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NFT: Theranos story: “Bad Blood”

RobCarpenter : 5/22/2018 9:16 pm
60 minutes had a segment on Theranos on Sunday. Wanna be Steve Jobs fakes blood testing technology, dupes investors, and is delusional.

I just finished the book, it’s fantastic and if you are looking for a good read I highly recommend it.

Curious if anyone else on BBI has read it.
Bought it to read on a trans Atlantic flight this week  
Ben in Tampa : 5/22/2018 9:57 pm : link
Can’t wait. I’ve been fascinated by this company and the fraud Elizabeth Holmes perpetrated for a while. Glad you liked it.
She seems  
SomeFan : 5/23/2018 1:04 am : link
a psychopath to me.
I just watched another short news story  
short lease : 5/23/2018 1:11 am : link

about her and my phone rang so I was distracted but, I could have sworn the story said she was denying everything and trying raise more money from investors?

Shouldn't she be in jail?
My all time favorite was this one  
jcn56 : 5/23/2018 8:29 am : link


Oh yeah, that's why NASA has been flying without backup plans for 5 decades now.

What's amazing is how many very successful investors didn't see right through this con artist. It's like the billionaire version of the Nigerian prince scam.
Holmes voice  
TyreeHelmet : 5/23/2018 9:09 am : link
'Many people who watched the 60 Minutes piece remarked about her voice, deep baritone voice. Was that fake too?' Norah O'Donnell asked Carreyou on Monday.

'According to my sources, it was,' said Carreyou, who had been interviewed by O'Donnell in the 60 Minutes segment that aired the night prior.

'An employee who joined the company in 2011 had a meeting with her shortly after he joined, and it was late in the day and they were finishing up the meeting and she sort of expressed her excitement that he had recently joined.

'And as she got up, she forgot to put on the baritone and slipped back into a more natural sounding young woman's voice.'



I remember reading this story a couple of years back,  
Section331 : 5/23/2018 9:19 am : link
and wondering how anyone fell for it. It's not like her duplicity was well-concealed.
RE: My all time favorite was this one  
Matt in SGS : 5/23/2018 9:59 am : link
In comment 13972252 jcn56 said:
Quote:


Oh yeah, that's why NASA has been flying without backup plans for 5 decades now.

What's amazing is how many very successful investors didn't see right through this con artist. It's like the billionaire version of the Nigerian prince scam.


I laughed my ass off when I read that quote a few years ago. Working in project and program management for 20 years, you have several backup plans in your projects, including rollbacks. I should try to say that the next time I need to review the schedule of a release and say I'm not bothering with any backup plans, I'll see how long I last. They should have thrown her ass out the moment she uttered that. Every now and then these VC darlings spew so much bullshit, that you lose sight of any basic reality.
Hot and Crazy - what a combination  
PatersonPlank : 5/23/2018 10:27 am : link
.
I finished the book last night  
RobCarpenter : 5/23/2018 1:08 pm : link
she seems like a true sociopath. I have to imagine she'll be facing criminal charges.

Journalists totally bought into her delusion, until the WSJ reporter came along and actually did the job that no other journalist seemed to be able or willing to do.
Seems To Me  
Percy : 5/24/2018 12:51 pm : link
The company and this woman were complete BS from the first you ever heard of them or read about them. Why apparently sensible people put money in and associated themselves with it and with her is inexplicable. What can the book add?
RE: Seems To Me  
jcn56 : 5/24/2018 1:34 pm : link
In comment 13974127 Percy said:
Quote:
The company and this woman were complete BS from the first you ever heard of them or read about them. Why apparently sensible people put money in and associated themselves with it and with her is inexplicable. What can the book add?


He's the only one who publicly questioned them and kept after them from the beginning. If anything, maybe he can shed some light on why seemingly bright people fell for such an obvious scam.
RE: RE: Seems To Me  
RobCarpenter : 5/24/2018 1:51 pm : link
In comment 13974164 jcn56 said:
Quote:
In comment 13974127 Percy said:


Quote:


The company and this woman were complete BS from the first you ever heard of them or read about them. Why apparently sensible people put money in and associated themselves with it and with her is inexplicable. What can the book add?


He's the only one who publicly questioned them and kept after them from the beginning. If anything, maybe he can shed some light on why seemingly bright people fell for such an obvious scam.


The book adds insight into how she was able to con people for so long, and how she dealt with anyone who questioned her. And as jcn56 notes the WSJ reporter was alone here. I don't remember a ton of people in the media publicly saying that Theranos was a fraud -- all of that came after the WSJ articles.

As far as I know the story of how she and her boyfriend aggressively dealt with doubters hasn't been told previously.

It's mind boggling that no one saw through her for years  
Greg from LI : 5/24/2018 1:52 pm : link
Hell, she even LOOKED crazy



Those are not the eyes of a normal human being.
not sure how this fraud was so obvious from the outset  
bluepepper : 5/24/2018 1:59 pm : link
doing blood tests with less blood seems pretty plausible on the surface at least to me. We're not talking about making the blind see or quadriplegics walk again.
RE: Hot and Crazy - what a combination  
bradshaw44 : 5/24/2018 2:41 pm : link
In comment 13972440 PatersonPlank said:
Quote:
.


This is sarcasm, right?
Remember, you're going by population  
jcn56 : 5/24/2018 5:29 pm : link
Silicon Valley, female CEO of a tech company - you're not exactly pulling top talent in the looks department.

I'll give Greg that much, she did look like an absolute loon at least half the time, and her book of quotes matches that.
She didnt even  
spike : 5/24/2018 7:05 pm : link
Finish college
good article on Theranos  
Greg from LI : 5/25/2018 10:39 am : link
linked below
Link - ( New Window )
I remember a few years ago  
family progtitioner : 5/25/2018 10:45 am : link
going to a seminar on how my industry (family medicine) was going through disruptions and they brought her up as an example. Was Walgreens or another big pharmacy chain ready to set up kiosks to perform her tests? I'll have to read the book, sounds good.
Walgreens was going to partner with Theranos  
Greg from LI : 5/25/2018 10:47 am : link
The Edison blood testing machine (which didn't work) was supposed to be available in Walgreens, but they backed out when they realized Theranos didn't actually have a working unit.
RE: She didnt even  
short lease : 5/28/2018 12:24 am : link
In comment 13974476 spike said:
Quote:
Finish college


Neither did Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg - losers.
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