JohnCarreyrou

Part of the answer is that she scrupulously stayed away from sophisticated VC firms with experience in medical technology and diagnostics. She targeted billionaires and their families, people like the Waltons, the DeVoses, Rupert Murdoch, Carlos Slim, etc. If I were to be blunt, I would call this the dumb money. She targeted these unsophisticated investors and claimed to them that she couldn't show them the technology because it was "a trade secret." And they bought it.

She showed up at work on Tuesday. I'm told she continues to feel she did nothing wrong and is planning on taking this to trial. You could say she's in complete denial.

I think there's something to what you're saying. Cambridge has Harvard and MIT, where super smart people do real science and engineering. In SV, people have built up this myth that a young Stanford dropout can wave a magic wand and solve difficult problems. The cult of personality out there has gotten out of control. Elon Musk is another example of it. People in and around Boston are more grounded and more anchored to reality.

Yes, I think they went way too far. Ambushing Tyler Shultz at his grandfather's house and then pressuring him relentlessly and threatening to bankrupt his entire family, that's simply beyond the pale. These are methods you associate with thugs. There's also the fact that Boies Schiller held $5 million worth of Theranos stock. To me, that was a big conflict of interest. They were the company's legal representatives but also had a vested interest in keeping the fraud going to preserve and increase the value of their shares.

Yes, it's very bad for DFJ and I think associates and partners at DFJ are aghast and rolling their eyes behind the scenes. Draper represents the worst of Silicon Valley: enormous arrogance and hubris. His position seems to be that being an entrepreneur in SV with a cool idea excuses everything, even breaking the law and committing white collar crimes. I think 99.99% of people would disagree: SV startup founders should play by the rules we all have to play by. We get punished if we break the law; they should too.