Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies of a Silicon Valley Startup

As a female litigator, it is often difficult to find the time to read — especially when it’s not caselaw, an opinion or the Legal Intelligencer. Finding the time to read for the Pennsylvania Bar Association Book Club was always a struggle that resulted in procrastination, skimming as quickly as possible, and staying up all night (the night before the chapter meeting of course!) to scour the internet in hopes of finding enough Goodreads reviews to piece the last half of the book together.

Luckily, when Covid_19 hit and we were all forced into our homes, book club became a lot more active. This past month we picked Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, which centers on the true story of Elizabeth Holmes and her startup Theranos.

Theranos, a now defunct medical-device startup, was launched in 2003 by Stanford dropout, Elizabeth Holmes. Theranos created a device that could run hundreds of medical screening tests on a single drop of blood — or so it claimed. The device was small, sleek and designed to go into patient homes.  However, in 2018, Elizabeth was indicted on wire fraud and conspiracy and Theranos was shut down and liquidated.

The book provides a front row seat into the rise and fall of a tech giant. To say that I was blown away is an understatement. Not only does the book highlight Elizabeth’s ambition, determination, and intelligence — but it also points out her insecurities.

“[]Elizabeth was so persuasive. She had this intense way of looking at you while she spoke that made you believe in her and want to follow her.”

-John Carreyrou

Elizabeth was charismatic and driven, but she also had some intricacies that I can only attribute to a feeling of insecurity of being a female in a man’s world. It was heavily reported that Elizabeth intentionally lowered her voice to sound less feminine and more authoritative. That behavior struck me because it’s evident that even though she was a medical-tech startup genius — she was insecure about how she was perceived.

The tech industry is predominantly male — with only 26.5 percent of senior, executive and leadership roles belonging to women. The stats are even more depressing when you take into account the percentage of female CEOs who run Fortune 500 companies.

Women run just 7.4% of the 500 businesses on the Fortune 500 Ranking.

These numbers are staggering, and, as a woman in a male dominated field; I can understand the pull to change who you are, how you dress and even how you talk – to blend in.

I don’t know what the dynamics are like in the tech world, but I can imagine that being a woman in that environment is anything but easy. So go check out Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, and let me know how you felt about the book.