Liberty Posted May 28, 2018 Posted May 28, 2018 This is a book about the whole Theranos sage, form promising startup to all the lies and scandals, written by the journalist who afaik did the most to break this story: https://www.amazon.ca/Bad-Blood-Secrets-Silicon-Startup/dp/152473165X/
Jurgis Posted May 30, 2018 Posted May 30, 2018 Is it worth spending time to read this assuming you have already followed the Theranos saga on CoBF and press? Is there something interesting/new in the book beyond the schadenfreude?
Liberty Posted May 30, 2018 Author Posted May 30, 2018 Is it worth spending time to read this assuming you have already followed the Theranos saga on CoBF and press? Is there something interesting/new in the book beyond the schadenfreude? I haven't read it yet, but comments from those that have read it have been pretty unanimously positive, and I expect that with all sagas of this type, there's probably a lot of detail and anecdote that never made it to regular articles (ie. Reading the Big Short is fun even if you lived through 2008-2009 and paid attention at the time). But that's just my guess...
sjh Posted June 3, 2018 Posted June 3, 2018 Highly recommended. I started reading it yesterday and am already half way through. The amount of hubris is mindblowing, they were thinking they could circumvent the FDA. I mean it‘s a blood testing device, of course the FDA has to approve it. A criminal gang of sociopaths who sold the dream of the next unicorn to investors who did know nothing about biotech. What worries me is that John Elkann (Exor / Fiat Chrysler) apparently also invested. Makes me wonder if he will really outperform the market long term or if he is just good at painting a nice halo effect by copying some Berkshire phrases into his annual reports. www.wsj.com/amp/articles/theranos-saw-huge-growth-in-revenue-and-profits-1480981872
Pondside47 Posted June 6, 2018 Posted June 6, 2018 Highly recommended. I started reading it yesterday and am already half way through. The amount of hubris is mindblowing, they were thinking they could circumvent the FDA. I mean it‘s a blood testing device, of course the FDA has to approve it. A criminal gang of sociopaths who sold the dream of the next unicorn to investors who did know nothing about biotech. What worries me is that John Elkann (Exor / Fiat Chrysler) apparently also invested. Makes me wonder if he will really outperform the market long term or if he is just good at painting a nice halo effect by copying some Berkshire phrases into his annual reports. www.wsj.com/amp/articles/theranos-saw-huge-growth-in-revenue-and-profits-1480981872 Does the book have any detailed paragraph about John Elkan/Exor's involvement with Therano? Given the size of the investment and the hard to understand dynamic within a super wealthy family, I'm not 100% sure if it's even John's decision to invest. I'm buying the book though. Thanks for pointing out something negative about Exor. The Sergio crowd is turning into a cult. It's good to have potentially bad information to balance.
sjh Posted June 6, 2018 Posted June 6, 2018 No further details in the book unfortunately (nor anywhere else on the internet).
randomep Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 Wow I finished the book, I highly recommend it. Best book I've read/listened since the Big Short. some facts you may not know about Holmes: - raised $700M dollars - cost safeway $300M investment in their wellness centers (this is before Walgreens) - cost walgreens $130M (although they got back $20M ? in a lawsuit) The amount of wealth destruction is immense... BUT here is the kicker..................... ...... ready?.................. - she is shopping about for investors for a new company WTF!!!!!!!!!!
DTEJD1997 Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 Wow I finished the book, I highly recommend it. Best book I've read/listened since the Big Short. some facts you may not know about Holmes: - raised $700M dollars - cost safeway $300M investment in their wellness centers (this is before Walgreens) - cost walgreens $130M (although they got back $20M ? in a lawsuit) The amount of wealth destruction is immense... BUT here is the kicker..................... ...... ready?.................. - she is shopping about for investors for a new company WTF!!!!!!!!!! Was there any description/discussion of the new company she is looking to form? Can you really blame her? If there is no consequences for your actions, why not? Jon Corzine took a WHOLE lot of his customer's money and got away with it for the most part. Of course, he was a big wig in the Democrat party and was politically protected. In the financial crisis, almost nobody went to jail. Compare that to what happened with the S&L in the late 80's & early 90's. I could go on & on...but in the USA, justice is not being equally applied.
Jurgis Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 Didn't https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Meriwether crash 3 times and reraised money every time afterwards?
randomep Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 Didn't https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Meriwether crash 3 times and reraised money every time afterwards? There are big differences! Merriwether made money for investors sometime in his life right or else he wouldn't have risen up the ranks. He made bad bets, but those bets are still probablistic. He can at least try to explain that way somehow. Holme's contribution? Nobody got rewarded for believing in her. She didn't contribute to science. Her ONLY contribution is as a warning to investors especially private investors. She has pissed away more than $1B cash. Who in their right mind would let her piss away more money. Such a person would have to be blind to TV interviews where she lied and lied again, and to stupid to read a few pages of the book.
Liberty Posted June 15, 2018 Author Posted June 15, 2018 Finally: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/15/theranos-chief-elizabeth-holmes-arrested-on-federal-criminal-charges-.html
Jurgis Posted June 15, 2018 Posted June 15, 2018 Finally: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/15/theranos-chief-elizabeth-holmes-arrested-on-federal-criminal-charges-.html This is a witch hunt. Weak journalists with fake news trying to stop strong businesswoman from making America great again. Jeff Bezos did it to not pay taxes. The blood test was really great. And used on the biggest crowd. She should be immediately pardoned.
Liberty Posted June 19, 2018 Author Posted June 19, 2018 Morgan Housel on some lessons form Theranos: http://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/theranos-lessons/
Liberty Posted July 5, 2018 Author Posted July 5, 2018 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2427192790 Via @bluegrasscap
Liberty Posted August 6, 2018 Author Posted August 6, 2018 I'm about 2/3 of the way through Bad Blood, and it's pretty amazing just how much of a fraud Theranos was from the start and how much of a con woman Holmes was. Really sleazy stuff, especially considering it touched healthcare. Also less in the spotlight, but just as guilty seems to be exec Sunny Balwami, who seems to have enabled and encouraged the whole thing from the start.
boilermaker75 Posted August 6, 2018 Posted August 6, 2018 I'm about 2/3 of the way through Bad Blood, and it's pretty amazing just how much of a fraud Theranos was from the start and how much of a con woman Holmes was. Really sleazy stuff, especially considering it touched healthcare. Also less in the spotlight, but just as guilty seems to be exec Sunny Balwami, who seems to have enabled and encouraged the whole thing from the start. I noticed last night the book is rated 4.9 out of 5 stars with over 600 reviews on AMZN.
LongTermView Posted August 6, 2018 Posted August 6, 2018 I also enjoyed as an inversion exercise. Hindsight is 20/20 but there is something different about her compared to other speakers like Reed Hastings. It's hard to describe the differences in writing but they're real...
Liberty Posted August 9, 2018 Author Posted August 9, 2018 Finished reading it during the weekend. Good book. I gave it a B+ in my notes.
Gamecock-YT Posted September 30, 2018 Posted September 30, 2018 great book, especially enjoyed the "inside baseball" of reporting the story from Carreyrou's prospective.
boilermaker75 Posted April 12, 2020 Posted April 12, 2020 Kindle version on sale for $3.99 https://smile.amazon.com/Bad-Blood-Secrets-Silicon-Startup-ebook/dp/B078VW3VM7/ref=lp_21161220011_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1586713425&sr=1-7
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