Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup is a gripping and extensively researched book by award-winning Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou. This captivating thriller tells the saga of Elizabeth Holmes and her tech startup Theranos and the doom that consumed her and her company.The rise and fall of Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes is a gripping story that questions the limits of ambition and the responsibilities of leaders. Holmes and her team of experts crafted a narrative of success, with Elizabeth touted as a bright and unstoppable founder. But Carreyrou takes readers down the rabbit hole and reveals the lies and fraud that underpinned the business. He shines a light on Holmes' lack of ethics and her obsession with money and power.Carreyrou interviews whistleblowers, former employees, and investors and offers an intimate look at the secrets behind the fraud. His groundbreaking journalism continues, as the full extent of the frauds still being uncovered. The book also draws lasting lessons on how companies can prevent such financial and ethical disasters in the future.Bad Blood offers an insightful look at the dangerous disconnect between the technology industry and the public. Carreyrou skillfully dives into the inner workings of Silicon Valley and exposes its ethical lapses and dangerous ambitions. The book exposes how money, power, and ambition can taint even the most innovative of minds and lead to catastrophic results. It is an incredible and powerful story of financier missteps and cover-ups that is both engaging and sobering.
Add missing EndorsementAlexis Ohanian (Co-founder/Reddit) The book, Bad Blood, was one of the best I read in 2018.
A bunch of my friends recommended this one to me. Carreyrou gives you the definitive insider’s look at the rise and fall of Theranos. The story is even crazier than I expected, and I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: elaborate scams, corporate intrigue, magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the demise of a company once valued at nearly $10 billion.
After it took me all of an hour to read Bad Blood, I know this podcast by my amazing friend @RebeccaJarvis is going to be my new obsession
South Carolina in my novel seems like a nice place…until it doesn’t. 'Bad Blood' gives the history behind the events that force Cora to see her new home in a different light.
David Heinemeier Hansson (Co-Founder/Basecamp) A gripping tale of a fake-it-till-you-make-it bet that did not pay off, resulted in hundreds of millions in dollars defrauded from investors and partners, and, most crucially, tons of patients who got the wrong answers on their blood tests. Some times to disastrous effects, financially or medically. It’s also a fascinating study of human nature and how much we at times want to believe. Elizabeth Holmes was a character that so many people wanted to believe. Her story about disrupting moribund medical technology (with its stale insistence on “scientific rigor” and “verifiable results”) was too good to check. So good that a long list of Valley dignitaries all got suckered in. Finally, there’s a rich vein of anecdotes on how destructive excessive loyalty, workaholism, investor pressures, and sleep deprivation can be to your morals, sanity, and manners.
‘Bad Blood’ by John Carreyrou
Favourite book: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start-up, by John Carreyrou
Brad Feld (Co-Founder/Foundry Group) Every entrepreneur and VC should read this book. John Carreyrou has done something important here. Maybe this book will finally put a nail in the phrase “fake it till you make it”, but I doubt it. The amount of lying, disingenuousness, blatant and unjustified self-promotion, and downright deceit that exists in entrepreneurship right now is at a local maximum. This always happens when entrepreneurship gets trendy. Carreyrou just wrote a long warning for entrepreneurs and VCs.