INCORRUPTIBLE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Matt James, Commissioning Editor at Bonnier Books UK, announces the Penguin Random House UK edition of Incorruptible, calling it 'a truly radical book which uncovers the urgent need for purpose-driven business in a world lacking integrity.' The UK edition publishes May 28, two days after the US launch.

“This is a truly radical book which uncovers the urgent need for purpose-driven business in a world lacking integrity.” Matt James, Bonnier Books UK

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

Eric delivers a fireside chat at OGR Torino in Turin, Italy as part of the Scaleup Summit, sharing reflections on the relationship between innovation, sustainable growth, and long-term vision. The event launches OGR Bridging Growth — a six-month program by Fondazione CRT and Mind the Bridge to accelerate 15 startups internationally, culminating in a CEO Retreat in Silicon Valley. Ries previews themes from Incorruptible, arguing that the systems designed to build companies often end up destroying their souls.

“What’s Next After Lean: Building Incorruptible Companies” OGR Torino / Mind the Bridge

Eric announces the launch of the official book website on LinkedIn, crediting design firm Wunderdogs and cover artist Marcus Gosling for translating the book's ideas about organizational integrity into a visual identity. The post sparks immediate pre-orders and a conversation about building mission-driven companies in the AI era.

“Building a website for a book about organizational integrity meant finding an aligned brand partner. They know how to translate what a company stands for into something people can actually see and resonate with.” Eric Ries on LinkedIn

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