John Carreyrou’s exposè and subsequent Pulitzer Prize winning book (Bad Blood: Secrets & Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup) on ‘Theranos’ sent ripples across the Valley.
The spectacular rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her startup – that was supposedly going to change the world of science and medicine – was a rude wake up call to all those who thought they had another unicorn on their hands.
“Theranos was a privately held health technology corporation. It was initially touted as a breakthrough technology company, with claims of having devised blood tests that needed only very small amounts of blood and could be performed very rapidly using small automated devices the company had developed.”
From secrets to lies and from ambition to delusion, the story of ‘Theranos’ reeks of high handedness and an utter disregard for morals, ethics and the law.
While the podcast can be heard in isolation, I highly recommend the complete experience – the book (Bad Blood: Secrets & Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup), the podcast (The Drop Out) and finally the documentary by Alex Gibney himself! (The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley).