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I feel like Carreyrou was the first to popularize that there was something up with Theranos and Holmes. Being a journalist he also did it with direct sources. B

by bane 4y ago

I feel like Carreyrou was the first to popularize that there was something up with Theranos and Holmes. Being a journalist he also did it with direct sources. But the feeling that something was "wrong" predates him by a while, there's some really insightful comments here on HN circa 2013-2014 that seem to smell fishiness. Some of the comments back then point very specifically to the weirdness of her board and the near impossibility of the tech. It seemed to tick up really sharply in late 2015, which seems to be when Carreyrou decided to pick up the story. This started coinciding with Holmes going on publicity tours talking about new partnerships she had brokered with various pharmacies and other companies. I don't really think it hit the general public consciousness until mid 2016 when the wheels really started coming off. By then Carreyrou really just seemed to be a public face for a lot of people who had more or less figured it out -- except he was really trying to get at the bottom of the "why" it felt bad.

systemvoltage 4y ago
Nope, Carreyrou was on it before it was public that Carreyrou was on it. He spent months talking to people privately. Read the book. There is so much amiss here. Edit, responding to comment below: Of course people inside Theranos knew about something fishy, a few people outside were rumouring about it. But the suggestion that Carreyrou "jumped" on it in 2015 is false. Completely.
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  > Nope, Carreyrou was on it before it was public that Carreyrou was on it. This doesn't preclude other people independently suspecting something was wrong. Indeed, many of the people Carreyrou talked to thought something smelled fishy. People in the original HN threads thought so too, as did Phyllis Gartner.
- eaurouge 4y ago
  He should get credit for investigating and building a story around it. But there were calls from the scientific community, and in discussions here on HN, for Theranos to open up and show their data, way before he started investigating. The fact that Silicon Valley VCs, with one notable exception, passed on investing, speaks for itself.

by bane 4y ago

systemvoltage 4y ago

Nope, Carreyrou was on it before it was public that Carreyrou was on it. He spent months talking to people privately. Read the book. There is so much amiss here. Edit, responding to comment below: Of course people inside Theranos knew about something fishy, a few people outside were rumouring about it. But the suggestion that Carreyrou "jumped" on it in 2015 is false. Completely.

MichaelCollins 4y ago
> Nope, Carreyrou was on it before it was public that Carreyrou was on it. This doesn't preclude other people independently suspecting something was wrong. Indeed, many of the people Carreyrou talked to thought something smelled fishy. People in the original HN threads thought so too, as did Phyllis Gartner.
eaurouge 4y ago
He should get credit for investigating and building a story around it. But there were calls from the scientific community, and in discussions here on HN, for Theranos to open up and show their data, way before he started investigating. The fact that Silicon Valley VCs, with one notable exception, passed on investing, speaks for itself.