In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood testing significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at more than $9 billion, putting Holmes’s worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn’t work.
A riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley. ([source][1])
[1]: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549478/bad-blood-by-john-carreyrou/
An expertly crafted account of the woman who girlbossed so hard she accidentally committed multiple counts of fraud and put millions of peoples health at risk.
Investigative journalism at it’s best. The book is excellent, readable, clear and logical. The question I kept asking as I read this was “What were they thinking?” When someone perpetrates a massive and clear fraud in public I am always amazed that they somehow convince themselves they won’t get caught. I don’t believe Elizabeth Holmes was a hapless victim of Sunny Balwani, or of structural sexism. it will be interesting to see what the jury thinks.
