The Transformation Principles

From the CEO of global investment and transformation company General Catalyst, this powerful, timely set of principles is an essential guide to long-term success, for business leaders, founders, and policymakers navigating a new era of technological and geopolitical change.
Capitalism has historically focused on profit generation, with positive impact left to non-profits. This system has fueled unprecedented growth, but has also generated unsustainable consequences—deepening inequality, widespread job displacement, and eroding social trust.
It’s time for a new paradigm—one that recognizes the inextricable link between positive impact and returns. Long-term profitability depends on maintaining public trust, societal wellbeing, and operating legitimacy. This new reality necessitates a new set of principles—transformation principles—to guide our decision-making as we build for growth and for good.
CEO Hemant Taneja has developed these principles throughout his life, and they have guided General Catalyst—with over $36 billion in assets—to fund, found, and nurture some of the most successful companies of the past two decades, while simultaneously having a powerful positive impact on society.
In The Transformation Principles, Taneja explains the nine principles behind the company’s outsized impact in investing and industry transformation, which will help you:
- Understand the critical importance of a company’s soul. - Navigate through the inevitable twists and turns of building for a new future . - See beyond trends and focus on what truly matters for enduring success. - Help build companies that solve society’s hardest problems, making capitalism a force for good. - Lead with curiosity, generosity, and a beginner’s mind to build long-term, continuously-evolving businesses
The Transformation Principles is a blueprint for leaders who want to create institutions that endure, drive inclusive growth, and reshape industries in ways that serve people and society while generating outsized financial value. Equipped with these nine principles, any individual or organization will be able to see beyond trends and short-term thinking and instead focus on long-term successes that last for generations to come.

Hemant Taneja is the CEO of the global investment and transformation company General Catalyst. He is a multi-year Midas List investor, a best-selling author, and a founder. His career includes early investments in market-leading companies like Stripe, Samsara (NYSE: IOT), Snap (NYSE: SNAP), ClassDojo, Grammarly, Gusto, Applied Intuition, and Anduril. He has also hatched numerous companies like Commure, Tendo and Livongo, which was acquired by Teladoc in an $18.5B merger, the largest in digital health history.