80% of venture-backed founders lose their CEO role within three years of going public—not because of bad products, but because companies fail to protect their mission through governance. Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, reveals how founding companies from Novo Nordisk to Anthropic use two-page legal filings and mission-guardian structures to resist what he calls 'financial gravity'—the predictable corruption of successful companies into mediocrity. Success becomes a liability when companies lack governance structures that protect their mission; Anthropic became the fastest-growing company ever while maintaining its safety mission through a nonprofit long-term benefit trust that appoints outside board members.