Bad Blood
Secrets and Lies in A Silicon Valley Startup
Book - 2018
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Add a QuoteElizabeth had hung inspirational quotes in little frames around the old Facebook building. One of them was from Michael Jordan: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Another was from Theodore Roosevelt: “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Patrick suggested they make them a more integral part of the workplace by painting them in black on the building’s white walls. Elizabeth liked the idea.
She also loved a new quote he suggested. It was from Yoda in Star Wars: “Do or do not. There is no try.”
The media mogul sold his stock back to Theranos for one dollar so he could claim a big tax write-off on his other earnings. With a fortune estimated at $12 billion, Murdoch could afford to lose more than $100 million on a bad investment.
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“VAPORWARE” was coined in the early 1980s to describe new computer software or hardware that was announced with great fanfare only to take years to materialize, if it did at all. It was a reflection of the computer industry’s tendency to play it fast and loose when it came to marketing. Microsoft, Apple, and Oracle were all accused of engaging in the practice at one point or another. Such overpromising became a defining feature of Silicon Valley. The harm done to consumers was minor, measured in frustration and deflated expectations. By positioning Theranos as a tech company in the heart of the Valley, Holmes channeled this fake-it-until-you-make-it culture, and she went to extreme lengths to hide the fakery.
The odd couple:
It isn’t clear exactly when Elizabeth (Elizabeth Anne Holmes born 1984) and Sunny (Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani born 1966) became romantically involved, but it appears to have been not long after she dropped out of Stanford. When they’d first met in China in the summer of 2002, Sunny was married to a Japanese artist named Keiko Fujimoto and living in San Francisco. By October 2004, he was listed as “a single man” on the deed to a condominium he purchased on Channing Avenue in Palo Alto. Other public records show Elizabeth moved into that apartment in July 2005.
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FoMO—the fear of missing out.
From Epilogue:
March 14, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Theranos, Holmes, and Balwani with conducting “an elaborate, years-long fraud.” To resolve the agency’s civil charges, Holmes was forced to relinquish her voting control over the company, give back a big chunk of her stock, and pay a $500,000 penalty. She also agreed to be barred from being an officer or director in a public company for ten years. Unable to reach a settlement with Balwani, the SEC sued him in federal court in California. In the meantime, the criminal investigation continued to gather steam. As of this writing, criminal indictments of both Holmes and Balwani on charges of lying to investors and federal officials seem a distinct possibility.
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Add a CommentBad Blood, by John Carreyrou
This tell all book unravels all the scandals behind the scenes of this Silicon Valley startup, Theranos. Theranos promised great blood testing technology that would change the medical world as we know it; however production wasn’t operating up to pace as promised and the lies began. CEO Elizabeth Holmes, once worshipped as the next Steve Jobs, is now the biggest fraud of Silicon Valley, fooling doctors, investors, and the country. Throughout this book, we hear the stories of many key employees and witnesses on how this whole fraud gradually snowballs and implodes on itself. This book was full of surprises and I couldn’t believe the scandals involved in companies. The story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is really crazy and I was super immersed in each person’s perspective, and their desire for justice. It drove me crazy that every person that was fired couldn’t speak out about the frauds going on in Theranos because of nondisclosure agreements and the harassments that followed these key employees. This book immersed me into so many different people’s stories and narratives, making me feel angry and curious about how Theranos was able to survive and fool so many powerful people.
This national best selling true crime will appeal to those interested in biomedical engineering, but also interested in the rollercoaster of scandals in the tech industry world.
Absolutely riveting. A true story that has Trumpian overtones, as the heroine has a similar focused and sociopathic view of her mission. Her mission, by the way, is to become rich, but she has a believable story to tell about her humanitarianism. The sleuthing of the author, and the threats he overcomes, as do many others in the saga, is spellbinding. She goes to trial in early 2021, apparently. Read this book!
Sorry, I don’t know how I entered a half star, but am changing that to 5 STARS!
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This is scary book! Ordinary employees get threatened by firm's lawyers, private investigators and so forth. The company Theranos almost acted like a mafia boss to its employees. It is hard to believe two human beings, the main character of the book - Elizabeth Holmes and her lover Sunny, can hoodwink the entire world for fame and fortune! It is an unbelievable true story worth reading.
I listened to this in the car. It was good. Seemed like a good investigation that sort of took over the authors life so quite a while. Interesting
An astonishing account of youthful ambition with a technical idea that gradually transformed into a corporate monster that jeopardized the lives of its customers and its employees and hoodwinked many investors. The author reveals the inherent weaknesses of Boards of Directors of private corporations. The ebook concludes with some b&w photographs of the principal characters. This business story is unfinished as the executives of Theranos will come to trial in July 2020.
4 stars. This book came recommended to me and it was a very interesting read. Carryrou is an investigative reporter with the Wall Street Journal and he started investigating the multi-billion dollar medical start up Theranos and its CEO and mastermind Elizabeth Holmes and discovered shocking realities. This was a house of cards fronted by this charismatic and secretive woman with a star studded board and a legal team that was feared. He found the story and followed it where it led and ended up bringing down Theranos and the people who ran it, in spite of threats, surveillance, bullying and every attempt to stop him. What amazes me is how many people were taken in by Holmes and how badly she and her partner treated the staff and how long they were able to get away with this, putting people's lives at risk and making a lot of money. A very interesting read about a huge scam.
DNF - Technical
Also check out the documentary "The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley."
A stranger than fiction pager turner will keep you hooked until the last page. Exploring the life of Elizabeth Holmes and the rise and fall of her company Theranos.
Amazing, must read!