Why Every Entrepreneur Needs To See “The Inventor” - HBO Documentary, Twice!

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Hamlet (1.4), Marcellus to Horatio

There are so many questions raised by the HBO documentary “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley” that you need a book to address them all properly. The Wall Street Journal reporter, who first broke the story about Theranos, John Carreyrou already did that in his book “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.”

Now, I’m not interested in summarizing Alex Gibney’s documentary or John Carreyrou’s book. You have to see or read it to believe it. Make sure you do it twice. Here’s why.

Do You Really Have To Fake It Till You Make It In Silicon Valley?

It would be unfair to say that Elizabeth Holmes corrupted Silicon Valley. It is more likely that was the other way around. She simply became a part of the unofficial Silicon Valley’s startup culture: fake it till you make it.

So, it’s OK to “fake” it while you’re developing your startup. What happens if you don’t “make it?” Well, you launch a new startup and fake it again. You know how it goes. Dream big if you want to make it big. Nothing is impossible in Silicon Valley.

When you’re starting your startup journey into the uncharted territory, it’s understandable that you have to make some of your own rules. When you “boldly go where no man has gone before” there are no guides. You have to write them yourself along the way. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be held accountable for your actions.

Elizabeth wasn’t the first entrepreneur to play this fake-make game in Silicon Valley. We have every reason to believe she won’t be the last either. The Theranos case brutally exposed the ugly Silicon Valley truth. It doesn’t matter what do you know or do, but rather how do you present it. She used to dress to impress, literally. However, it takes a little bit more than the black turtleneck fashion to be like Steve Jobs.

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Abraham Lincoln

From Silicon Valley Hero To Bellow Zero

If there’s one good thing we could learn from Elizabeth Holmes, it has to be this. Never, absolutely never underestimate the power of a shiny presentation and the good old persuasion.

As a result of Elizabeth’s presentation and communication skills, Theranos was able to raise more than $700 million from the investors. At one point, this startup’s valuation went as high as $10 billion. The next thing you know, Theranos was worth less than nothing.

Play With Investor’s Money NOT With People’s Lives

Someone may say, what’s the big deal? Nobody got hurt. There are no innocent entrepreneurs and no naive investors in Silicon Valley. The investors were aware of the potential risks, more or less. The former Theranos employees will eventually find new jobs, sooner or later. The idea of small, affordable, and mobile home laboratories that can give you countless blood test results from a single drop of blood is still worth considering. One day that won’t be pure science fiction.

Much ado about nothing. Right? Nothing new in Silicon Valley. Elizabeth just got engaged. The startup show will go on this way or another.

All of these could have been “digestible” to some level if it hadn’t been for one man who had lost his life. Ian Gibbons was an award-winning biochemist and the chief scientist of Theranos. He had more than thirty years of professional experience when a 32-year-old CEO threatened to fire him. Why? It seemed that he had used the forbidden word in Silicon Valley — impossible. He crumbled under the pressure and committed suicide.

Silicon Valley Crimes Without Punishment

It is more likely that you will first see Elizabeth Holmes in a movie than in jail. Actually, Jenifer Lawrence will portray the Theranos’ CEO in a movie based on “Bad Blood” book. One rumor has it that Elizabeth is working on a book of her own. What would be the title of her book — True Blood?!

The entrepreneurs who fake it — make the headlines. The entrepreneurs who make it — make the history.