Transformation Principles

Capitalism has long focused on generating profits, believing that positive impact should be left to non-profits and governments. But in the 2020s, positive impact and exceptional returns are inextricably tied. And this new reality needs a new set of principles—transformation principles— to guide decision-making for investors, company-builders and anyone navigating a career as they venture beyond.

General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja has developed these principles throughout his life, and they have helped General Catalyst—with $30 billion in assets—fund, found and nurture some of the most exciting companies of the past two decades, while having a powerful positive impact on society.

In The Transformation Principles, Taneja explains in detail the nine principles behind his firm’s outsized success in investing and industry transformation. The principles will help readers:

• Understand the critical importance of a company’s soul.
• Navigate through the inevitable twists and turns when creating a new future for us.
• See through trends that don’t matter and focus on what truly matters for enduring success.
• Help build companies that solve society’s hardest problems, making capitalism a force for good.
• Lean into their better angels, confident that leading with curiosity and generosity results in extraordinary success.