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Theranos Secretly Bought Outside Lab Gear, Ran Fake Tests: Court Filings

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Re: Theranos Secretly Bought Outside Lab Gear, Ran Fake Tests: Court Filings

#3
post #2

Is this the first total collapse of a "unicorn" this time around? I can't think of any recent, high profile disintegrations of this order of magnitude.

Was Theranos really a unicorn? I'd barely heard of them until this story broke.

Re: Theranos Secretly Bought Outside Lab Gear, Ran Fake Tests: Court Filings

#4
This explains to some extent why investors might have given the company that valuation of 9 billion. If the company faked demos and portrayed results obtained on non Theranos tech as Theranos tech results, most investors can't be blamed for believing the tech worked and it was only a matter of time before all tests could be performed by the tech.

What is baffling to me is unless the data was doctored why didn't any one of the medical consultants or partners bring this up sooner? Why did it take a deposition to reveal this? I'm sure whistleblower protections would have been provided to anyone working there with this knowledge who chose to make it public.

Re: Theranos Secretly Bought Outside Lab Gear, Ran Fake Tests: Court Filings

#5
post #2

Is this the first total collapse of a "unicorn" this time around? I can't think of any recent, high profile disintegrations of this order of magnitude.

Was Theranos really a unicorn? I'd barely heard of them until this story broke.

Theranos had received a $9 Billion valuation at its peak. https://www.forbes.com/sites/roomykhan/2017/02/17/theranos-9...

Re: Theranos Secretly Bought Outside Lab Gear, Ran Fake Tests: Court Filings

#6
post #2

Is this the first total collapse of a "unicorn" this time around? I can't think of any recent, high profile disintegrations of this order of magnitude.

Was Theranos really a unicorn? I'd barely heard of them until this story broke.

Yes, they raised $350MM at a $9 billion valuation, and Holmes was hailed as the next Silicon Valley wunderkind.

Re: Theranos Secretly Bought Outside Lab Gear, Ran Fake Tests: Court Filings

#8
I bet there are many other boardrooms around Silicon Valley who are panicking over this. There's so much pressure to be immediately profitable and show predictable year over year growth. How many have faked user trials or cooked the books in ways that would make Enron blush?
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