How to build a company that withstands any era | Eric Ries, Lean Startup author

1. Implement Public Benefit Corporation

File a two-page legal document in Delaware to become a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), which legally defines your company’s purpose beyond just maximizing shareholder returns. This is the easiest and most foundational step to protect your mission, as it allows your board to legally prioritize your stated purpose over the highest financial bid.

2. Define Your Company’s Purpose

Clearly articulate your company’s purpose by writing down who you would rather die than betray, such as customers or employees. This foundational statement should be tested by asking if you could make money while violating it and still be happy, ensuring it truly reflects your core values.

3. Establish a Mission Guardian

Designate a person or entity whose explicit job is to ensure the company remains mission-locked and aligned, resisting external pressures and internal temptations. This can be achieved through structures like a nonprofit foundation, an employee ownership trust, or a perpetual purpose trust.

4. Adopt the Harder Is Easier Principle

Commit to being principled in your decision-making, even when it seems more difficult or costly in the short term. This builds trustworthiness, an underrated asset that ultimately leads to unexpected rewards and makes business easier due to increased internal alignment and customer loyalty.

5. Cultivate an Invisible Leader

Instill a strong sense of common purpose within your organization so that employees internalize values and make decisions consistent with the mission, even when no manager is present. This ensures critical trade-offs align with your core principles, increasing organizational velocity and coherence.

6. Read Your Corporate Charter

As a founder, read your company’s corporate charter to understand its legal foundation and the fiduciary duties you are bound by. This is crucial because many founders unknowingly sign documents that prioritize shareholder primacy, potentially leading to loss of control or mission deviation.

7. Implement a Director’s Oath

Write a director’s oath into your corporate charter, making it a precondition for board membership, similar to a Hippocratic oath for doctors. This sets a higher ethical standard for board members, ensuring they are committed to the company’s mission and not solely to financial gain.

8. Pledge Equity/Revenue to Nonprofit

For early-stage companies, write into your charter a pledge of a percentage of equity or future revenue to a nonprofit foundation, along with a board seat for the foundation. This pre-commits to a long-term protective structure that can be formally established later, ensuring mission oversight.

9. Prepare for Objections

Anticipate and prepare for objections from investors and lawyers when discussing mission-protective provisions, as they may try to dissuade you by arguing for ‘keeping options open’ or ’not prematurely committing.’ Understand their motivations and be ready to defend your long-term vision.

10. Use Founder Control as Bridge

If you have founder control (e.g., through founder preferred shares), use it as a temporary bridge to protect your mission in the early stages. However, recognize its limitations and plan to transition to a more institutional and durable mission-controlled structure over time.

11. Ask About Legal Mission

As an employee or job candidate, ask if the company is mission-driven and if that mission is legally enshrined in its charter. This simple question can force leadership to consider formalizing their mission and signals employee desire for true mission alignment.

12. Build a Culture Bank

Operate with a ‘culture bank’ mindset, where actions that defend the company’s values, especially those involving sacrifice, are considered deposits, and greedy or self-interested actions are withdrawals. The rule is to only make deposits, never intentionally making withdrawals, to strengthen organizational trust.