From lean startups to spiritual holding companies: The education of Eric Ries

Eric Ries, who inspired many a founder with his book The Lean Startup and went on to found the Long-Term Stock Exchange, joins Amy Cortese on this Agents of Impact podcast. Ries has wrapped up what he’s learned in a new book “Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great.” Many of the so-called best practices in corporate governance, he says, actually destroy value, and Silicon Valley founders ignore governance until it's too late,. Amy speaks with Eric about "spiritual holding companies" — think perpetual purpose trusts, employee ownership trusts and industrial foundations that put a check on for-profit boards. Human flourishing, he says, not profit maximization, should be the true purpose of companies. He has some ideas of how to build organizations that can resist both inside temptations and outside pressure to betray their missions.

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From lean startups to spiritual holding companies: The education of Eric Ries is an episode from Returns on Investment by Impact Alpha.

This episode is 00:39:37 long.

This episode was published on May 19, 2026.

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