Saturday, December 01, 2018
Bad blood- the Theranos story, and I discovered a great new booklist
Bad Blood won the FT- McK book of the year, and it's about the spectacular rise and fall of Theranos. Fantastic read, finished with a classic, vintage 4 AM Saturday night finish (like a Sachin straight drive). Also, I have discovered a new source of books which could well be the gift that never stops giving- the FT-McKinsey business book of the year. I am hereby to this from the Time Top 100 novels for my go-to book list. Next up: Janesville, an American story, about the impact of the closure of a GM plant on a community. Here's the list, fellas: wiki link.
Theranos was a company, led by the Fortune cover-page starrer Elizabeth Holmes, which claimed to have invented a novel way of blood testing, wherein regular syringe-drawing of venous bloodwas replaced by a pin prick on the finger- just a couple drops of blood in place of the entire vial. At its peak, Theranos was valued at $10 Bn (above Uber). John Carreyrou of WSJ broke the story about the underlying fraudulence, and is the author.
Some reflections from the Bad Blood (some spoilers embedded):
Large, old-world companies, which don't understand tech very well, should
be wary when they suddenly jump into the tech start-up game- the rules are very different. Example: WalGreens
with Theranos.
Theranos was a company, led by the Fortune cover-page starrer Elizabeth Holmes, which claimed to have invented a novel way of blood testing, wherein regular syringe-drawing of venous bloodwas replaced by a pin prick on the finger- just a couple drops of blood in place of the entire vial. At its peak, Theranos was valued at $10 Bn (above Uber). John Carreyrou of WSJ broke the story about the underlying fraudulence, and is the author.
Some reflections from the Bad Blood (some spoilers embedded):
The book gets heated up so early- zero dilly dallying. First chapter- she fired the CFO!
Going up against premier law firms which these large cos have requires hiring an attorney- an expensive which individual employees can't undertake. Individuals are quite powerless vs. the large companies. Coupled with a strict NDA, the company is impregnable- the co can get away with murder- and the employee can say nothing.
After a failed attempt to unseat her, nice quote- "When you strike at the
King, you must kill him". Coz does she squelch the two rabble-rousers or what.
Love the depth to which he goes into the lives of employees such as lab technicians - Their motivations, emotions, little jokes, idiosyncrasies, their post-work habitats, and so on. A wonderful panoply of small and big characters for you to really connect with.
Check out this advert for Theranos: Link. "The 'intense way' of looking at you while talking was highly persuasive" - hell yeah! Such a carefully cultivated deep voice, those penetrating blue eyes and her hypnotic way of talking. And looking at that seemingly perfect skin/outfit- she looks almost like a robot- one of these new humanoid pop stars/waiters etc. Looks like they are making CEOs also, on those lines. Robot outfit inspired by Steve Jobs. But wait, when you go past that voice and the penetrating blue eyes- and it's just ultimate faff- can you put a finger on what she is saying?
$100 Mn invested by Safeway, $100 Mn + invested by Wallgreens, $50 odd mn of VC money, a BoD consisting of Larry Ellison and Henry Kissinger among others. What the hell- without testing the product!
Ana was by design
excitable and a whirlwind of activity- interesting- people can inherently maintain that style of communication. Executive presence trainings don't encourage it.
Frigging power of
connections evidenced time and again- Chuck's friend helped his son get into 'Webb' - some fancy
school. And that apart, the entire Elizabeth story- the first monies she cobbled together from contacts.
How many people will
she try to swindle! She's reached out to military to deploy in Aghanistan. The gall Elizabeth has.
Lies- hats off to her power of deceit because while she was lying, she had to keep in place that gruff voice and that penetrative gaze.
Number of funny moments in which the author distinguishes himself- "Boies (an old lawyer who was trying to intimidate the author like he intimidated many a hapless NDA-bound employee) grew angry. He was suddenly no longer the amiable grandfatherly figure. He growled and flashed his teeth like an old grizzly bear" Yet another fantastic analogy, wherein the author met a renowed pathology research, who was debunking Theranos. On asked about 'cracking the nut' of analysing blood pricked from the finger, "I'd be less surprised if they told is they were time travelers who came back from the twenty-seventh century than if they told us they cracked that nut".
Really smacked my lips at the part when the author enters the book in 1st person, halfway through the book. Like a swashbuckling hero to save the day. One of the latest entries of the first person into a book, no?
Labels: Books
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