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Lessons of Theranos

How did Silicon Valley's first female billionaire, Elizabeth Holmes manage to dupe the world with the promise of her revolutionary blood testing company, Theranos?

What can we learn from how one medical start-up fooled Silicon Valley and the world? Elizabeth Holmes dropped out of Stanford University at 19 to start Theranos. She promised investors and the public a revolutionary blood diagnosis machine which would be less painful, accessible and affordable than ordinary lab tests. She managed to raise $9 billion in funding. Now the company is worth nothing. Holmes and her business partner may face up to 20 years in prison for fraud. How did she manage to deceive some of the world's cleverest minds - and is there something about start-up culture and the cult of the visionary leader which encourages charlatans? Evan Davis and guests discuss.

GUESTS
Rebecca Jarvis, chief business, economics and technology correspondent, ABC News
Margaret Heffernan, author and entrepreneur
Jos White, entrepreneur and partner, Notion Capital

Producer: Julie Ball

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Sat 20 Jul 2019 17:30

Broadcasts

  • Thu 18 Jul 2019 20:30
  • Sat 20 Jul 2019 17:30

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