By: Linda Kesselring
In 2015, after enjoying a few years as Silicon Valley’s most in-demand startup, Theranos, the blood-testing company named for the portmanteau of “therapeutic” and “diagnostic,” was the subject of a groundbreaking article in the Wall Street Journal. Whereas previous profiles had focused on Theranos’ promise to revolutionize healthcare, as well as the company’s eccentric founder, Elizabeth Holmes, the Journal uncovered an unsightly truth in their reporting – Theranos had never developed technology close to the level of sophistication as they claimed. Within the next two years, the company completely imploded.
Theranos’ mission originated in Holmes’ famed phobia of needles. In her early years as a Stanford undergraduate, Holmes dreamed of a device that could rapidly process any medical test from only a drop of blood. Through a committed act of sleight-of-hand, Holmes was able to obscure from both investors and the public the challenges that the development team faced. By the time Theranos had rolled out its services in 2013, it was using skeletal prototypes and hacked machines from other companies.
The Theranos story is ultimately one of fraud, deception, and overshot ambition, However, it contains many lessons applicable to any biotech startup. Thus, we consider here a couple of takeaways.
Read more >> https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/techtransfer/2019/11/what-can-be-learned-from-one-of-the-most-infamous-startup-failures-theranos/
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