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As you read this epic book, you will encounter very many WTF moments. This book is a fascinating document of the Theranos scam and Elizabeth Holmes. By the end of this book, you may agree that:
Privilege is a hell of a drug
If you are a CEO - baritone, intense staring and employee intimidation can keep you at the top of the house only until facts and data bring the whole house down
Ethics always matter the most
If something is too good to be true, it is probably not true
Elizabeth Holmes dropped out of college, had a visionary idea in the healthcare-tech startup space and convinced Henry Kissinger, George Schulz, Rupert Murdoch, James Mattis, Richard Kovacevich and a bunch of other incredibly talented people to give her lots of money, be on her board and work with or for her. All of this for a scam that went unnoticed for far too long.
Theranos was founded by Elizabeth Holmes when she was just 19 years old. The company offerred a full picture of your health in return for a small amount of your blood - just a few drops. Elizbeth gave popular TED talks and also appeared on the covers of Forbes. By 2013, Theranos was valued at $10bn. It was one of the most loved investments in Silicon Valley. Theranos even parterned with Walgreens that year to put their blood tests in Walgreens stores across the USA. Like how people go into a PhotoBooth to take passport photos, Theranos created a device where people could go prick themselves to shed a few drops of blood to get an instant health report. Ok, it was not quite that instant when Theranos rolled out its product into Walgreens' stores but that was Elizabeth's grand vision / end game.
There was just one massive problem - Theranos' technology never worked. Hell, it did not even exist in its entirety. But, Elizabeth kept selling her grand vision. Real people/patients were using Theranos' fake results to make life changing decisions about their health.
The public didn’t know about Theranos’ deception until John Carreyrou, the author of this book, broke the story as a reporter in the Wall Street Journal. Theranos was officially declared defunct in Sep 2018. Elizabeth Holmes and her former business (and personal) partner, Ramesh Balwani are facing potential jail time on fraud charges. A trial is set to begin in Jun 2020.
The rise and fall of a company makes for a very interesting reading. Bad Blood offers an amazing inside look at Theranos. This is an absolute must read!
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