vote' — calling it 'far more alive than a book about corporate governance has any polite obligation to be.'
“Values do not endure because people say them fervently. They endure when power has been designed to remember them after fervor fades.” Demetri Papadimitropoulos on Goodreads
“I'm excited to introduce a new batch of standout nonfiction, the most compelling and thought-provoking titles scheduled for release in May 2026.”
LTSE investor and software engineer Clark Freifeld pushes preorders with a punchy preview of two of the book's central provocations — paradoxical shareholder interests, and how to do the right thing without getting sued or fired. Eric reposts.
“Friends: Get your grubby mitts on a preorder of Eric Ries's new book, Incorruptible. He's already changed your life once with his seminal 2011 book The Lean Startup. Prepare to be changed again. Discover how the best interests of the shareholders AREN'T the best interests of the shareholders. Discover how to not get sued or fired for doing the right thing. Seriously, get this book. It's coming out May 26th. Disclosure: I'm a proud investor in the Long-Term Stock Exchange, a place for public companies that aligns shareholder interests with long-term interests.” Clark Freifeld on LinkedIn
Game-development consultant Clinton Keith comes away from a live Incorruptible talk thinking the book will rival The Lean Startup's impact.
“Heard Eric Ries talk about his latest book "Incorruptible" last night and came away thinking the book will be as (or more) impactful than "The Lean Startup". Thanks to Heather Otter for a great job hosting it!” Clinton Keith on LinkedIn
Digital health operator Eva Zemberi takes Eric's 'unusual failure' concept from Incorruptible and shows how it plays out in healthcare product scaling — a pattern Eric reposted as 'the concept in the wild.'
“Some companies don't fail because they're wrong. They fail because their own success destroys them. I heard Eric Ries describe this as "unusual failure" in a recent conversation about his upcoming book "Incorruptible". In digital health, I see a version of this over and over: Early success gives teams permission—and pressure—to make the wrong decisions.” Eva Zemberi on LinkedIn
The Long Now Foundation publishes the full video of Eric's April 7 talk with Denise Hearn on YouTube — bringing the live conversation to a much wider audience three weeks ahead of the book launch.
“What if we redefined "profit" as maximizing human flourishing? Eric Ries has seen the corrosive effects of shareholder primacy at every company he's worked with. But some companies are outliers, demonstrating stronger profits, better talent, and deeper loyalty. What are they doing differently? And why doesn't everyone follow their lead?” The Long Now Foundation on LinkedIn
Brad Feld writes about the connection between his Give First philosophy and Incorruptible, and announces a free virtual fireside chat with Eric Ries on April 29.
“Incorruptible is about how and why to protect it, keeping a company mission-driven over the long term instead of letting it rot from the inside.” Brad Feld
Strategy and operations leader Darin Glass uses Incorruptible's 'financial gravity' framing to describe the leaders who resist mission drift while still growing.
“Eric Ries has been talking about this ahead of his new book Incorruptible. He calls it "financial gravity," the structural pull that drags companies away from their original purpose. The leaders who resist it aren't choosing between mission and growth. They're holding both.” Darin Glass on LinkedIn
Rebecca Mark uses Incorruptible's 'financial gravity' framework to compare three startups solving the same insurance-denial problem with very different capital structures — making the book's argument that the capital you choose decides what the company becomes. Eric amplifies on LinkedIn.
“Same problem. Same mission. Three completely different companies are emerging. Their error rates aren't what makes them different. Their structure is. We talk about capital as a fundraising problem. Tips, tricks, term sheets. But this is one layer deeper. The capital you choose is already deciding what the company becomes. What is your ability to resist the gravity that pulls you away from the mission you started with? (h/t Eric Ries)” Rebecca Mark on LinkedIn
Eric posts a 1991 Patagonia catalog page — "Everything we make pollutes. Buy fewer items and buy things that last." — as a lived case study for Incorruptible's central argument: structural coherence is what lets a company tell the truth.
“In 1991, Patagonia added this blunt language to their own catalog: "Everything we make pollutes. Buy fewer items and buy things that last." That level of honesty is almost unthinkable today. So many companies are too afraid of the backlash, the social media firestorm, or being punished by investors. The employee handbook isn't what actually happens at the company. The EULA is designed as a CYA that nobody reads. Companies have a vaunted "mission statement" but their legal purpose is just "maximize shareholder value." They are lying to you. Patagonia can speak the truth because it is coherent inside and out. It is structurally strong.” Eric Ries on LinkedIn
Eric joins Bubble Co-CEO Emmanuel Straschnov on the Breakout Stage at Startup Grind 2026 (Fox Theater, Redwood City) for a panel on closing the gap between AI-generated prototypes and production-ready systems. The panel runs 10:00–10:30 AM at Club Fox.
“AI can generate code faster than ever, but most of it is not built to survive real users, real data, and real failure conditions. In this session, Eric Ries, best-selling author of The Lean Startup, and Bubble CEO Emmanuel Straschnov explore the growing gap between AI-generated prototypes and production-ready systems, and what founders need to consider regarding reliability, security, maintainability, and scale when turning AI-built code into real products.” Startup Grind Conference Agenda
Responding to a NYT op-ed on moral AI companies, Eric makes the Incorruptible argument in long form — that ethics aren't a necessary victim of success, and that real governance structures (Anthropic's Long Term Benefit Trust, Patagonia's Perpetual Purpose Trust) can protect a company's mission against financial gravity.
“I do disagree with the idea that ethics are a necessary victim of success. Organizations aren't actually helpless when it comes to defending against these forces. They just don't know how to do it. Or worse, they aren't willing to. There are readily available governance structures that any kind of company can use to protect their mission no matter what comes at it. I helped Anthropic, named in this piece, set up a Long Term Benefit Trust for exactly this reason, which is part of why it can stand up and fight the government. But that structure is far from the only option (you may be more familiar with Patagonia's recent conversion to a Perpetual Purpose Trust to ensure the company's commitment to the environment can never be deterred, and there are plenty of non-trust options as well).” Eric Ries on LinkedIn
USC Marshall's High Tech Association recapped Tech Fest 2026 — two days of an AI Product Challenge and a Venture Pitch Competition — and noted that winners received advance copies of Incorruptible before its release. Eric reposted.
“We also had a special moment during the Venture Pitch Competition. Winners received exclusive early copies of Incorruptible by Eric Ries before its official release. Not something you see every day!” High Tech Association at USC Marshall on LinkedIn
Ryan Hanley hosts a 57-minute Incorruptible deep dive with a punchy Eric-quote cold-open laying out the book's core arguments — temptation grows with value created, the market doesn't reward creation, and structural defenses have to be built before they're needed.
“I feel like we do not really own the organizations. We birthed them. So we've actually legalized huge swaths of nonvalue-creating money-making in the name of market efficiency. If you build something really valuable, the more gold in the goose, the greater the temptation will be to steal it from you. The market does not reward value creation. It is easier to do the right thing 100% of the time than 98% of the time. The best time to build structural defenses is when you don't need them. It's always too early until it's too late.” Eric Ries on Finding Peak with Ryan Hanley (YouTube)
Reading Incorruptible mid-flight, strategist David Bland posts about noticing the imprint of corporate governance on the brands around him — Patagonia, Southwest, Boeing, Allbirds. Eric Ries reposts: 'Once you start seeing it you'll never unsee it.'
“Observing things differently as I'm reading Incorruptible from Eric Ries and looking around on my flight. I love my Patagonia 😄 vest but I'm flying Southwest 😒 with horrible customer service on a Boeing 😒 wearing Allbirds 😒 that are falling apart and realizing more and more how we experience the direct impact of these company governance structures.” David Bland on LinkedIn
Lamborghini innovation leader Davide Ritorto records a full Corporate Venturing Podcast episode with Eric Ries, landing on financial gravity as the force corporate innovation teams fight every day.
“The more successful a company gets, the stronger the pull toward safe metrics, quarterly thinking, and protecting the core. No bad actors. No bad strategy. Just a system doing exactly what it was designed to do. And the worst part is that you don't feel it happening. For anyone running a corporate innovation team, a CVC, or a venture builder, that lands differently than it does for a startup founder. You're not just fighting the market. You're fighting gravity every day, inside a machine optimized to resist you.” Davide Ritorto on LinkedIn
Growth partner Deanna Andersen captures five quotes from Eric Ries at the Boardy fireside chat, including 'Profit is the exhaust, not the engine' and 'The design of a company is a civic act.'
“Compromise arrives dressed as momentum. The first yes feels like progress. It usually isn't. Good values are not the same as a company that can keep its promises. Ethos without structure does not survive real pressure. The real balance sheet is goodwill. Every decision either spends it or builds it. Profit is the exhaust, not the engine. Protect the engine.” Eric Ries, quoted by Deanna Andersen on LinkedIn
Synaptic Weave founder Michael Brown shares how Eric Ries privately matched $18,000 in donations to JuneteenthConf in 2020 — funding refurbished computers for Houston ISD kids and a post-bootcamp cohort.
“Eric reached out to me through one of our volunteers and congratulated me on the successful conference. I don't think he knew at the time, but I informed him that the lessons he shared about the MVP were what made it a sixteen-day launch instead of 'maybe next year'. He also offered to match the donations we received for the conference, to the tune of $18,000 or so. That helped us do several things that year: we purchased refurbished computers for donation to kids in the Houston ISD; we launched our post-bootcamp cohort, giving people looking to transition to tech hands-on, deep experience with building a product as a team; and we did a follow-up conference, Hidden Gems, in tribute to Katherine Johnson.” Michael Brown on LinkedIn
Strategy executor Anthony C Taylor records a podcast conversation with Eric Ries on financial gravity, why governance deserves a seat at the strategy table, and how trust becomes structural capital when built into the architecture.
“Eric has spent two decades watching it happen. His argument: long-term outcomes trace back to how you design the structure. Principled leaders with aligned teams still drift when the architecture pulls against them. It's not about being perfect. It's about designing your organization so the architecture itself keeps you honest. So misalignment gets caught early, before one bad decision becomes the gravity that pulls everything downward.” Anthony C Taylor on LinkedIn
Boardy AI publishes a full review of Incorruptible on Substack, arguing the book's framework becomes critical for AI companies where misaligned culture scales harmful decisions exponentially.
“Success doesn't protect you. Success is what makes you vulnerable. What Ries is really arguing is far more radical. He's saying that the corruption of successful companies isn't a moral failure or a management failure — it's a design failure. And design failures can be fixed.” Boardy AI Substack
Made to Stick co-author Dan Heath emails his newsletter calling Incorruptible the best business book of the year, praising its practical blueprint for resisting financial gravity and noting it's 'downright negligent' for founders and executives not to read it.
“It's the rare business book that inspires me to evangelize. This is one of them. Incorruptible by Eric Ries is the best and most important business book of the year. Incorruptible is almost like a book of business physics, revealing the silent forces that rule our economy. Fortunately, though, this particular physics is changeable. These corruptions are not the inherent results of capitalism. They are simply choices. Bad choices. And we can choose differently. If you're a founder, top executive, or board member, it's downright negligent not to read this book.” Dan Heath on LinkedIn
On FranklinCovey's On Leadership podcast, Eric turns the standard senior-leader complaint inside out — the people aren't the problem; the leader is.
“All those people work for you. So if they're all consistently doing the wrong thing, what is the one thing they have in common? You. They all work for you. You are the source of the problem. Are you really willing to change? And most people are like, nope. Thanks for coming in.” Eric Ries on FranklinCovey's On Leadership podcast (YouTube)
Interintellect founder Anna Gát hosts Eric for a salon discussion of Incorruptible, framing the book as an argument that mission abandonment is structural, not ethical.
“We've made a wrong turn in how we build companies, and it's time to unmake it. Last week, @ericries joined @TheAnnaGat to discuss his new book, Incorruptible, and why the current obsession with short-term extraction has hollowed out our best institutions from the inside.” Interintellect on X
Eric joins SME Strategy for a 30-minute conversation arguing that the governance 'best practices' taught as inevitable natural laws of capitalism are value-destroying — and that the academic evidence says so.
“How many of today's governance best practices — the things that we're all taught are like inevitable natural laws of capitalism, things that we have to do in a market economy to be efficient or whatever — are actually value destroying. And I say that not lightly, not as a rhetorical move, but like we have extensive academic evidence that these practices are inferior.” Eric Ries on SME Strategy podcast (YouTube)
Bestselling author and LinkedIn Top Voice Cian McLoughlin connects Incorruptible to his startup mentoring at Macquarie University, warning that AI founders face financial gravity on potential, not just profit.
“AI start-up founders are facing these challenges at the very start of their journeys. They're getting pressured to cut ethical corners, compromise on safety, or chase hype-driven demos not because they're successful, but because the fundraising environment demands it. Financial gravity acts on potential, not just profit.” Cian McLoughlin on LinkedIn
Eric Ries joins Florida Funders' Skin in the Game podcast for a candid conversation on early failures, what actually makes an MVP valid, why vibe coding could be a ticking time bomb, and a preview of Incorruptible.
“Saying startups fail because they run out of money is like saying planes crash because gravity pulls down. That's technically true, but if the engine is working, gravity isn't really the issue.” Florida Funders on LinkedIn
Live Investment Case conversation between Eric and Unshackled Ventures partner Shaharose Charania, using Anthropic's Pentagon stand as the centerpiece for pre-committed structural defenses (PBC, LTBT) that let principled companies walk away from money.
“The late great Clay Christensen had this wonderful line that it's harder to do the right thing 98% of the time than it is to do it 100% of the time. So a big part of this is having the operational discipline internally to have clear red lines that you've kind of game planned ahead of time. And then the other part of it is having the governance structure — as you mentioned the PBC, the LTBT — are essential parts of the Anthropic story that allow the freedom to take a stand.” Eric Ries on The Eric Ries Show (YouTube)
Radical Candor author Kim Scott says she's been thinking about Incorruptible since she read it, and announces Eric is joining the Radical Candor podcast next week.
“Eric Ries has a new book coming out, and I've been thinking about it since I read it. It's one of the most important books I've read in the last decade. The argument is deceptively simple: companies don't fail their missions because of bad people. They fail because of bad structures.” Kim Scott on LinkedIn
Auren Hoffman hosts Eric Ries on the Summation podcast to discuss why companies with bad governance can outperform those with good governance, and why capital is a gravitational force that bends companies away from their mission.
“new summation pod with founder of lean start up method Eric Ries on why companies with "bad governance" outperform companies with "good governance." also: why capital is a gravitational force that bends companies away from their mission and building organizations that are immune to it.” Auren Hoffman on LinkedIn
Clearco founder Andrew D'Souza hosts a fireside chat between Eric Ries and Boardy AI, discussing mission-driven companies, architecting purpose from day one, and what AI changes about building with integrity.
“We'll be discussing topics that great founders should care about: Why mission-driven companies outperform over the long run. How founders can architect their purpose into their company from day one, not as an afterthought. What AI changes about building with integrity.” Andrew D'Souza on LinkedIn
Independent bookstore Morgenstern Books in Bloomington, Indiana hosts an in-store author event for Incorruptible — Eric appearing virtually, moderated by Erik Coyne (Chancellor of Ivy Tech Bloomington), in partnership with Ivy Tech's Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship and the South Central Indiana SBDC.
“In partnership with The Ivy Tech Community College, Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship and the South Central Indiana Small Business Development Center, we are proud to welcome author and entrepreneur Eric Ries for a discussion of his new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great. This will be an in-store event that Eric Ries will join virtually, and it will be moderated by Erik Coyne, Chancellor of Ivy Tech Bloomington.” Morgenstern Books event page (Indiana Public Media community calendar)
Established Goodreads reviewer Venky publishes a substantive 4-star advance review of Incorruptible from his NetGalley copy.
“Incorruptible is a hard hitting, genuine and iconoclastic handbook hoping to usher in a tectonic shift in organisational culture, management, and operations. While not a singularly new concept, it is a curated distillation of unconventional yet productive practices that have been the hallmark of a handful of organisations marking themselves for preservation in perpetuity!” Venky on Goodreads
Eric joins the Inside Outside Innovation Summit at the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, Nebraska for a virtual fireside chat, unpacking the principles behind building organizations where mission is embedded in the operating system rather than added as an afterthought.
“The challenge of building companies where mission is embedded in the operating system, rather than added as an afterthought.” IO2026 Summit
VeilStream CEO Steve Jones, who volunteered as a proof-listener, reviews the book and connects it to the failure of Mountain Equipment Co-op.
“I volunteered to be a proof-listener and greatly enjoyed it. I think it will quickly become recognized as a must-read for anyone who is involved in building or financing new businesses. Most importantly, he provides clear and actionable steps that anyone can take to ensure their organization will stay true to its mission over the long run. As I listened to the book, I was also thinking about Mountain Equipment Co-op and the unfortunate sequence of events that led to its failure. If this book had been published a decade ago, I believe it could have been used as a blueprint to put in place a structure that would have protected MEC.” Steve Jones on LinkedIn
“Incorruptible is a must-read for any founder, board member, investor, or consumer who cares about protecting entrepreneurship, innovation, and the productive power of capitalism from the dangers of short-term thinking--and for anyone who recognizes the importance of trustworthy and enduring institutions for a thriving democracy.”
“Reading this book inspired me to change how I am structuring my AI Lab to protect our long term mission from financial gravity.”
Eric shares Brian Boland's post about Taylor Guitars, calling them 'one of my favorite companies I got to meet thanks to Incorruptible — who have put craft at the center of their ownership structure and are thriving as a result.'
“In January 2021, Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug transferred 100% of the company to their employees through an ESOP. Not 10%. Not a minority stake. All of it. Before doing it, they paid off every dollar of company debt. They included their factory workers in Tecate, Mexico, giving roughly half the manufacturing workforce the same ownership stake as headquarters. No American ESOP had done that before. Since the transition, revenue has grown from $122 million to an estimated $180 million.” Brian Boland, Delta Fund
Eric serves as a judge at the All People Powered concert and pitch competition inside the Co-Founders hip-hop musical at Calvin Simmons Theatre in Oakland, California. Described as 'Soul Beat meets Shark Tank,' three Bay Area startups compete for $30,000 in funding. The event blends entrepreneurship, music, and community — a fitting showcase for the book's argument that business can be a force for good.
“This first-of-its-kind event fuses live performances from the acclaimed hip-hop musical Co-Founders with a live startup accelerator that will award $30,000 in funding to first-time entrepreneurs — on stage, in front of an audience! Think Soul Beat meets Shark Tank powered by Oakland creativity and community ambition.” Theatermania
Andrew Keen and his weekly co-host Keith Teare spend ~9 minutes (26:39–35:43 in the episode) discussing Incorruptible — Andrew teasing his upcoming Keen On interview with Eric, advocating the book's structural argument, and walking through the Patagonia, Mondragon, and Berkeley Bowl examples Eric uses.
“He has a new book out called Incorruptible. Why good companies go bad and how great companies stay great. He makes a structural argument… worrying about these individuals is really beside the point because in Incorruptible he suggests that good companies go bad and how great companies stay great have nothing to do with individuals. It has to do with their structure, their foundation. So I think it's an important argument to get us away from this personality-driven cult.” Andrew Keen on Keen On (YouTube)
“Every founder hopes their path is a straight line. It won't be. They hope they will have the right mentor to help them avoid problems. They won't. Eric Ries gives founders a playbook to help avoid the inevitable pitfalls and find your path to the business you set out to create.”
“This is the book we need right now, and Eric Ries is the perfect person to write it. Instead of casting blame, he offers a structural lens that reframes corruption as a design flaw — one that can be fixed.”
Todd Greer, Executive Director of Innovation Portal, writes a detailed LinkedIn review of Incorruptible.
“This is not a book about bad actors. It's a book about hidden forces that cause even great organizations to drift from their values, and how to design businesses that can withstand that pressure. Ries reframes corporate governance — a term that usually makes founders' eyes glaze over — as a creative act, not a compliance exercise.” Todd Greer on LinkedIn
“This profound book will inform and infuriate, and then it will help you see a path forward. It should be required reading for anyone who manages (or has a manager). Gravity is real.”
James Birchler converted his company NICER to a Public Benefit Corporation after reading the book. Eric joined their advisory board.
“About a year ago someone asked me a hard question: what happens to your mission if someone buys you? I realized I was describing a promise — and promises aren't structures. We just formally converted NICER to a Public Benefit Corporation — and one of the first things that followed was Eric Ries joining our advisory board. Profit should follow from making something genuinely good.” James Birchler on LinkedIn
“It was personally validating and cathartic to hear the Twitter story discussed as a function of institutional failure rather than one man’s will. It gives us broader insights into why we continue to see these corrupt actions happen legally.”
“Incorruptible is the only business book I've ever read that weaves "fiduciary duty" and "human flourishing" into a single, convincing argument. Eric Ries shows why so many idealistic founders collide headfirst into a system that turns noble intentions into nasty outcomes—and then he points a way forward. By treating ownership and governance as design problems, and by drawing on vivid case studies of unfashionable but enduring enterprises, Ries offers a bracingly practical vision of how companies can stay true and still win.”
Hacking HR founder Enrique Rubio shares his personal connection to Eric's work ahead of their April 27 LinkedIn Live.
“The Lean Startup changed how I think about building organizations and my own work as a startup leader. I have recommended it more times than I can count. And Eric Ries has shaped not only my life as an entrepreneur, but an entire generation of founders, operators, and leaders. This book asks questions that every business leader should be sitting with right now: Why do organizations that start with a clear mission, strong values, and real purpose slowly drift into something unrecognizable?” Enrique Rubio on LinkedIn
“In this unique moment in time, Eric's book has been a new light for me — a true North Star for a renewed movement that gives me fresh hope. The seed that first drew me to Silicon Valley 25 years ago — the belief that entrepreneurship can improve the common good — is not dead, as I had begun to fear. It is very much alive.”
“If you want to build a company that will be making the world a better place a hundred years from now, it's not enough to be a great person with good intentions—you need to consciously build incorruptible governance. Ries shows you how. Indispensable!”
Eric takes the stage at the Long Now Foundation's Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco as part of the Long Now Talks series — a legendary program launched by Stewart Brand in 02003 that has hosted over 400 leading thinkers on civilization-scale ideas. Moderated by Denise Hearn, Long Now's Director of Strategic Initiatives, the sold-out evening talk explores how today's organizational design choices become either tomorrow's liberating structures or inherited constraints. Ries argues that corruption isn't a moral failing — it's a structural one — and that the solution lies in designing governance mechanisms that are genuinely incorruptible. The Long Now Foundation, famous for thinking on 10,000-year timescales, provides the perfect venue for this argument about building things that last.
“How do we architect accountability mechanisms that outlive their creators, and what governance structures remain resilient across generations?” Long Now Foundation
The recorded talk is now available to watch at longnow.org.
Eric believes that corporate corruption is not a moral failure. It's structural. He calls it 'financial gravity' — the same way a bridge doesn't collapse because it's evil, companies don't betray their missions because their founders are bad people. Their governance structures and financial incentives bend them that way. Some of the 'best practices' we teach in business school actually destroy value. Shareholder primacy? An idea none of us voted on, that we simply inherited — and one that he argues is no longer even good for investors.
source ↗Mission drift is a structural failure, not an ethical one. Ries defines Financial Gravity as the systemic pressure that pulls successful companies away from their purpose. The more successful a company becomes, the more vulnerable its mission is to extraction. Founders often wait until after product-market fit to address governance, but by then, the target is too large to protect. Protective structures must be built into the corporate charter from day one. Success alone will not protect your mission. If you do not design for human flourishing in your legal architecture today, the system will design you out of your mission tomorrow.
source ↗There's a not-so-quiet revolution underway — companies embedding their values through economic and legal structures that advance human flourishing and resist the forces of 'financial gravity.' Many things we take as economic or financial gospel are quite young in the span of human commercial time: today's profit measurements, shareholder primacy, stock buybacks (which were illegal until 1982), and many other business 'best practices' which are actually value destroyers. Lesson: We made all this up, so we can do it differently.
source ↗ “After authoring the most important business book of the 2010s, Eric Ries has done it again. No business book became standard practice more quickly than Eric's first book. If you're a founder, a CEO planning an IPO, an investor seeking epic outcomes—stop now and read this book. It will change your life. Eric unveils the unspoken truths about how to build a legendary success…and how to keep it successful. When will it be seen as founder malpractice to not have read this book?”
A founder reviewer wishes he'd read Incorruptible before starting his company.
“Wish I'd had this before starting my company. Super practical view into how to keep mission-aligned companies working in service of their mission over the long run. Great read.” Kieran on Goodreads
“The Lean Startup taught companies how to move fast. Incorruptible shows them how to go longer and further without losing their way.”
“What if 'maximizing shareholder value' isn't the perfect corporate goal? There's a better true north: human flourishing.”
“Incorruptible is the rare business book that is both a moral compass and a practical playbook. Ries shows us, with rigor and optimism, how to build organizations that are worthy of our trust.”
Eric joins the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at the Leeds School of Business in Boulder, Colorado for the final installment of the spring 2026 Startups & Sandwiches series. Students gathered in Koelbel 218 for a virtual visit covering the ideas behind Incorruptible. Ries challenged the audience to reconsider the foundations of modern business, arguing that shareholder primacy is 'an idea that has basically caused its own intellectual collapse' and that there is now good evidence for how to build organizations that stay true to human flourishing over the long term.
“Most of the ways that I was taught about how companies should be run and structured ultimately leads to them being corrupted. If you want to make change, the first step is to make sure that the actual decisions you make — no matter how immaterial they may seem — are in fact aligned with your values.” CU Boulder Business School
“Incorruptible demonstrates the importance of mission-driven leadership and defying the status quo to build organizations that withstand the test of time. Through Eric's decades of experience building and running businesses, he articulates how companies avoid the traps of corruption and lead with values to thrive as organizations and reshape industries.”
Richard Lucas interviews Eric for the New Books Network's Entrepreneurship & Leadership channel, calling it 'a vital framework for leaders aiming to build enduring, ethical, and successful organizations' and 'a conversation every entrepreneur, founder, and business leader needs to hear.'
“Eric Ries shares how financial 'gravity' pulls great companies away from their founders' purpose, and his solutions in his new book Incorruptible.” Richard Lucas, New Books Network
Eric sits down with the American College of Governance Counsel to make the case for long-term governance reform, applying the book's framework to the specific concerns of corporate governance professionals — the people who actually draft the charters, bylaws, and accountability structures that determine how companies behave over decades.
“Eric Ries: Incorruptible, and the Case for Long-Term Governance Reform” American College of Governance Counsel
“This book could not come at a better time. Silicon Valley is unrecognizable to those of us who came here because we believed technology could be a force for good.”
Steward ownership advocate Nina de Korte discusses how Incorruptible frames corporate corruption as structural rather than ethical — connecting the book's thesis about ownership, incentives, and accountability to the growing movement for steward-owned companies.
“Incorruptible argues that corporate corruption failure is structural rather than ethical — as organizations grow, the systems that govern them quietly reshape behavior.” Nina de Korte on LinkedIn
“After decades as a venture capitalist and then founding Wealthfront, I've learned it's incredibly hard to keep a company truly mission-driven as it scales. Incorruptible is the most practical guide I've seen to doing exactly that. It shows how special leaders built breakthrough business models, cultures, incentives, and governance to insure their mission endured. At a time when Silicon Valley feels increasingly mercenary, this book is a refreshing reminder that idealism and performance are not trade-offs. If you're a founder, investor, or engineer who wants to change the world or build a great enterprise then this book is well worth your time.”
Former NPR host Ari Shapiro reviews Incorruptible. He's been 'telling everyone I know about it.'
“I got an advance copy, and reading it made me so hopeful and excited that I've been telling everyone I know about it. This is not just a book for MBAs or people who work in business. It's for anyone who has wondered, 'Is capitalism fixable?' Eric shows why these companies are not merely good corporate citizens, doing right by their employees and their customers. He argues that these companies actually outperform their competitors. In other words, you don't have to be a morally upstanding businessperson to see the value in the principles he lays out. Anybody who wants to make money should find these ideas intriguing. With Incorruptible, the call is coming from inside the house. The book doesn't encourage a pivot away from profit-making. Quite the contrary — it argues that if you want your business to do well, founders and executives should focus on doing good.” Ari Shapiro's Substack
Shapiro opens by referencing the Norwegian Consumer Council's viral video about 'enshittification,' then walks through Ries's central argument — that companies like Costco, Patagonia, and Duolingo actually outperform their competitors financially. He contrasts positive case studies with cautionary tales of Boeing, Whole Foods, and Polaroid, and highlights Bombas, where founders built a $3.4 billion company while donating over 200 million pairs of socks.
“Once again, Eric Ries has named the pain we all feel acutely but couldn't quite describe, and has proposed a clear and actionable path forward.”
“Incorruptible destroys the myth that only sleazy founders and companies get rich. Eric Ries shows you how to build a mission-driven company that will be humane, ethical, and make piles of money for decades. A rare joy to read.”
“What surprised me was realizing that mission and alignment matter earlier, not later. I used to think uniting a company around a mission was something you do once you've grown. After reading this, I changed how I approach every early decision.”
Divergently founder and TEDx speaker Kendra Koch calls Incorruptible the best work coming out of Silicon Valley today, referencing Patagonia and Costco as proof that companies can do good while being successful.
“The best work coming out of Silicon Valley today is Eric Ries' new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad.” Kendra Koch on LinkedIn
“Every founder eventually faces the board meeting where the mission is on the table. I've been in that room. Eric has too — and this book will help you walk out with your soul intact. Incorruptible is as practical as it is inspiring.”
“As a founder and funder of mission-oriented companies, I've seen many people wrestle with the question of how to build institutions that endure. Eric Ries has written the definitive handbook for exactly this challenge.”
“I was particularly struck by the examples of founders carving their principles into stone only to have invisible countervailing structures prevail over them. The book inspired me to reincorporate as a PBC, and makes me feel optimistic about a future of company building with integrity. It also made me feel less alone in some of my observations about corporate drift.”
“As a mission-driven founder, this is the book I wish I'd had while building. Ries offers both a new vocabulary and concrete, hard-won examples for how to create real value without losing your soul at scale. He explains why mission and massive growth so often end up at odds — and, more importantly, how founders can be intentional about choosing a different path.”
Eric joins Metis Strategy president Peter High for episode 1063 of the Technovation podcast, arguing that corporate corruption rarely begins with bad actors — it emerges from organizational design, governance structures, incentives, and metrics that gradually push companies away from their original mission. High and Ries explore organizations as 'superorganisms' with collective intelligence and moral character.
“Eric argues that corporate corruption rarely begins with bad actors. Instead, it emerges from organizational design — governance structures, incentives, and metrics that gradually push companies away from their original mission.” Technovation Podcast
“As a first-time founder, the only thing I knew about corporate governance was what my lawyer told me. He didn't tell me much. If I'd had the knowledge in Incorruptible up front, it would have helped me structure my company better, and it would have helped me make better and more accountable leadership decisions as we grew.”
“Incorruptible is the kind of book every startup founder should read — especially those building in AI, where the governance decisions you make at the start determine whether your mission survives contact with scale.”
Eric joins Unshackled Ventures partner Shaherose Charania for a live conversation on LinkedIn exploring whether the pressure to scale and the pressure to stay principled are truly in conflict — or whether incorruptible design makes them the same thing.
“Can you actually win, win big, and outcompete by staying principled, in an era where power, money, and compute are concentrating in the hands of a few? Nine VC firms now control half of all venture capital raised in the US. OpenAI just raised $110 billion in a single round.” Shaherose Charania, Unshackled Ventures
“This is an important book for any mission-driven leader or investor. It describes what we all feel: company after company turning their backs on their users and their founding values. It also offers a framework for avoiding that fate, packed with advice, research, and case studies of organizations that have stayed true to their mission and have thrived. It's a timely reminder that enshittification is a choice not an inevitability, that there is a better way, and that you're not alone in trying to find it.”
Denise Hearn, who later moderated Eric's sold-out Long Now talk, shares her review on LinkedIn.
“I was fortunate to be a pre-reader of Eric's new book, Incorruptible. It's a tour de force packed with stories — both the perilous and the pioneering — of founders building organizations that can withstand 'financial gravity' through the seemingly unsexy mechanisms of corporate governance, culture, standard setting, and more. I'm thrilled that Eric's book will be a force multiplier for the space that so many folks have worked hard to build: steward ownership, employee ownership, perpetual purpose trusts, and other alternative corporate governance structures.” Denise Hearn on LinkedIn
“We've thought of the role of business — to make money for shareholders, full stop — as immutable because for most of our lifetimes it has been that way. But a deeper view of history shows that this wasn't always the case, and Ries does a masterful job of outlining an even bolder view for our future.”
“Why human flourishing? It's the only phrase honest enough to capture the true scale of what we're after. Happiness is subjective and easily confused with dopamine hits. Sustainability might connote a low bar of mere survival.”
“The book drove home the stakes of not investing in early governance locks in both a compelling / cautionary and inspirational way.”
“So many founders I've met want to build mission-driven companies but don't know how, or don't even realize it's possible. This book shows them the way.”
“A capitalistic playbook to put human flourishing first.”
“If you want the world to be a better place than it is, this book is a good place to start.”
“Really puts a name and stories to things that are much needed to explain the post lean startup era.”
Unshackled Ventures publishes a detailed essay tying the book's themes to the real-world story of Danny Hicks at Plantible Foods in El Dorado, Texas — arguing that early decisions about values, incentives, and structure are not soft inputs but architectural choices that determine a company's trajectory.
“Early decisions about values, incentives, and structure are not soft inputs. They are architectural choices. Purpose and performance are designed as one system.” Unshackled Ventures
“I've been really caught up the past two years in a fear of scale. I'm fearful of it because I'm responsible for helping my digital creator clients incubate products…and we all know the story: a company grows and loses its soul.”
In their YouTube conversation, Reid Hoffman says Incorruptible has the gravitas of Built to Last but goes further — into a philosophical vision of humanist capitalism and what we're trying to do as human beings.
“Reading this book, I realized it has the gravitas of a super important business book — like Built to Last. How do you build companies that really endure and make a big difference for humanity, for society, not just for shareholders and employees? But it also had me thinking about how we help capitalism evolve in the next century. The humanist capitalism running through the book is extremely important. It has the gravitas of a really important business book, but in the last chapters it also becomes philosophical: here is what we're trying to do as human beings.” Reid Hoffman on The Eric Ries Show (YouTube)
Eric and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman sit down for a candid conversation on The Eric Ries Show about which companies are failing under the pressures of success and scale — and the surprising tactics of companies that are withstanding that pressure and upholding their original missions. Hoffman, who endorsed the book as 'a must-read for anyone who recognizes the importance of trustworthy and enduring institutions for a thriving democracy,' brings his own experience building and investing in some of the world's most influential companies to the discussion.
“Corruption in modern organizations isn't primarily caused by bad people or moral collapse. It's the predictable result of organizations that were never designed to withstand success, scale, or financial pressure.” The Eric Ries Show
“Incorruptible is Eric Ries at his most ambitious and original. He argues that corruption — extracting value from successful companies — results not from moral failure but from flaws in our institutions. Ries shows how organizations can be engineered to resist these flaws. This is a practical manifesto for building mission-driven companies that survive success without killing the golden goose.”
Seedscout founder Mat Sherman writes about how Eric Ries invested $15K in his startup via a three-word email during COVID and became his mentor. Sherman describes the book as examining how successful companies abandon founding principles and offering structural approaches to resist the pressure to compromise.
“I put it out there, then got on my bike and rode for about 15 minutes to Sip Coffee in Old Town Scottsdale. Right before I got there, I received a simple email that said three words: 'I'll do it.' The email was from Eric Ries, the author of The Lean Startup and founder of LTSE.” Forward Thinking by Mat Sherman
“Upon reading the book, I went through my startup investments and re-ranked them based on the mission drive and where we need the most protection. With 3 founders we are implementing a version of Spiritual Holding Co. For my next fund in 2026, finding and strengthening world-changing incorruptible companies is a core thesis.”
“Reviewing Incorruptible got me thinking about the connection between my purpose ('help geeks feel safe in the world') and Eric's mission to make companies safe for their missions.”
“I've read countless business books, but this is the first that had me in tears not out of sadness, but because it gave me hope. Incorruptible is not just a book. It's permission. It's a blueprint. And it's proof that you're not crazy for wanting to build something that's both wildly successful and deeply good, something that lasts. For any founder who truly wants to make a difference, this is a must read.”
“I remember watching your first episode with Sami Inkinen, and pausing the video halfway in complete shock — I never expected anyone in Silicon Valley to say the purpose of corporations is to maximize human flourishing.”
“Culture of all kinds is shaped by what becomes popular, what gets amplified, what earns attention -- and right now, the stories that dominate are of companies that treat their workers, customers, and communities as things to be exploited. Eric Ries offers the opposite: stories of companies that lead with mission, treat people right, and make more money because of it, not in spite of it.”
“As someone who has never lived in the world of corporate boardrooms and profit margins, reading about how most companies actually operate was eye-opening. It was unsettling to realize how often businesses begin with good intentions, only to slowly trade those values for higher profits. Incorruptible offers a glimmer of hope. It showed me that success does not have to come at the cost of integrity and that some companies have proved you can build wealth without sacrificing your initial purpose. Incorruptible offers a blueprint for something better: a system where ethics lead, people matter, and profitability follows.”
“What resonated most for me is how this goes well beyond the familiar cautionary, tragic tales. While it holds the weight of what can go wrong and how, it also offers a deeply practical 'how' for preserving the soul and mission of organizations as they grow. It moves past culture and investor mindset alone and points to real structural protections--intentional, concrete choices that allow core values to be sustained over time, and across generations of leaders.”
“Incorruptible is the first thing to make me hopeful about the future of Silicon Valley in over a decade. I've been both burned by and burnt out due to the perverse incentives, particularly of venture capital. Incorruptible has been the first glimmer of daylight to help frame what I want to do next. It's reframed my pessimism as optimism when it comes to thinking about corporate governance. Hell, it's actually gotten me excited about how to help empower other founders to successfully instill the values they hold in the companies they build!”
“This book nearly brought me to tears. There's a particular relief in reading it — the relief of finally seeing someone lay out, with clarity and depth, what so many of us have felt but couldn't quite articulate.”
“In Incorruptible, Eric takes on his most ambitious challenge yet. This isn't about building faster or scaling smarter. It's about building companies that can stay true to their mission through growth, crisis, and succession. Drawing on his experience founding the Long-Term Stock Exchange and advising companies like Airbnb, Cloudflare, and GitLab, Ries reveals why mission drift is inevitable under conventional governance — and how to design organizations with the structural integrity to resist it. The most radical idea in business isn't disruption. It's integrity. Incorruptible reframes profit as the maximization of human flourishing and provides a practical manual for creating 'mission-controlled' companies — organizations with governance strong enough to preserve their values when it matters most. The companies that will dominate the next century won't just move fast and break things. They'll be built to last — and built to stay true.”
“Thank you for exposing 'financial gravity' as the force that crushes the better instincts of investors, board members, executives, and employees. I've seen financial gravity cause harm time and again. And, while I'm ashamed to say it, I've made short-term decisions that borrowed from the future while under the influence of that same force. On my next venture I look forward to trying some of the structural remedies suggested in this book.”
“Some days trying to build a company to change the world feels impossible and even stupid. Eric was the first person to tell me that building a complex system to solve a complex problem was ok, and even good--and that I was capable of doing it. This book took it a step further. I really saw that I don't have to do this alone and I came up with some really exciting ideas on how to make the parents, teachers and education entrepreneurs who use Modulo direct participants in shaping the evolution of the company and stakeholders in its success. It gave me a path forward to not trying to do this alone--and to make our impact so much more powerful than I could ever shape alone.”
“I have been a part of companies that have been through the value extraction cycle. All of your cautionary tales are what I have lived through. While I suspect it's too late for many companies, this book has given me criteria to look for in my next venture to ensure that we are able to stay true to our mission from the beginning.”
“In a time of global imbalance, where success is often measured exclusively in terms of money, market share, and short-term profits, I see Incorruptible as a wake-up call for our collective consciousness. It challenges deeply embedded assumptions about what success means and invites us to rethink the purpose of entrepreneurship itself. Through Incorruptible, I've found concrete examples and guidance that help me support founders and teams in fundamentally rethinking how they build companies--moving away from purely profit-driven models toward organizations designed to generate long-term, positive impact for society and the planet.”
“While there will always be a healthy market for extractive businesses, and a decent market for performative goodness, this book woke me up to why one would want to create a life-giving business: it's the highest expression of personal freedom and power, thus thrilling. But most compelling, going 'incorruptible' improves the demographic of the people you get to live out your years with, and that puts you in whole other universe.”
“What changed for me was understanding that even a simple business decision like product curation is not a retreat from choice but an act of service. When businesses overwhelm consumers with endless options they neither differentiate their products nor demonstrate care for their customers' time and clarity. To be incorruptible is to recognise that restraint is respect and that what we choose not to offer matters as much as what we do.”
“This is the first leadership book for founders I've encountered that truly goes all the way--recognizing an unseen intelligence that shapes reality, and showing how a company and its ethos, when aligned with that intelligence, can create outsized impact on human flourishing. As I stand on the threshold of restructuring my own company into a Trust / For-Profit hybrid model, I'm deeply grateful to know I won't be walking this path alone.”
Unshackled Ventures partner Shaherose Charania writes a deeply personal LinkedIn post tracing her 15-year relationship with Eric — from the early Lean Startup days and Women 2.0 / Founder Labs to this new partnership. She frames the collaboration around a conviction that purpose and performance are mutually reinforcing, not in tension.
“I am excited to share that Eric Ries is joining us at Unshackled Ventures as an 'Incorruptible' Partner. Companies anchored in mission, not just metrics, are six times more likely to survive and thrive over time. Purpose and performance are not in tension. They are mutually reinforcing.” Shaherose Charania on LinkedIn
In one of the first public signals of the book's themes entering the venture world, Ries joins Unshackled Ventures in a new role explicitly named after the book. The partnership is built around a shared conviction that founders who care about both purpose and performance deserve support from day zero — bringing Lean Startup methodology, mission-definition guidance, and incorruptible governance principles to founders at the earliest stage. Ries's research for the book found that companies anchored in deep, durable missions are six times more likely to survive and consistently deliver superior long-term value creation.
“Companies like Cloudflare, Devoted Health, Costco, Patagonia, GitLab have created deeply loyal customers, truly happy employees, and they outperformed their competition.” Unshackled Ventures
