BAD BLOOD : Secrets & Lies in a Silicon
Valley Start-up (2018)
by
John Carreyrou
Bad Blood is the story of Theranos and its founder,
Elizabeth Holmes - How this 19 year old
charismatic Stanford dropout promised a revolution in the field of laboratory
blood testing,but bit a lot more than she
could have chewed . She promised to
develop miniature testing devices which conducted
a wide spectrum of blood tests on a very small fraction of blood extract
(fingerprick) ,at much better economy and speed. Investors bought into her
charm and charisma, but all her claims turned out to be a hoax.
Liz was hailed as the next big thing. Her company raised USD
700 million,and was evaluated at USD 10 billlion in 2013. But John Carreyrou’s
investigative pieces in the WSJ punctured her balloon. Many of her incredulous
false claims were exposed.
The ghost of Steve Jobs follows Elizabeth Holmes throughout
the Theranos story . Ever since the 19
year old Stanford dropout started the Company in 2003, Jobs is conspicuous in her ambition,sartorial choices and mannerisms . He is the one to which veterans
like George Schultz, Henry Kissinger , Bill Clinton and James Mattis compare
her with. The idea of Theranos was presented and accepted as the Smart device of lab-testing.
One other person who
is ubiquitous with his all pervading evil aura is Sunny Balvani- a Pakistani
Hindu,who became a successful venture capitalist .He dated Holmes for quite some time and also ended up becoming
President and Chief Operating Officer of Theranos. He has been cited as a major
pernicious influence upon her.
In September 2018,Theranos ceased operations .Elizabeth and
Sunny are facing massive investor fraud (by SEC) as well as criminal charges . Elizabeth’s reputation lies in tatters.
This is a compelling story,but Carreyrou’s tone is very
journalistic. There are too many characters to follow.The author has introduced
them to establish the psychological frawework of the lead duo.But it leads to a
lot of repetition and reiteration of charges. There is a lot of stereotyping of
charatcers. John Carreyrou has a lot of bitter bile to spew against Indians.
Bad Blood is a racy read.But I hope Adam McKay’s film ,with
Jeniffer Lawrence playing the lead, shall turn out to be better.
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