The Investor Relations Podcast (Joshua Wilson) — Eric on the Harvard Law study: 'Everyone thinks they're part of the 20% exception'

A launch-day conversation aimed squarely at founders raising capital. Eric walks host Joshua Wilson through the argument that success itself makes a company a target, and cites the Harvard Law School finding that only a fifth of venture-backed founders are still CEO three years after an IPO. A video version was posted to the show's YouTube channel in October.

“The vast majority of companies eventually encounter this gravitational pressure to conform, to abandon the spark, to lose what made them special. And in the book I quote a Harvard Law School study that shows that among venture-backed companies who have standard governance like this, who follow all the best practices, only 20% of founders will still be CEO three years after an IPO. Everyone thinks they're part of the 20% exception, but statistically speaking, you're much more likely to be part of the 80% that is gone. Enough. Enough of this. It's absurd.” — Eric Ries on The Investor Relations Podcast