Bad Blood

Mr. Carreyrou was the Wall Street Journal reporter who broke the story that eventually led to the downfall of Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos. At its peak, this company was worth over $9 billion. Today, Holmes and her former COO have been convicted of fraud and are serving time.

I like this book because it serves as a curriculum for how NOT to operate a biotech company. It shows that while belief in your vision is essential for all successful entrepreneurs, there is no place for secrecy and arrogance in the business world.

Unfortunately, the “Theranos” effect has led to… show more.

With every success story comes a cautionary tale.

Venture investing has become one of the recurring sources of multiple success stories, such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook. However, the professionalisation of start-up investing is still a work in progress. Knowledge and experience are rare and difficult to acquire.

Venture capital investing is an art as much as a form of science. This book illustrates how the financing of the start-up Theranos became a story of excesses, lies, and neglect. Start-up investing goes far beyond providing capital.

The rise and fall of Theranos is a clear illustration in this masterful… show more.

By now, everyone knows John Carreyou’s book, Bad Blood, which chronicles the rise and fall of biotech startup, Theranos, and its sociopathic founder Elizabeth Holmes.

The capacity of this college dropout to deceive investors, board members, and the public was truly epic, as is the book. But what I especially loved was that I didn’t have to suffer the painful withdrawal that so often accompanies the completion of an engrossing tale.

The HBO series (esp. Amanda Siegfried’s masterful performance), the author’s subsequent podcast, and Holmes' pre- and post-trial shenanigans has kept this storyline alive.

This is the other genius book written recently about a corporate scandal. Carreyrou pulls off two great things in his account of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, her Silicon Valley start-up that purported to revolutionize medical testing but evaporated in a cloud of lies. First, he shows how a charismatic young person with seemingly no scruples could delude dozens of rich, sophisticated, and sometimes famous people. This book uncovers the psychology involved in white-collar crime as well as any story I have read. Second, Carreyrou’s account is absolutely devastating with regard to the conduct of lawyers who not only defended Holmes… show more.

Many would-be entrepreneurs, for obvious reasons, devour books about successful entrepreneurs. But it can be just as important for them to understand what can go wrong and why, even with startups that initially seem to be successes. John Carreyrou tells the riches-to-rags saga of Theranos, and what a story it is. It's a cautionary tale of hubris by a founder who lost her bearings, of advisors who failed to properly advise lest they lose favor, of credulous partners and investors. Entrepreneurs who might be tempted to cut corners, refuse to listen to internal dissent, and sell a narrative instead of… show more.