Episode

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

Podcast
ImpactAlpha Podcasts
Published
May 19, 2026
Duration seconds
2377
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/impact-alpha/episodes/From-lean-startups-to-spiritual-holding-companies-The-education-of-Eric-Ries-e3jinbv
Audio
https://anchor.fm/s/1441a1e0/podcast/play/120199999/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-4-19%2F747deda7-4800-6d19-1dde-304553ac8862.m4a
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/impactalpha-podcasts-606137/episodes/from-lean-startups-to-spiritual-holding-companies-the-education-of-eric-ries
Markdown
/podcast/impactalpha-podcasts-606137/from-lean-startups-to-spiritual-holding-companies-the-education-of-eric-ries.md

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Summary

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.