by THE Author of New York Times Bestseller The Lean Startup

Incorruptible

Success alone won't protect what matters most

Drawing on two decades of work with founders, CEOs, and investors, bestselling author Eric Ries exposes the forces that make companies vulnerable to short-term thinking.

Incorruptible offers the blueprint for organizations that can grow, prosper, and endure without losing their soul. Whether you’re a founder, executive, investor, or citizen, this book will fundamentally change how you build companies.

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A note from Eric

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“The Lean Startup helps entrepreneurs create valuable organizations, and Incorruptible covers how and why to protect them.

This book is the manual I wish I'd had when countless founders and leaders first came to me. It's the culmination of everything I've learned about why good companies go bad and how great companies stay great.”

-Eric Ries, Author of The Lean Startup

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Reviews

Reid Hoffman

"Incorruptible is a must-read for any founder, board member, investor, or consumer who cares about protecting entrepreneurship, innovation, and the productive power of capitalism from the dangers of short-term thinking—and for anyone who recognizes the importance of trustworthy and enduring institutions for a thriving democracy."

Reid Hoffman

Co-Founder of LinkedIn & bestselling author of Superagency

Frances Frei

Incorruptible is the rare business book that is both a moral compass and a practical playbook. Ries shows us, with rigor and optimism, how to build organizations that are worthy of our trust.”

Frances Frei

UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management, Harvard Business School

Kim Scott

“If you want to build a company that will be making the world a better place a hundred years from now, it’s not enough to be a great person with good intentions–you need to consciously build incorruptible governance. Ries shows you how. Indispensable!”

Kim Scott

Bestselling author of Radical Candor

Leah Busque

“As a mission-driven founder, this is the book I wish I’d had while building. Ries offers both a new vocabulary and concrete, hard-won examples for how to create real value without losing your soul at scale. He explains why mission and massive growth so often end up at odds—and, more importantly, how founders can be intentional about choosing a different path."

Leah Busque

Founder of TaskRabbit

Vlada Bortnik

Incorruptible is not just a book. It's permission. It's a blueprint. And it's proof that you're not crazy for wanting to build something that's both wildly successful and deeply good, something that lasts. For any founder who truly wants to make a difference, this is a must read."

Vlada Bortnik

Founder & CEO of Marco Polo

Mark Cuban

"Every founder hopes their path is a straight line. It won't be. They hope they will have the right mentor to help them avoid problems. They won't. Eric Ries gives founders a playbook to help avoid the inevitable pitfalls and find your path to the business you set out to create.”

Mark Cuban

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About The Author

Over the last two decades, Eric Ries’s ideas about continuous innovation, long-term thinking, governance, and market reform have reshaped company building and management practices. He is the creator of the Lean Startup method, and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup; The Leader’s Guide; and The Startup Way.

As a founder, he has put his own ideas into practice with The Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE); Answer.AI, an AI R&D lab; the Lean Startup Co, which teaches and supports the implementation of Lean Startup; Virgil, a legal services startup; and IMVU, where the ideas that became the Lean Startup method were forged. On his podcast, The Eric Ries Show, he talks to guests including world-class technologists, thought leaders, and executives working to build profitable companies for the long-term benefit of society. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and three children.

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