Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

A story about the lack of integrity in Silicon Valley, recommended by Arjan Codes.

A gripping read, it hooked me and I finished it in a few days on vacation. It is about Theranos, founded by the young Elizabeth Holmes more than ten years ago, which aimed to produce a blood-testing device for the average user. The CEO’s mistake was to approach it as if it were an app, not a complex device on which human lives depend. The rest is a farce, with false promises, tricks, scams, psychological pressure on employees, absolute secrecy, and very aggressive lawyers. I recommend it to understand how the startup world often runs on grandiose claims, and fake it till you make it is not just a stereotype. It pays to be careful around these things, especially when aggressive lawyers are involved.

The striking thing is that they were close to getting away with it on an avalanche of lies. They were caught almost by accident.