Source:
Documentary "Inventor: The Big Blood of Silicon Valley"
John Carreyrou "Bad Blood"
Author |
In 2014, Forbes released the list of 400 rich Americans that year.
A strange, young and beautiful face attracted everyone's attention:
Elizabeth Holmes
Elizabeth Holmes
Elizabeth Holmes
That year, Holmes was 30 years old, and the blood testing company founded by started from scratch was diagnosed and treated Theranos, which was valued at 9 billion US dollars (about 60 billion yuan), and she owned 50% of the company's equity and became the youngest female billionaire at at that time.
At that time, people thought they had witnessed the birth of a legend.
Who would have thought that he had witnessed the birth of the biggest scam in the 21st century.
01
It is not enough to become rich people, and you must also make profits for all living beings.
Holmes, born in 1984, has been a "child of other people's family" since he was a child.
- Smart, studious, and has your own ideas. When she was
7, she drew detailed design drawings about the time machine in her notebook; when she was
9, she was asked: "What do you want to do when you grow up?"
0 answered without any hesitation: "I want to be a billionaire."
"Don't you want to be a president?"
"Don't you want to be a president?"
"Don't you want to marry me because I'm a billionaire."
How to become a billionaire, she also has her own ideas. In a letter to her father, she wrote: "What I really want is to discover something new, and humans don't know that this is possible."
She seems to have her own academic master and business talent.
In high school, Holmes not only maintained a good grade of A in every subject, but also taught himself programming. sold the C++ compiler he wrote to Chinese universities and earned his first money in his life.
During college, she went to Singapore for a summer internship and noticed that the method of detecting the virus was still a traditional syringe blood draw. After returning, she locked herself in the room for 5 days. invented her first patent - an efficient and fast arm patch that can diagnose and treat diseases.
This patent not only won high recognition and praise from mentor Channing Robertson, but also made Holmes determined to pursue his dream.
and that's where it all begins.
In 2003, 19-year-old Holmes dropped out of school.
This beautiful academic master used his scholarship and the educational fund deposited by his parents to establish a blood test company Theranos - derived from the combination of the two words "therapy" and diagnosis". The goal of
diagnosis and treatment is clear, becoming a disruptor, completely subverting the fixed, inefficient, expensive, and opaque blood test methods that have been determined since the 1960s, and bringing a medical reform in this country.
only needs to draw a drop of blood from the fingertips to perform hundreds of different physical examinations in a very short time. Not only are the results accurate and the price is low, but there is no need to wait for a long time.
can be measured at any time, anywhere, and it can be taken after the measurement is completed.
Everyone can quickly and accurately understand their physical condition, and
can even detect early cancer conditions.
sounds whimsical but makes people feel longing.
In her speech, Holmes mentioned that her beloved uncle was found to have skin cancer. Later, the cancer cells spread to the brain and bones. She didn't even have time to say goodbye; she mentioned that she was afraid of pinhole blood drawing since she was a child, and she was not the only one. Traditional blood drawing was like a "torture"; she pointed out that everyone is qualified to participate quickly and efficiently in their health...
"I have a wish that no one has to experience the pain of traditional blood drawing anymore"
"I want to bring a world where no one will say goodbye too early"
She came with a mission to make huge waves on this flat ground.
02
Everyone loves Elizabeth Holmes.
As a startup company, funds are always the sword of Damocles hanging in the air.
Because of her wealthy family, Holmes first used her family connections to get the initial financing from her father and grandfather's friends. In fact, her only twenty-six pages of documents are not enough to be convinced. Most of the investments are based on trust in her and her family.
Some people were also vaguely passed after listening to her gorgeous narration that her technology could change humans, and then parted in an unhappy way.
But this did not prevent her from raising $6 million in the first round of , and raised $9 million in the second round of .
She does not have much data support, but her story has emotions that data does not have. In fact, almost all investors are out of emotions and trust.
The original office was in a dilapidated industrial area, and violent incidents occurred from time to time. Once at work, Holmes was shot. The driving window and the car window was broken, almost hitting her in the head;
Even though she had plenty of money, she still lived in her cramped apartment with only mineral water in the refrigerator;
She worked 7 days a week, slept for only 4 hours a day, and ate in the company, and often worked overtime until late at night;
"Date?"
"No, I don't have time, I married for diagnosis and treatment"
A 19-year-old beauty who dropped out of school and started a business, was unyielding to create products that change the world, and made a bloody road in this battlefield-like business circle. This story is so attractive.
plus her own personal charm, her company quickly attracted a large number of powerful people in various fields, and everyone seemed to have seen the birth of "another Jobs or Zuckerberg ".
Her investment groups include Wendy Deng’s ex-husband, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, and the founder of Oracle, the world’s largest enterprise software company, Larry Ellison, (Larry Ellison)...
The board members of the board of directors for diagnosis and treatment are extremely large:
George Shultz: Former U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of Finance
Henry Kissinger: Former U.S. Secretary of State
James Matisse (James Mattis: former Secretary of the Central Command of the U.S. Army
Sam Nunn; former Chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee
William Perry: former Secretary of Defense
David. David Boies: The world-renowned lawyer
......
Holmes and George Schultz, who became his good friends and were often invited to his family or birthday parties. Schultz's grandson was also affected and went to Holmes' company for internship.
Holmes and Sam Nunn.
General Mattis did not shy away from compliments on her: she "explained human rights in the most classic sense, she is a true revolutionary."
Kissinger also sighed: she is "an excellent business woman, she has the will of steel and strong judgment. She has an ethereal temperament,"
In this way, Holmes took away the money of investors without having to reveal how Theranos' technology works, it was simply a peak figure who made a fortune.
And more people are proud of their work in diagnosis and treatment.
In the glorious period, as many as 800 employees were treated, countless corporate executives, engineers, professors, and young people who had just graduated from college gathered here to complete this great cause and promote the beginning of a revolution.
In the office building, the words of Roosevelt were posted: "There is no doubt that the best reward life gives us is: the opportunity to work hard for things worth working on."
What else is there in life that is more noble than being able to achieve this?
03
When she saw her rising up and she was feasting guests.
In 2013, the highly anticipated " Edison " was launched.
Yes, the blood test product for diagnosis and treatment is named "Edison".
Edison has a famous saying: "I did not fail, I just discovered 10,000 ways that don't work." Holmes used this to convey his belief: never give up.
"Suppose that it fails 10,000 times, let it succeed in 10,001 times."
"We did it."
took a drop of blood through the fingertips and put it into the nanotube, put it in the data box, and then put it in "Edison" for detection and analysis. This not-so-large box is like a laboratory that combines different sciences and technologies.
She signed an agreement with Walgreens, a famous pharmacy chain sales agency in the United States, to open a "health center" for blood collection within the pharmacy.
In fact, Walgreens did not know the specific operation of "Edison". Holmes quoted Martin Luther King's famous quote and told the person in charge: "Take the first step with confidence. You don't need to see the entire staircase. Just take the first step."
In many states in the United States at that time, patients had to go to the laboratory for blood tests under the supervision and guidance of doctors. For this reason, Holmes convinced the diagnosis and treatment "health center" with his outstanding eloquence to pass a law in , Arizona, , and patients can apply for blood tests by themselves without the permission of the doctor.
every time she speaks, she always attracts the warmest applause.
A world where no one will say goodbye too early has begun, and an era in which everyone can participate in their own health has arrived.
diagnosis and treatment was once rated as the second largest startup to change the world after Tesla; Stanford University professor Vivek Wadhwa praised Holmes: she may be Zuckerberg, a woman who has been waiting for in Silicon Valley. She started from childhood, desperate to build a great technology and contributed to the world. "
2014, Holmes became the youngest billionaire female richest in history;
2015, she was included in the list of the 100 most influential people in 2015 by Time Magazine;
In the same year, she was appointed as the board of directors of Harvard Medical School ;
and became Horatio Alger The youngest winner in the history of the award
......
A moment of honor came one after another, and countless newspapers, magazines and TV programs sent interview invitations, not to stingy with any praise.
At that time, she was an iconic figure, and
was the well-deserved "blood test goddess".
talked with Clinton and Jack Ma.
participated in the Fortune Global Forum.
gave a speech on TED. html l1
White House took a photo with Obama and others.
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq "
, a slogan full of human rights and benevolence, undoubtedly captured a large number of people, and people rushed to the health center of the pharmacy for blood tests. They had no reason not to believe this girl with love and dreams.
04
04
blocked and isolated.
circulating in the celebrity circle in Holmes, delivering touching speeches again and again, and receiving a layer of halo and applause from one layer, let's take a look at some real stories behind it.
in diagnosis and treatment, there is a set of incredible confidentiality rules.
Everyone who comes to work will not know how their project operates and what the technical basis is. They are only told about the legend and greatness of "that drop of blood".
They were asked to sign a series of strict confidentiality agreements:
cannot say bad things about the company;
cannot tell your family what they did;
cannot discuss anything that happened within the diagnosis and treatment;
0 any damage suffered by your company is legally responsible......
l0
Holmes's administrative assistant will become good friends with employees on Facebook, and then tell her what articles these employees have posted. All the key entrances and exits of the company are monitored, and every email sent by employees will also be monitored.
At the same time, the company blocked the chat port on the grounds of protecting information and commercial secrets, and did not allow communication with colleagues. Holmes asked members of each department to be independent and not communicate with each other, and to report all information directly to her.
An employee later sighed in an interview: "The purpose of this company is not like being an excellent person to do the most amazing things, but to put a group of people in an office to prevent them from doing illegal things."
At first, everyone thought this was really out of commercial secrets, but later they gradually discovered that this was not a commercial secret, but another secret.
In 1978, in order to stabilize investors, Edison lied that he had unlocked the secret of incandescent lamps. He gave reporters the stock of his own company and made fakes in both demonstrations and reports.
In the next 4 years, he continued to study hard, and when his money and credit were almost used up, he finally solved the problem, so there was a saying that many people regarded as the Bible.
"Pretend until you succeed"
However, Holmes, who used "Edison" as his product name, perfectly completed the first half, but never achieved the second half. The two biggest problems faced by the
project:
"Edison" is such a small box, and it can't be stuffed with various automation equipment that can do more than 200 tests; and the sample capacity of a drop of blood cannot support so many tests.
Some employees suggested changing the box to bigger and draw more blood, but Holmes refused, just like many people said no to Jobs, but he refused to "no", and insisted on his own ideas and finally succeeded. Holmes also did not allow her idea to be questioned or denied, and she refused to make any compromises.
"If Holmes allowed us to use a little more blood volume, our chances of success would be much higher. But she didn't even want to listen. "
The most common sentence that employees who questioned or wanted to improve were: "If you don't want to believe in the vision of the product, maybe you are not from Silicon Valley, maybe you should work in another company."
There are more and more people in the company "disappeared", the team is getting younger and younger, and fewer and fewer experienced people-they just need to answer "yes".
The man in the picture is called Ian Gibbons.
He is a doctor of at at Cambridge University, an excellent blood test expert. He is also the first experienced scientist hired in diagnosis and treatment. Many of the 88 patents owned by Holmes can see his contribution.
When he joined the team with the dream of creating a disruptive product, he found overwhelming problems, so he asked Holmes again and again, making various suggestions to seek the best solution.
However, the ending he got - was isolated, marginalized, lost his office, was no longer allowed to participate in decision-making, and was even asked to stay at home and not allowed to work .
In 2013, he chose to commit suicide.
His wife received no condolences from the company. A person's death seemed insignificant to them. They had only one cold sentence: send Ian's confidential documents back to the company.
"The equipment for diagnosis and treatment cannot be used." Before committing suicide, Ian told his wife.
05
The lie under the reputation.
The slogan for diagnosis and treatment is: "Check as you arrive, check as you go, collect "."
However, this is not the case at all.
Because there are too few blood samples, the blood samples have to be diluted. Later, it was found that the samples were still very small. The diagnosis and treatment re-used the intravenous blood draw in the health center - yes, it is the traditional blood draw method that Holmes wants to subvert.
When someone asked Holmes about this, she said: "99% are fingertips."
A year has passed, fingertip tests have decreased, and venous blood draws are increasing.
But under the promotion of Holmes' packaging and promotion, driven by various gift voucher vouchers advertisements, most people still believe in her.
nor can you get the inspection form on the spot.
Because "Edison" cannot complete so many tests. The "Edison" in the advertising campaign is like installing a laboratory, which is completely amazing. However, the actual "Edison" cannot adjust the temperature and cannot transfer liquids well. The machine is full of sticky blood. When
is running, it often freezes, parts fall off, and centrifuge explodes, and people need to reach out to adjust - a joke that is extremely funny.
Then how did they deceive investors and successfully go online?
When investors come to visit, take the blood and put it in the data box, Holmes will take them out of the lab, go for a visit, have a meal, or have a meeting. As soon as the investor left, someone immediately took the blood sample out of the data box and took it to another laboratory for inspection using the inspection machine on the market.
Therefore, every time investors can see a fast and accurate inspection report, they believe in this invention.
"Edison" has a thousand problems,
They also have a thousand ways to "solve" problems.
Because after the health center draws blood, the results cannot be produced on the spot. The samples will be sent to the clinical trials with dermatologists as directors to be tested through existing commercial instruments on the market.
only needs to draw a drop of blood from his fingertips - fake;
completes hundreds of tests in a very small machine - also fake.
The amazing automation laboratory is just a show that is hidden
But what is even more terrifying is not just that.
During the transportation process, the blood is condensed into blocks due to heat and is diluted when tested in the laboratory. A series of reasons lead to many errors in the test results - those who are sick are not sick, and those who are not sick are all diagnosed.
This is no longer an ordinary deception, it is already a tool to use the lives of countless people as a tool for profit.
But even at this time, Holmes was still conveying his "magnificent" image of "fraternity", and was constantly adding more detection indicators for "Edison":
06
I saw her hugging her.
Many people are confused. Why don’t this matter be exposed by so many people who know the truth and leave the diagnosis and treatment with conscience?
is not unwilling to do so, but dare not.
Diagnosis and Treatment not only has a huge board of directors, but also has a terrifyingly powerful lawyer team. The leader is David Boyce . He is known as the ace lawyer on Wall Street. He has won the title of Global Litigation Lawyer of the Year for four consecutive years. He is also one of the board members of the Diagnosis and Treatment Board.
Because a confidentiality agreement was signed before entering the company, once it was revealed, one person faced a company with a huge background, and the result was imagined.
The person who first uncovered this scam was called John Carreyrou, a senior reporter of " Wall Street Journal ".
By chance, he saw an article about Holmes published in The New Yorker. In which she mentioned the operating principle of "Edison", she used the word "ambiguity and not even ridiculous" - " to run a chemical action, so there will be a chemical reaction, and the chemical reaction produced by the sample will produce a signal, and the signal will be converted into the result ".
Recall the diagnosis and treatment from its establishment to today, Cariru, who has doubts, began an investigation.
This process is not easy.
When he finally contacted some people who knew the inside story, many people's first reaction was to keep silent, and those who were willing to say something were soon pursued by famous law firms.
After a girl could not bear to leave, she had a conversation with Cariru. One day later, she found a strange man standing next to her car in the parking lot of her new office, staying from morning to night, and when she came out, she handed her a letter: The above was her current residence, an address that no one else should have known - except to follow her. The letter pointed out that some of the secrets of her leaked diagnosis and treatment must be stopped immediately, and an interview with a lawyer, revealing what data is leaked and who it was leaked, otherwise a lawsuit will be filed;
As mentioned above, the grandson of former US Secretary of State George Schultz, who went to the diagnosis and treatment for internship, had to be with his lawyer for a long time after talking to Carrelu.
received notices from the court again and again, but they would be cancelled at the last moment, as if they were going to deliberately crush him.
Even when Carrilu wanted to interview Holmes, 7 people came to Holmes and his party, four of them were lawyers, and they took out the recorder before they could speak, seriously pointing out that his doubts were wrong, false, and needed to be accused.
However, lies are always lies and will not become truth because they are pushed to the altar.
On October 15, 2015, the Wall Street Journal published an article "The Struggle of a Star Company with the Most Business Value".
's very low-key title made public the real wishes that the diagnosis and treatment companies covered up, causing a stir. But even so, Holmes was still calm and overestimated. She publicly proved her "innocence" on a TV show.
"This article is very brutal".
In the same year, a journal invited her to be a spokesperson, but she still appeared swaggeringly, looking angry at the questioning voice, and wanted to file a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for slandering reputation.
It seems that everyone is drunk and I am awake alone, and
Everyone is turbid and I am clear alone.
still continues to maintain his image, and also went to the annual Women's Award Ceremony of Charming Magazine, using its own personal experience to encourage young women to move forward.
Holmes even organized an employee meeting to tell them how ridiculous and false Carriru's report was fabricated by dissatisfied employees and competitors - "When you work hard to turn over a huge industry, this will definitely happen, because there are powerful people who want to see you fail."
led the employees to shout collectively: "Karelu, F** K YOU"
She once had a conversation with reporters:
By 2025, what are you most sure about?
- More people will get their own health information
What are your dreams for 2025?
- fewer people have to say goodbye to the person they love
Can you tell us a secret?
paused for a while, and she slowly replied, "I don't have many secrets..."
However, the secret violence and the defeat was decided.
All the anger and confidence are like funny performances before the end.
More and more people are standing up to prove that the "Edison" experimental results are wrong;
First, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of nano containers, and ended all fingertip blood tests; then CMS conducted a surprise examination on the diagnosis and treatment laboratory and found that the blood test was inaccurate, which may cause serious injury or even death, and the laboratory's operating license was revoked.
In 2016, diagnosis and treatment closed laboratory operations and all health centers.
In 2018, Holmes and his lover, Sonny, the president of the diagnosis and treatment, were accused of "massive fraud" by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and demanded that 18.9 million shares of the diagnosis and treatment stock be returned.
Holmes had to write to various investors, seeking funds to save medical treatment, but this time, no one was fooled for the second time.
On September 5, 2018, the diagnosis and treatment company announced its official disbandment.
A company known as the world can change the world instantly disappeared.
Carrelu wrote at the end of the book:
I dare say that when she first dropped out of school from Stanford, she did not make up her mind to deceive investors and put patients in danger from the beginning. She has a vision that she truly believes in and devotes herself to realizing it, but when she devotes everything, she is just in the prosperity of her entrepreneurship, she suddenly stops listening to advice and starts to take shortcuts at a certain point in time.
Her ambition is too huge and greedy, and she cannot tolerate any intervention, so she can only do this.
is right, so that's all.
