Eric Ries helped redefine how a generation of entrepreneurs built products. With The Lean Startup, he made experimentation and disciplined learning part of the founder’s toolkit. His new book, ‘Incorruptible,’ asks a harder question: what happens after a company succeeds?
In this Prosper Live with Prosper founder and CEO Nick Perrett, Ries examines why organisations so often drift from the values, products and people that made them successful. His argument reaches beyond culture. Ownership, governance and control can determine whether a company’s mission survives growth and changing leadership.
The discussion ranges from the rise of shareholder primacy to companies that have chosen different structures. Costco, Anthropic, Patagonia, Novo Nordisk and Zeiss each offer examples of how trusts, foundations and other governance mechanisms can protect a wider conception of value.
Ries also makes the economic case for mission-driven companies. Benefits created for customers, employees and communities are often treated as external to the financial model, even when they strengthen resilience and long-term performance.
For founders and investors, the conversation is a useful reminder that corporate incentives are designed rather than ordained and can therefore be designed differently.