Eric Ries

@eric-ries · 24 positions · On ppll ↗

Author of The Lean Startup and Incorruptible, and founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, who advises companies on corporate governance and mission protection.

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What Eric Ries says most about

AI alignment 3

Letting shareholders govern AI means whoever can borrow the most money controls the technology, and that cannot be how it works.
The number one unsolved problem in AI is not technical alignment but human alignment, because we cannot agree on the values to align to.

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startups 3

Only a fifth of venture-backed founders are still CEO three years after going public, and the standard documents their lawyers gave them are why.
The corporate best practices lawyers and bankers push on founders are younger than the trees in the local park.

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design 2

Harder is easier: committing up front to quality, ethics or safety pays back in rewards you cannot get by chasing the reward.
Adding ants to a puzzle makes it get solved faster while adding humans makes it worse, unless the humans are carefully aligned.

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investing 2

Becoming a public benefit corporation does not make you the good guys, but it does stop investors suing you for pursuing your stated purpose.
Foundation-owned companies are six times more likely to reach their fiftieth year, and they return more to investors rather than less.

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venture capital 2

Only a fifth of venture-backed founders are still CEO three years after going public, and the standard documents their lawyers gave them are why.
Every founder on standard documents has already signed a charter obliging them to sell their company to the buyer they would least want to have it.

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