Ro's Recz

Bad Blood is a tremendous account of the true story of Theranos, written by John Carreyrou .

Theranos was a company founded by a former Stanford graduate named Elizabeth Holmes. The company was a health-technology company, and it was a startup which easily reached the mythical unicorn status (over $1 billion valuation) in Silicon Valley. At its peak, Theranos reached a private valuation of over $10 billion.

For those of you who have never heard of Theranos, or forgot about its story in the news, it is an incredibly twisted, but compelling story. Theranos claim was that it had produced a medical device capable of conducting blood tests on samples 1/100 to 1/1000 smaller than other comparative products, and for less money. There were plenty of people from the beginning who said that this type of technology would never be possible, but Holmes was able to use her charm, looks, smarts, and personality to convince many investors otherwise.

As you will read in the book, she was able to get recruit very powerful people to both invest and support her company. Many of these people were either to drawn into Holmes’, or they were far too invested that they couldn’t pull out for fear of ruining their reputation. Holmes’ masterfully manipulated those around her to continue growing her company, even when tests did not work or the demo product failed.

I personally listened to an audiobook version, but I am sure reading the physical book will be just as good. As you read the book, you will wonder 100s of times how exactly someone could have possibly gotten away with what Holmes did. Similar to JHo Low in Billion Dollar Whale, the feats are just so incredible that they sound made up.

Overall, Bad Blood is a tremendous book, and it is definitely something you should read if you are into drama or business. Be sure to put this on your reading list, and I am sure you will not regret it!

Bad Blood Recommendation Rating: 4

1: Something worth checking out if you have time

2: Something that is a hit for some people, but not a must for everyone

3: Something worth prioritizing if interested

4: Something worth making time to check out

5: An absolute home run, worth going out of your way for