From Start-Up to Grown-Up · 2026-06-01 · 49 min
What if the biggest threat to your company is not competition, but the systems everyone told you to trust? In this episode, Alisa Cohn sits down with Eric Ries, creator of the Lean Startup methodology and bestselling author of The Lean Startup, The Startup Way, and Incorruptible, for a conversation about leadership, corporate governance, innovation, and why so many modern companies lose their way as they grow. Eric unpacks the dangerous side of “best practices,” why shareholder primacy often destroys long-term value, and how financial pressure quietly reshapes company culture from the inside out. He also shares the untold story behind Costco’s governance model, why Anthropic’s structure matters in the AI race, and what founders misunderstand about speed, alignment, and leadership integrity.
121: Founder Mode on Bitcoin: Double the Volatility, Double the Stakes | Will Reeves, Co-Founder and CEO of Fold67 / 100
120: Miro's Founder on Reinventing a 100-Million-User Company | Andrey Khusid, Founder of Miro
118: Josh Reeves, Co-Founder and CEO of Gusto, The 3-Part Alignment Framework Every Founder Needs Before Their Next Hire [ENCORE]
117: Jyoti Bansal, Two-Time Founder, How to Win the AI Race Before Your Competitors Catch Up
116: Gina Bianchini, Founder of Mighty Networks, Stop Building an Audience. Build Community Instead [ENCORE]