StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Nov 8, 2017 · 24m · 20vc

20VC: The Lean Startup's Eric Ries on The Missing Function of Entrepreneurship in Most Companies, Creating A New Accountability Paradigm & How To Structure Promotions and Compensation In The New Structure

Eric Ries · 16m spoken Harry Stebbings · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The 20 Minute VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews renowned author and entrepreneur Eric Ries about embedding entrepreneurship as a core organizational discipline and reforming corporate accountability systems. Ries shares insights on shifting away from legacy management models to foster continuous innovation in companies of all sizes.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Harry holds 30.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Harry as informed peer 2.3 Guest teaching 4.3 Guest disagreement 1.3 Harry pushing back 1.3
05100:0010:0020:002:38–11:43 · Harry as informed peer 2/10 The Origins of The Lean Startup & Reaching Product-Market Fit Harry acts primarily as an appreciative interviewer, asking open-ended questions about Eric's career and book concepts. Eric educates Harry on historical corporate structures, detailing Alfred Sloan's 1920s matrix management blueprint at General Motors and explaining why traditional forecasting fails in entrepreneurial settings. The dynamic is respectful, collaborative, and conversational.11:43–20:03 · Harry as informed peer 3/10 Building Accountability, Career Equity, and Compensation Frameworks Harry asks targeted operational questions regarding corporate culture, budget unbundling, and executive promotion pipelines. Eric delivers detailed analysis on career equity versus financial equity, metered funding models, and the internal incentives that encourage project delays. While Eric calls out corporate meritocracy as a myth, the tone towards the host remains friendly and instructive.20:03–22:39 · Harry as informed peer 2/10 Quick-Fire Round: Insights, Culture, and Future Plans Harry drives a rapid-fire sequence of lighthearted questions on personal recommendations, daily routines, and culture definitions. Eric responds with humorous caveats about his lack of brevity and brief answers on corporate culture and manifestos. The segment is swift, casual, and highly amicable.2:38–11:43 · Guest teaching 5/10 The Origins of The Lean Startup & Reaching Product-Market Fit Harry acts primarily as an appreciative interviewer, asking open-ended questions about Eric's career and book concepts. Eric educates Harry on historical corporate structures, detailing Alfred Sloan's 1920s matrix management blueprint at General Motors and explaining why traditional forecasting fails in entrepreneurial settings. The dynamic is respectful, collaborative, and conversational.11:43–20:03 · Guest teaching 6/10 Building Accountability, Career Equity, and Compensation Frameworks Harry asks targeted operational questions regarding corporate culture, budget unbundling, and executive promotion pipelines. Eric delivers detailed analysis on career equity versus financial equity, metered funding models, and the internal incentives that encourage project delays. While Eric calls out corporate meritocracy as a myth, the tone towards the host remains friendly and instructive.20:03–22:39 · Guest teaching 2/10 Quick-Fire Round: Insights, Culture, and Future Plans Harry drives a rapid-fire sequence of lighthearted questions on personal recommendations, daily routines, and culture definitions. Eric responds with humorous caveats about his lack of brevity and brief answers on corporate culture and manifestos. The segment is swift, casual, and highly amicable.2:38–11:43 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Origins of The Lean Startup & Reaching Product-Market Fit Harry acts primarily as an appreciative interviewer, asking open-ended questions about Eric's career and book concepts. Eric educates Harry on historical corporate structures, detailing Alfred Sloan's 1920s matrix management blueprint at General Motors and explaining why traditional forecasting fails in entrepreneurial settings. The dynamic is respectful, collaborative, and conversational.11:43–20:03 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Building Accountability, Career Equity, and Compensation Frameworks Harry asks targeted operational questions regarding corporate culture, budget unbundling, and executive promotion pipelines. Eric delivers detailed analysis on career equity versus financial equity, metered funding models, and the internal incentives that encourage project delays. While Eric calls out corporate meritocracy as a myth, the tone towards the host remains friendly and instructive.20:03–22:39 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Quick-Fire Round: Insights, Culture, and Future Plans Harry drives a rapid-fire sequence of lighthearted questions on personal recommendations, daily routines, and culture definitions. Eric responds with humorous caveats about his lack of brevity and brief answers on corporate culture and manifestos. The segment is swift, casual, and highly amicable.2:38–11:43 · Harry pushing back 1/10 The Origins of The Lean Startup & Reaching Product-Market Fit Harry acts primarily as an appreciative interviewer, asking open-ended questions about Eric's career and book concepts. Eric educates Harry on historical corporate structures, detailing Alfred Sloan's 1920s matrix management blueprint at General Motors and explaining why traditional forecasting fails in entrepreneurial settings. The dynamic is respectful, collaborative, and conversational.11:43–20:03 · Harry pushing back 2/10 Building Accountability, Career Equity, and Compensation Frameworks Harry asks targeted operational questions regarding corporate culture, budget unbundling, and executive promotion pipelines. Eric delivers detailed analysis on career equity versus financial equity, metered funding models, and the internal incentives that encourage project delays. While Eric calls out corporate meritocracy as a myth, the tone towards the host remains friendly and instructive.20:03–22:39 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Quick-Fire Round: Insights, Culture, and Future Plans Harry drives a rapid-fire sequence of lighthearted questions on personal recommendations, daily routines, and culture definitions. Eric responds with humorous caveats about his lack of brevity and brief answers on corporate culture and manifestos. The segment is swift, casual, and highly amicable.

speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Harry 97% · guest 3%0:00 · Harry 97% · guest 3%3:00 · Harry 23.2% · guest 76.8%3:00 · Harry 23.2% · guest 76.8%6:00 · Harry 7% · guest 93%6:00 · Harry 7% · guest 93%9:00 · Harry 14.7% · guest 85.3%9:00 · Harry 14.7% · guest 85.3%12:00 · Harry 0% · guest 100%12:00 · Harry 0% · guest 100%15:00 · Harry 5.4% · guest 94.6%15:00 · Harry 5.4% · guest 94.6%18:00 · Harry 20% · guest 80%18:00 · Harry 20% · guest 80%21:00 · Harry 56.5% · guest 43.5%21:00 · Harry 56.5% · guest 43.5%24:00 · Harry 100% · guest 0%24:00 · Harry 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:40 Calling BS on corporate meritocracy

Eric rejects standard corporate claims about encouraging good ideas from anywhere, calling BS on modern meritocracy concepts.

 Hardest push from Harry ▶ 11:43 Challenging fear vs accountability dynamic

Harry presses Eric on the core operational conflict of introducing true accountability into corporate structures without introducing widespread culture fear.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 16:50 Exposing incentives for delaying project launches

Eric educates Harry on corporate game theory, demonstrating how standard budget entitlement structures systematically reward managers for delaying product launches.

 Harry holds his own ▶ 15:24 Proposing budget unbundling for corporate innovation

Harry demonstrates keen financial understanding by suggesting budget unbundling to facilitate micro-innovation within larger corporate subsectors.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicHarry as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementHarry pushing backWhy
The Origins of The Lean Startup & Reaching Product-Market Fit 2511 Harry acts primarily as an appreciative interviewer, asking open-ended questions about Eric's career and book concepts. Eric educates Harry on historical corporate structures, detailing Alfred Sloan's 1920s matrix management blueprint at General Motors and explaining why traditional forecasting fails in entrepreneurial settings. The dynamic is respectful, collaborative, and conversational.
Building Accountability, Career Equity, and Compensation Frameworks 3622 Harry asks targeted operational questions regarding corporate culture, budget unbundling, and executive promotion pipelines. Eric delivers detailed analysis on career equity versus financial equity, metered funding models, and the internal incentives that encourage project delays. While Eric calls out corporate meritocracy as a myth, the tone towards the host remains friendly and instructive.
Quick-Fire Round: Insights, Culture, and Future Plans 2211 Harry drives a rapid-fire sequence of lighthearted questions on personal recommendations, daily routines, and culture definitions. Eric responds with humorous caveats about his lack of brevity and brief answers on corporate culture and manifestos. The segment is swift, casual, and highly amicable.

Statements from this episode (9)

Disclosure
Eric Ries initially published his Lean Startup blog anonymously
“And so, you know, I actually initially started blogging anonymously.”
Eric Ries Nov 8, 2017 ▶ 3:26
Assertion Partly supported
Ries: Most companies use Alfred Sloan's 1920s GM matrix blueprint
“Most organizations today are built to a blueprint that was perfected really in the 19 twenties by Alfred Sloan when he was the CEO of General Motors.”
Eric Ries Nov 8, 2017 ▶ 4:37
Insight
Ries: Entrepreneurship is chaotic individually but manageable as a portfolio
“My view is that entrepreneurship itself is very chaotic and unpredictable and confusing, but entrepreneurship as a portfolio activity, you know, like what VCs do is totally manageable.”
Eric Ries Nov 8, 2017 ▶ 7:39
Opinion
Ries: Companies without a dedicated entrepreneurship function are in trouble
“Most companies don't have entrepreneurship as a function, and they're in trouble.”
Eric Ries Nov 8, 2017 ▶ 9:38
Assertion Supported
Ries: Facebook bought a VPN app to track competitor usage
“Facebook recently famously was revealed that they bought a VPN company so that they could watch The traffic to emerging apps and figure out who to copy.”
Eric Ries Nov 8, 2017 ▶ 10:59
Insight
Eric Ries: Career equity outweighs financial equity in companies over 100 employees
“Once you get past 50 or a hundred employees, the fractional ownership that people have, certainly once you get to a thousand employees, the fractional ownership people have is going to be dwarfed by their future career prospects.”
Eric Ries Nov 8, 2017 ▶ 12:32
Insight
Eric Ries: Most corporate organizations lack processes to be true meritocracies
“We say that we're a meritocracy. We say that good ideas can come from anywhere, but we don't mean it. We don't mean that good ideas can come from anywhere because we don't have a process for capturing them and for testing them rigorously. We just hope that the…”
Eric Ries Nov 8, 2017 ▶ 15:09
Insight
Eric Ries: True corporate innovation requires updating promotion and compensation policies
“Companies say they're serious about innovation, but if they have not changed the promotion and compensation policies to match, then they're not serious about it.”
Eric Ries Nov 8, 2017 ▶ 19:56
Insight
Ries: Company culture is learned muscle memory from past accountability decisions
“I think culture is the way that we work when no one tells us how to work. It's the artifact and kind of the learned muscle memory of the past process and accountability decisions the company made.”
Eric Ries Nov 8, 2017 ▶ 21:37
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 1,200 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more