John Carreyrou

Bad Blood

1. IDEA 1

   A startup promised a revolution

   Carreyrou, an investigative journalist, tells the story of Theranos, a Silicon Valley company that claimed it could run many medical tests from a few drops of blood. Its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, became famous and attracted huge investment.

2. IDEA 2

   The technology did not work

   Carreyrou reveals that Theranos's testing device, called the Edison, did not work as claimed. The company secretly used other machines for many tests. Carreyrou reports that the company went on selling the idea to investors and customers while its machine could not do what was promised.

3. IDEA 3

   Secrecy hid problems

   Theranos kept its work secret, even from its own employees. Departments were separated so few people saw the full picture. In Carreyrou's account, this made it hard for workers to notice problems or to compare notes with each other.

All 8 ideas from Bad Blood →