I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible"

Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

#251

Post by eries » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 6:31 PM UTC

throwaway132448 wrote: post #38

Why do you anthropomorphize companies? Is it to absolve individuals of responsibility? > We've all experienced watching a company we love or admire be warped and broken beyond recognition; until it's a husk of its former self, or worse. I wanted to understand why. And I wanted to know what all of us can do to stop that from happening.

I happen to think that organizations are literally alive. They are superorganisms. To be more scientifically accurate, they are examples of the class of beings which are "emergent intelligence."

I don't think there's any way to talk about this without running into the problem of anthropomorphization. So I tried to be really careful with it in the book. You'll have to judge for yourself if you think I got it right.

And I'm especially sensitive to the question of accountability because you're right: today we mostly want to see these problems as being done by individual villains, because at least we can hold individuals accountable. How well is that going? It seems like we are breeding a class of people that are completely above accountability. I don't think that's tenable. I think in the long run, this system will collapse if it cannot hold the people responsible for atrocities accountable.

Personally, I think the best way to do this is to understand the systems that are causing these behaviors today so that we can locate responsibility in the right place.

Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

#252

Post by danielovichdk » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 6:31 PM UTC

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #213

The founders and business models of Costco, Patagonia and Novo Nordisk are so radically different from so-called "tech startup" founders^1 that one must consider this in any analysis 1. Who lack a legitimate business model hence have resorted to "data collection from/about computer users, surveillance of computer users even when engaged in non-commercial activity and online advertising services" with generally free,…

"The people that start "tech" companies are often soulless and maladapted to society, having hid behind computers to escape their inability to deal with the real world".

Yes. Of course.

You cannot trust anyone to have a rounded mind unless they have actually done more than one thing, broadly speaking.

Having worked at one of these companies, I don't buy for one second, that these companies are not obsessed with financial benefit. You would be an absolute idiot to believe that.

Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

#253

Post by logannyeMD » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 6:32 PM UTC

No question, really - just wanted to say thanks for evangelizing this topic. I'm originally a medical doctor who converted to the ways of computer science, now a founder in the bio space. One thing I've consistently wrestled with is how to structurally defend our company's ability to "first, do no harm." I think the misguided incentives you raise warning about are also the primary reason for the defects we see in our (American) healthcare system today, particularly with the grievances toward big pharma and the insurance industry. So I was pumped watching your interview with Garry a few weeks back, currently working on applying it to our own little lemonade stand.

Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

#254

Post by mandeepj » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 6:33 PM UTC

eries wrote: post #166

mandeepj wrote: post #119

Eric - enjoyed your talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VKliOQXQ9M&t=1s . What can a founder do to safeguard his position, interests, and company? A couple of things that come to my mind are: have an aligned/friendly board who believe in you; second, have dual-class shares (like Meta, SpaceX, Google). Anything else you would like to add?

I wrote a whole book about it :)

Ha! I should have seen that coming :-)

Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

#255

Post by tonymet » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 6:33 PM UTC

eries wrote: post #249

tonymet wrote: post #39

HR has been receiving a lot of positive and negative attention over the last 8 years, culminating lately with some CEOs notably eliminating the HR org entirely. Do you see HR as a positive , negative or mixed force for driving “Incorruptibility “ ?

There's a whole chapter on this. I actually hate the phrase "human resources," because of course part of the problem with our modern world is that we are treating human beings as a resource to be mined. If people had paid more attention to the pioneering management theorist, Mary Parker Follett, who wrote more than a century ago, we wouldn't be in this mess. But of course, her work was almost entirely erased and forg…

thanks for the lead I'll read more.

Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

#256

Post by storus » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 6:33 PM UTC

tonymet wrote: post #246

storus wrote: post #218

Wouldn't simple (political) ponerology describe why does this happen to companies? It's the source of "hard times produce strong people, strong people produce good times..." cycle, and the observation that people who want to live easy lives embracing dark triad patterns slowly rise to the top, gaming perf stats, "playing the game", transforming the company/society underneath in the process.

that's cynical. companies aren't monoliths. there are constant struggles over priorities, resources , etc.

It might be somewhat cynical yet it seems to be fitting what is happening right now at Meta and previously happened at Amazon.

Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

#257

Post by eries » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 6:33 PM UTC

damnitbuilds wrote: post #195

Books like this are for tech bros what horoscopes are for sad old ladies. They are full of platitudes that sound relevant to people's problems and desires, that pretend to be based on science but have no actual basis in facts, provably do not work, and yet are still popular amongst the people they let down again and again. Anyone who could write a book with advice that worked the way this purports to would be too ric…

My friend, I know you think this is a criticism. It's pretty obvious that you haven't read the book. I'd encourage you to do so, or at least ask yourself, "Why are you commenting on a book you haven't read?" The answer must be that you're upset about a different book or about a whole class of books that have done you wrong. That's fair. I know what you're talking about. But for what it's worth, I tried really hard to make this book different. If you check the end notes, you'll see that I drew on quite a lot of research to try and make a series of evidence-based claims.

And if you really want to live in a world where people should be listened to on the basis of how rich they are, well, you don't really need to change anything, now do you?

Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

#258

Post by eries » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 6:34 PM UTC

throwaway132448 wrote: post #79

eries wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't want to be seen as trying to co-opt Cory's thesis or (very memorable) phrase. His critique is more focused on the tech industry and its particular illness at this time. I wanted a word that was much broader, capturing how this tech behavior is one symptom of a larger illness that has been afflicting our economy for some time. So I settled on the old-fashioned term "corruption"

Do you not think using a word in this way undermines its actual meaning?

Meanings are contested. The way I use the word is much closer to the way our grandparents used the word than our modern usage. How did it change? Could it change back? I think so.

Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

#259

Post by dzonga » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 6:35 PM UTC

hi Eric, the 'lean startup' & the work you & Steve Blank did was revolutionary in terms of getting products to market quicker.

what are the 'slower' go to market channels that you've seen produce sustainable results also producing sustainable businesses. not the come fast, die fast kind ?

Re: I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

#260

Post by arpinum » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 6:41 PM UTC

eries wrote: post #192

arpinum wrote: post #173

My book arrived today. Q1: You have done a few friendly interviews on YouTube, but I haven't seen one that challenges you much. Do you know if there are upcoming interviews that you found pushed back? Q2: Is the idea of shareholder supremacy fundamentally at odds with your with your preferred alternative governance structures, or is it just a time preference and risk attitude issue? Q3: You will get sympathetic ears…

Honestly, there hasn't been that much pushback, and I've done something like 200 interviews for the book. I think it might have to do with the fact that we all secretly kind of agree with this thesis, even though we know we're not supposed to say so out loud. I'm sure there will be some pushback coming, especially if the book starts to become more popular or gets more famous. Though I did get a pretty funny piece of…

Q3: Direct question: Have journalists and their industries been similarly corrupted from their proclaimed mission to communicate the truth? Do the issues in other groups of people (charity, religion, sport league) share the same root causes, or is the source of corporate corruption unique or at a different scale?