How to build a company that withstands any era | Eric Ries, Lean Startup author

All kinds of famous companies. That destroyed them was not competition. Their very success became a liability. I want to hear the Open AI versus anthropic story. The boom hadn't happened yet, ChatGPT hadn't been invented yet. I told them, look, if you don't get this right, here's what They were very determined to do something about it. They wrote into their charter Anthropic has directors on its for-profit board who are appointed by and are accountable to an outside group of trustees who are AI safety experts who do not have equity in Anthrop. Whenever you see Anthropic do the right thing, like when they refuse to release a model because they think it's too dangerous. Think about how much that's costing them. This new book, Incorruptible, is about helping you protect what you've built. What is it that you need protection from? We all know this force. I call it the force that

No one controls but everyone obeys. That tends to drag organizations down into mediocrity to the point that we lose control of that. What's a broad stroke solution to this? Harder is easier. If you're willing to be principled in your decision making. You will get these unexpected rewards. But most leaders, when asked to defend their principles, can't do it because they've been taught ROI based thinking shareholder primacy. That's the path of maximum profitability. That's enough. Today my guest is Eric Reese, author of the most influential and impactful book in startup history, The Lean Startup. Today he is back with a new book. Fifteen years later.

called incorruptible why good companies go bad and how great companies stay great. The way Eric describes the connection between these two books is that the lean startup was about helping you build a successful company, and this book is about helping you protect what you've built. Eric wrote this book because he's seen way too many founders lose control of their company. And end up being very disappointed and depressed about how things turned out. This is not something that you hear a lot about, but it's a problem that basically every successful founder will face. Eric shares a ton of powerful stories and specific tactics. and very specific advice for what you need to understand and do as a founder if you want to build something lasting.

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