‘Selling a promise’: what Silicon Valley learned from the fall of Theranos
The company’s collapse has changed the startup environment, but some say the industry still hasn’t faced a ‘true reckoning’
Last modified on Mon 30 Aug 2021 01.02 EDT
Changing times
When Holmes was rising to power, tech companies were still seen as innovators that were largely benefiting society, said O’Mara. Bolstered by organizers’ use of technology platforms in events like the Arab spring and Occupy Wall Street, there was an overarching narrative that Silicon Valley was connecting the world and promoting democracy.
“This was a time when companies could say they were making the world a better place and most people believed them,” O’Mara said.
Startups from an array of industries were able to hop on Silicon Valley’s hype train, adopting its ethos of “move fast and break things”. Theranos was primarily a medical device company, while WeWork – another industry darling – was at its core real estate firm selling office space.
A decade later, the startup environment has decidedly changed. Revelations like the Cambridge Analytica scandal have eroded trust in big tech. Legislators and the public are increasingly questioning the monopoly power some major tech companies hold. Social platforms were largely blamed for the rise of Donald Trump and his stunning victory in the 2016 election.
“That’s when the whole conversation around social media and more broadly the tech sector started turning sideways,” O’Mara said. “There started to be more skepticism about what exactly these companies were promising.”
. . .“Healthy skepticism has evolved into complete mistrust,”
. . .The outcome of the case will be huge for startup culture, Carreyrou, the journalist, said. “There has long been a culture of faking it until you make it in Silicon Valley, and Holmes is a product of that culture,” he said.
“To reform that – to change Silicon Valley – it is going to take a conviction.”
TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE DETAILS > https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/30/elizabeth-holmes-trial-theranos-silicon-valley
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