
Why success destroys the companies we love, with Eric Ries
From Rapid Response by WaitWhat
May 26, 2026 · 48 min
About this episode
Eric Ries discusses the flaws in current business assumptions and the undervalued asset of courage in entrepreneurship.
What if the way we think about business value, trust, and capitalism itself is fundamentally broken? Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup changed how a generation of entrepreneurs build companies. Now, Ries takes aim at some of the most sacred business assumptions today in his new book, Incorruptible. Ries joins Rapid Response to share what he witnessed firsthand in the clash between Anthropic and the US government, and why he believes the current system is failing the very people it's supposed to serve. He also brings in-the-trenches stories from Cloudflare, Novo Nordisk, and Whole Foods to make the case that courage, not capital, may be the most undervalued asset in business right now. Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
People in this episode
Guest: Eric Ries
Topics covered
- business value
- trust
- capitalism
- entrepreneurship
- courage in business
Keywords
- business
- entrepreneurship
- capitalism
- trust
- courage
- The Lean Startup
- Incorruptible
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Anthropic, Cloudflare, Novo Nordisk, Whole Foods
Books & works: The Lean Startup, Incorruptible
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