Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start up

My favourite read of 2018.

“Bad Blood is a gripping account of how the quest for power can lead to deceit and manipulation. One of the most enthralling and disturbing books I have read this year. The narrative significantly exposes the innovative potential of human intellect and the disturbing egotistic drive of human nature. In essence, it is an engaging read throughout. Reads like a Hollywood thriller capturing the euphoria of the high growth tech industry at its worst! ” 

Clive Angel 

 The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of Theranos.

Secrets and Lies in Silicon Valley. In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO, Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs. Namely, a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry. Significantly, with a machine that would make blood testing rapidly faster and easier.

Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper. Furthermore, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at more than $9 billion. Therefore, putting Holmes’s worth at an estimated $4.7 billion.

There was just one problem. In reality, the technology didn’t work.

A riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron. Coupled with, a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley.

Follow this engrossing story as it unfolds in the mainstream US media: 

New York Times Review

Who was Elizabeth Holmes?

Watch the HBO movie. Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, HBO’s Emmy-winning Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief) directs a documentary investigating the rise and fall of Theranos, the one-time multibillion-dollar healthcare company founded by Elizabeth Holmes.

 

The multibillion-dollar biotech start-up. Notably, all lies and no substance.

In 2004, Elizabeth Holmes dropped out of Stanford to start a company that was going to revolutionize healthcare. In 2014, Theranos was valued at $9 billion. Accordingly, Holmes, who was touted as “the next Steve Jobs,” became the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world. Just two years later, Theranos was cited as a “massive fraud” by the SEC, and its value was less than zero.

Chiefly, director Alex Gibney will tell a Silicon Valley tale that was too good to be true. Drawing on extraordinary access to never-before-seen footage and testimony from key insiders. The documentary, with all the drama of a real-life heist,  examines how it could have happened. As well as,  and who is responsible. Whilst, exploring the psychology of deception.

Watch the movie

Latest updates on Theranos story:

DailyMail.co.uk Nov 25th 2020

Bloomberg Nov 23rd 2020

CNBC Feb 2021: Elizabeth-holmes-resists-government-efforts-to-detail-her-ceo-lifestyle.html

CNBC 5 May 2021: Elizabeth Holmes trial update

CNBC 6 May 2021: Elizabeth Homes lavish lifestyle exposed

The Guardian: 12 March 2021: Elizabeth Holmes-theranos-trial-delay-pregnancy

CNBC 25th May: Elizabeth-holmes-jury-can-hear-limited-evidence-of-ceo-lifestyle.html

CNBC: 5 June 2021:Theranos-is-history-but-big-blood-testing-breakthroughs-are-coming

CNBC 27 August 2021: Former Theranos employees are still shaken as Holmes trial looms: ‘The fear is real’

CNBC 29 August 2021: Elizabeth Holmes plans to claim at trial ex-boyfriend and Theranos business partner abused her

Sky News 2 Sept 2021: sky.com/story/elizabeth-holmes-trial-begins-the-downfall-of-the-silicon-valley-medical-hero-who-founded-theranos-12396482

CNBC 8 Sept 2021: Elizabeth-Holmes-theranos-trial-begins-prosecution-defense-deliver-opening-statements

CNBC 17 Nov 21 – Hedge fund investor says in Holmes trial that Theranos lied about finger-prick tech

cnbc.com_2 Dec_elizabeth-holmes-relies-on-entourage-of-friends-as-theranos-trial-nears-end.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-trial-elizabeth-holmes-what-to-know-11625865236

The Guardian.com-4-Jan22-elizabeth-holmes-theranos-verdict-latest

CNBC-Dec 16th – Prosecutor in Theranos case closes by saying Holmes ‘chose fraud over business failure’

Daily Mail-Jan-9th-22-Elizabeth-Holmes-seen-smiling-family-three-days-convicted-fraud.html

Businessinsider.com/theranos-founder-ceo-elizabeth-holmes-life-story-bio

The Guardian 14/11/2022 theranos-elizabeth-holmes-sentencing-fraud

The next Theranos – ftx-crash-theranos-madoff-lehman-brothers-sam-bankman-fried-sec-2022-11

CNBC 18.11.2022 – Elizabeth Holmes Sentenced to Jail

sky.com-18.11.2022-Theranos Founder – 11 years jailtime-

Washingtonpost.com_2023/05/29/elizabeth-holmes-prison-silicon-valley/

cnbc.com/2023/08/21/malaysias-anwar-vows-to-recover-goldman-1mdb-settlement-warns-of-lawsuits.

Principles Life and Work

Insights from Ray Dalio on how to;

Enhance your personal life and achieve success in business.

#1 New York Times Bestseller

“Significantly. The narrative is both instructive and surprisingly moving”.

 New York Times

Ray Dalio, one of the world s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he s developed, refined, and used over the past forty years to create unique results in both life and business and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.

In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City.

Forty years later, Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the fifth most important private company in the United States, according to Fortune magazine.

 

Ray Dalio named in Time magazines list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Time Magazine – Most influential in 2020

 

Along the way, Dalio discovered a set of unique principles that have led to Bridgewater’s exceptionally effective culture. In summary, a culture that he describes as an idea meritocracy. Consequently, striving to achieve meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical transparency.

It is these principles. As opposed to anything special about Dalio who grew up an ordinary kid in a middle-class Long Island neighbourhood. Chiefly, that he believes is the reason behind his success.

 

For more inspiring and life-changing insights from Ray Dalio

www.principles.com

 

 

For another interesting perspective regarding Habits and how we can change our habits to improve our daily lives

Habits for an impactful life

Blockchain Revolution.

How Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency are changing the world of finance.

Blockchain Revolution is the first, foundational book on blockchain technology. Uniquely, written by,  Don and Alex Tapscott, experts in the subject area. Accordingly, explaining recent developments in the world of blockchain. Additionally, crypto assets, ICOs, smart contracts, and most relevant Bitcoin.

Blockchain Revolution. Significantly, an easy and enjoyable read about a complex and often misunderstood topic. Consequently,  the opportunities for blockchain to redefine the business landscape as we know it are significant and the transformational.

 

For more insights and perspective on the history of Bitcoin

Digital Gold- the inside story of-Bitcoin

“This book has had an enormous impact on the evolution of blockchain in the world.”
Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft Corporation

 

Explaining Blockchain technology

What-is-blockchain-technology

 

Wired Magazine. In detail, explains Blockchain Technology for beginners

Wired Magazine

In this revelatory book, Don and Alex Tapscott bring us this brilliantly researched. Markedly, highly readable, and essential book. In essence, explaining the technology driving the future of the economy.

Blockchain Revolution. In essence, moving beyond bitcoin.

How the world is experimenting with the blockchain CNBC Report 2018

CNBC takes a deep dive into how exactly the blockchain works. Including, its use cases in the corporate world. Ultimately, the key part about the blockchain. Uniquely, is that it allows several parties that don’t necessarily trust each other. Accordingly, to share a common database that is cryptographically secure. Therefore, complex processes like contract negotiations could be made cheaper, faster and simpler.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are the four most influential companies on the planet. Just about everyone thinks they know how they got there. Just about everyone is wrong.

For all that’s been written about the Four over the last two decades, no one has captured their power and staggering success as insightfully as Scott Galloway.

Instead of buying the myths these compa­nies broadcast, Galloway asks fundamental questions. How did the Four infiltrate our lives so completely that they’re almost impossible to avoid (or boycott)? Why does the stock market forgive them for sins that would destroy other firms? And as they race to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company, can anyone chal­lenge them?

In the same irreverent style that has made him one of the world’s most celebrated business professors, Galloway deconstructs the strategies of the Four that lurk beneath their shiny veneers. He shows how they manipulate the fundamental emotional needs that have driven us since our ancestors lived in caves, at a speed and scope others can’t match. And he reveals how you can apply the lessons of their ascent to your own business or career.

Whether you want to compete with them, do business with them, or simply live in the world they dominate, you need to understand the Four.

The Amazon success story. The definitive story of one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos.

Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn’t content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that’s never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon.

Compared to tech’s other elite innovator’s Jobs, Gates and Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos is a private man. Markedly, he stands out for his restless pursuit of new ideas and markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing.