Elizabeth Holmes’ fraud trial has been the talk of the town (both in Silicon Valley and, you know, on Twitter). The four-month trial was so popular that the journalists who covered it had to wake up at 3 A.M. to make sure they could get a seat in the courtroom and do their jobs. Too many curious onlookers and fans of John Carreyrou’s tell-all “Bad Blood” wanted to witness tech history for themselves.
One of those curious onlookers was Danielle Baskin, a San Francisco-based artist who often pokes fun at tech culture through elaborate pranks (like Blue Check Homes) that sometimes turn into actual companies (like Branded Fruit). She arrived at the courthouse in San Jose with a suitcase in tow, selling bootleg Holmes merch: blonde wigs, red lipstick, black turtlenecks and blood energy drinks.
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It was a joke, mocking the absurdity of the fact that someone on trial for fraud has “stans” who call themselves “Holmies.” But as Baskin watched Holmes’ third day of testimony, she shared a key insight about how Theranos got so out of control.
“Coming out of the Holmes trial, I think one of my biggest pieces of advice to startup founders is to have friends,” Baskin tweeted after court adjourned. “You need people in your life you enjoy hanging out with that say things like ‘lol what are you talking about’ or ‘that’s a bad idea’ when you say weird shit.”
Smoke and mirrors
In his opening statement of the case, federal prosecutor Robert Leach described how Holmes constructed a company with a $10 billion valuation based on technology that was dangerously faulty, at best. He said that one of Holmes’ techniques was to rely on “false and misleading” media coverage of Theranos to secure funding from investors. Holmes was on the cover of Fortune, Forbes and Inc. Magazine, and she was celebrated as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in 2015, lauded as a “tech visionary.” It made sense that people believed her vision when so many powerful people and institutions said she was the next Steve Jobs.
“When I was introduced to Elizabeth by [former Secretary of State] George Shultz, her plan sounded like an undergraduate’s dream. I told her she had only two prospects: total failure or vast success. There would be no middle ground,” Henry Kissinger wrote in the TIME 100 blurb about Holmes. “Elizabeth accepted only one option: making a difference.”
Kissinger went on to call Holmes a “formidable advocate” who was “on the verge of achieving her vision.” But already, a level of uncertainty bubbled around Theranos. “Others will judge the technical aspects of Theranos, but the social implications are vast,” Kissinger wrote in the final line of the blurb.
Holmes was surrounded by hype — investors like George Shultz treated her like another grandchild. So when his grandson Tyler Shultz, who worked at Theranos, told him that he…
Read More: What’s left to learn from Theranos? Have friends.