Elizabeth Holmes: the ultimate black hat growth hacker

Just as I finish reading John Carreyrou’s take on Theranos, it is being reported that the troubled unicorn start-up will finally shut down completely. I wanted to write this note as Bad Blood is so far one of my favorite non-fiction books in 2018, right ahead of Principles by Ray Dalio, which deserves another post.

Bad Blood is what every business book should be. First, it has the perfect length to be read in a (long) weekend: an aspect that is so hard to find in today non-fiction volumes, which are frequently artificially padded to make the book look more serious (?).

Second, the writing style is very direct, and your eyes fly over the paragraphs without ornamental constructions and long sentences that make you re-read entire sections.

And of course, the content: a very detailed and super well researched journalistic account on the rise and fall of Theranos, a much hyped startup that overpromised, lied, and bullied left and right. The personalities of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder, and Sunny Balwani, the COO and sinister foreman, are masterfully dissected to the point that by the end of the book the reader feels that he knows them personally. The technology behind the company is clearly articulated, and it never overwhelms the narrative. John also gives special attention to some of the whistleblowers that helped uncover the lies, and their struggles along the way.

My personal take of the bombastic story of Elizabeth Holmes is that she is an incredibly smart person, with a massive case of delusion; I definitely don’t think her driver was greed — at some point her shares at Theranos were worth 3/4 billions but she never sold — but a willingness to achieve global recognition at the highest level (say, in the “decade scale”). Also, it was surprising to see such an incredible case of lack of discipline from the investors’ side, who dumped millions and millions in investments without a minimum technical due diligence of the technology that Theranos was pitching. And lastly, several shameful cases of Fear Of Missing Out, and Bandwagon effects.

All these flaws were masterfully exploited by Holmes, a true black hat growth hacker.