Great products alone can’t guarantee a company’s survival. Over the years, investors and board members often swoop in once a product shows promise, replacing founders and eroding the culture that made that product great. I’ve watched startups and scaleups lose their mission when leadership gets traded for short-term gains. Even when I’ve pleaded with boards to stick with founders through a rough quarter, they focus on immediate financial metrics, not long-term value or customer trust. Eric Ries’s new book, Incorruptible, tackles this exact problem through the lens of corporate governance. He lays out alternative structures—“mission-locked” models—that keep companies true to their founding purpose, regardless of which investors come on board. Ries argues that traditional governance, designed by lawyers and business schools, can actually leave a company vulnerable to hostile takeovers and culture decay. He points to real-world examples of companies that have built these safeguards from day one. If you’re starting a business or leading product development, understanding these governance options could be as important as your product roadmap.