Theranos’s groundbreaking proprietary technology promised to revolutionize healthcare with just a drop of blood from a finger prick. The company, led by its founder Elizabeth Holmes, would raise over $900 million and become a darling in the tech community. That is until a Wall Street Journal exposé revealed a scandal that astounded and paralyzed the entire VC and medical world, unraveling the $9 billion organization. Justin Maxwell, a former employee and one of the lead designers speaks about what makes an organization toxic and why the corporate culture within Theranos was the precise environment that allowed for the cover-up of secrecy, paranoia, and deception.
Episode Sources:
Case study: Lessons learned from Theranos’ corporate culture
What Can We Learn from the Downfall of Theranos?
Beware The Hype Machine: Lessons From Theranos
6 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From the Fall of Theranos
The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos
EXCLUSIVE: HOW ELIZABETH HOLMES’S HOUSE OF CARDS CAME TUMBLING DOWN
Theranos: When a Culture of Growth Becomes a Culture of Scam
“SHE NEVER LOOKS BACK”: INSIDE ELIZABETH HOLMES’S CHILLING FINAL MONTHS AT THERANOS
THE SECRET CULPRIT IN THE THERANOS MESS
Is There Any End to Our Obsession with Elizabeth Holmes?
Elizabeth Holmes: The hypnotic tale of the rise and fall of Theranos
Why We Need to Talk About Elizabeth Holmes’s Destructive Work Ethic
Bad Blood: 5 Lessons in Company Culture from the Rise and Fall of Theranos
Keep Track Of The Theranos Scandal With This Detailed Timeline
Hot Startup Theranos Has Struggled With Its Blood-Test Technology
Meet John Carreyrou, the Reporter who Exposed Theranos and Shook Silicon Valley
Special Guest:
Justin Maxwell
Cofounder & Chief Design Officer at Smith.ai
Justin cofounded Smith.ai., helping businesses operate more efficiently by qualifying leads and triaging incoming phone & chat communication.
Prior to Smith.ai, he was a UX Lead & Manager at Google. He was Mint.com’s first “UX” hire, designed and PMed the legendary Mint for iPhone, then led UX (User Experience) and Mobile for Mint.com through its acquisition by Intuit.
In Justin’s words, he has also “had the misfortune of spending a few months as Theranos’ first Design Director in 2007-2008.” You can read all about that, including his resignation letter, in John Carreyrou’s “Bad Blood.”