I've noticed a lot of founders are building bigger and bigger things and still calling it MVP. Thoughts on how to focus the energy to more customer development than product development early on? Wasn't that the point? Focus on the high risk part?
I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA
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Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA
#82Any examples of corrupted companies that you’d like to share? I’m especially curious about your thoughts on Meta and Google, the biggest startups of their time and how they evolved.
I write about both companies (briefly) in the book. I've noticed in the comments I get from readers that people still feel very tenderly towards Google, remembering that incredible sense of idealism they instilled in so many of us when they went public. So I had to be very careful what I wrote about Google; I actually mostly left the critique to ex-Google employees, by quoting a dataset of people who had been at Goog…
> So I had to be very careful what I wrote about Google
Can you say more about this? Do you think those tender feelings towards Google track some strain of values which Google still carries? Or does this statement reflect some fear of retaliation or conflict that would drown out the rest of your message?
Genuinely interested in how you think about this, especially in the context of this new book’s topic. Thank you for this AMA.
Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA
#83To what extent are the mechanisms you identified causing companies to go bad the same for non-profits, associations, political parties, etc.?
Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA
#84does this apply for a company of every type? does it work for companies like apple as well?
Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA
#85What does "Best Seller" mean in this context? Who says it's a best seller?
Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA
#86First, I have not read the book.
You mentioned Novo Nordisk, but given the current context and so many changes that employees/company has undergone recently and the way it is performing, do you still think that it was a good example to include here. What factors played for it to suddenly undergo so much when you have mentioned they have been structured to resist gravity and thrive for decades -- or even centuries?
Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA
#87It will be interesting to see how many of those companies remain "incorruptible". Your new book seems a bit like a sequel to Jim Collins's 2001 book Good to Great. Several of the "great" companies including Circuit City, Fannie Mae, and Wells Fargo later ran into serious problems. And from an investor perspective, as a group they have underperformed the S&P 500.
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/good-to-great-jim-col...
Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
I want to distinguish between a mission and a mission statement. I will not help you wordsmith your mission statement. I frankly don't think it matters. But a great mission generally combines three things: 1. a long-term commitment to maximize some aspect of human flourishing (in the book I explain how this is the true definition of what it means to create a for-profit venture) 2. a set of values that include a deter…
"1. a long-term commitment to maximize some aspect of human flourishing (in the book I explain how this is the true definition of what it means to create a for-profit venture" How does this square with the widely taught business-school definition of a for-profit entity being something that aims to maximize shareholder value?
Not eries (obviously) but if you switch out shareholder for stakeholder i.e. maximise stakeholder value, you gain a wider set of responsibilities more aligned with Eric's comment. This is in itself not a new idea, it partly emerged out of the work of R. Edward Freeman. His original book on stakeholder management was published in 1984 and over the last decade has become at least a regular discussion topic at many business schools. However, the idea needs to gain far more momentum. Hopeful Eric Reis's new book also helps move the discussions forward - looking forward to reading it.
Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA
#89[edit] Removed as my link was to a different Eric Ries.
Wrong Eric Ries? The writer of that blog claims to be a 65 yo Baby Boomer (would be 67 today), the one here is much younger than that iirc.
Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA
#90> how a handful of companies (like Costco[..]) have successfully been structured to resist gravity "I came to (Jim Sinegal) once and I said, ‘Jim, we can’t sell this hot dog for a buck fifty," Jelineck recalled[..]. "We are losing our rear ends.’ And he said, ‘If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you." That's not structure, that's leadership. They were about to change the price, but one guy at the top with au…
Are you using Vale? Or is this just default Fable?