If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Did you know that one of Silicon Valley’s most celebrated 'unicorns' was built entirely on a revolutionary medical device that didn't actually work?
- Have you ever wondered how far the 'fake-it-till-you-make-it' culture can go before it starts putting millions of innocent lives at risk?
- Are you curious about how a 19-year-old college dropout managed to deceive the world’s most powerful leaders and build a $9 billion empire on a lie?
Listen to Bad Blood — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from Bad Blood
- Learn how Elizabeth Holmes leveraged high-profile connections and a Steve Jobs-like 'reality distortion field' to convince investors to fund a flawed vision.
- Discover the severe pitfalls of toxic leadership by examining how Holmes routinely ignored critical technical failures and fired executives who demanded transparency.
- Understand how a corporate culture of intimidation can drive away ethical employees, especially when incomplete medical technology is dangerously pushed onto real patients.
- Find out how Theranos successfully deceived major retail partners like Walgreens by falsifying their device's testing capabilities and fabricating university certifications.
- Explore how powerful legal intimidation and aggressively expensive litigation were weaponized by Theranos to crush rivals and protect a fraudulent narrative.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from Bad Blood
Mind Map
Bad Blood
The Vision & Promise+
Technical Impossibilities+
Cult of Personality & Hype+
Deception & Fraud+
Toxic Culture & Consequences+
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 7
What was Elizabeth Holmes' original concept for Theranos before pivoting to the 'Edison' machine?
Question 2 of 7
Why was relying on a single pinprick of blood a major technical flaw for the Edison machine?
Question 3 of 7
How did Theranos apply Larry Ellison's software business model to their medical device company?
Question 4 of 7
How did Theranos initially attempt to avoid FDA regulation for the Edison machine?
Question 5 of 7
What deceptive practice did Theranos use when VIPs and investors came to see a demonstration of the Edison?
Question 6 of 7
What cynical strategy did Theranos use to prevent internal whistleblowing and maintain secrecy among its staff?
Question 7 of 7
What was the tragic outcome of Theranos' policy of policing internal dissent?
Bad Blood — Full Chapter Overview
- 1Recommendation
- 21 — Elizabeth Holmes came up with a brilliant machine idea that could transform medical diagnoses.
- 32 — There was one major problem: the machines were almost impossible to build.
- 43 — Holmes kept going, using her charm and charisma to push her plan forward.
- 54 — Theranos hid the Edison’s flaws to win over investors.
- 65 — The company systematically falsified statistics to sustain its deception.
- 76 — Theranos worked hard to avoid FDA inspections while posing as pro-FDA advocates.
- 87 — The company guarded its secrets by firing dissenters and hiring obedient workers.
- 98 — Final summary
Bad Blood Summary & Overview
Bad Blood (2018) is the harrowing inside story of a how a tech start-up rooted in Silicon Valley’s fake-it-till-you-make-it culture risked the lives of millions with a blood-testing device that proved too good to be true. Written by Pulitzer-winning journalist John Carreyrou, who broke the story and pursued it to its end, this is the account of Theranos and its wunderkind CEO Elizabeth Holmes’ meteoric rise and epic fall from grace.
Who Should Listen to Bad Blood?
- Anyone working in a start-up
- Fans of true stories that you just can’t make up
- Professionals in the medical industry
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