bad blood secrets and lies in a silicon valley startup

The importance of validated and peer-reviewed data, the need for rigorous It is shocking that a company could get so far with technology that never performed as promised, and Carreyrou lays out the various scenarios and circumstances that contributed to it.

However, fraud and irresponsibility by a health technology company like Theranos, and at such a massive scale at that, is even more dangerous considering the direct harm to patients’ lives. It is common knowledge that most, if not all, companies in Silicon Valley have skeletons in their closets that make headlines when they are revealed. Expanding the article into a book, Carreyrou walks us through how the company was formed, how it grew to become one worth over $9 billion, and finally, how it dissolved in September 2018.

In October 2015, a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, John Carreyrou, published an article revealing that the company has been misleading investors and consumers, that the blood tests analyzed by Theranos devices were inaccurate and unreliable, and that a lot of the tests were actually performed by third-party commercial analyzers. In January 2003, a 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos with the vision of enabling multiple diagnostics tests to be run from a small volume of blood obtained from a finger-prick rather than the traditional venous blood draw, using the company’s small, portable, automated devices. For instance, the book portrays the harsh reality of working in industry when a team of engineers were laid off because the research was headed in a new direction and they were not needed there anymore. I think students interested in careers in industry, entrepreneurship, venture capital, or science policy will gain some perspectives from reading this book. While there are plenty of resources out there that help you understand how to search for a job, determine if it is a good fit and notice red flags, this book paints a picture of life in the biotech industry, both as an entrepreneur and as an employee.

I was especially interested in it given its relevance to the biotech industry and on recently finishing the book, I realized GSBS students might also find it interesting and thought of sharing a little bit about it. One of the books that was recommended by a friend was “ Bad Blood – Secrets and Lies of a Silicon Valley Startup” by John Carreyrou, based on the rise and fall of the blood-testing company, Theranos. I began to read more than usual because of social distancing, going through the list of books I had been planning to read for a while.

Bad blood secrets and lies in a silicon valley startup