Theranos, Silicon Valley, and the March Madness of Tech Fraud

Oxide and Friends · 21 Sept 2021 · 1h 12m · Episode 15

What this episode covers

Bryan Cantrill, Adam Leventhal, Cole Frederick, Land Belenky, and Simeon Miteff discuss the Theranos scandal, using it as a case study for Silicon Valley fraud. They analyze the 'lone inventor' myth, the dangers of secrecy, and the failure of due diligence by high-profile investors like Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison. The conversation extends to other fraudulent or failed ventures, including uBiome, UBeam, Solyndra, Tether, and Anthony Levandowski's actions at Google/Uber, while contrasting these with legitimate hard-tech companies like Cerebras Systems and Oxide Computer Company.

Mentioned

Companies
Theranos, uBiome, UBeam, Cerebras Systems, Oxide Computer Company, Apple, Next, Tesla, Uber, Solyndra, Tether, Juicero, Cisco, Better Place
Products
Flip
Also
Bad Blood

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