[82lsju]

I hear this self-defense a lot and think it's not terribly convincing, for a few reasons: 

1) it's not true that valley outsiders were the sole (or preponderance) investors. Larry Ellison and Draper put money into it. And BlueCross BlueShield's in-house investors (who are actually reasonably well-regarded) put money in too. 

2) This is, to be fair, a subjective thing. You might think this represents not a of immense proportions slice of the Silicon Valley elite, and I suppose as a semantic matter I might concede. But I would argue this makes the Valley look even worse. Because Valley insiders were definitely complicit in hyping the company. Tons and tons of insiders either invited Holmes to speak at their events or feted her with awards. Several insiders, including Marc Andreessen, reflexively defended her when the first wave of negative press coverage came; and in fact some of them indulged in bizarre conspiracy theories (that the coverage was somehow prompted by her "enemies") rather than treating it as a good-faith disagreement. 

Defending her to the hilt while refusing to put their money at stake looks like trying to put one over the rubes. So, to be honest, I think it's better for the Valley if story 1) (that actually many of their investors were conned, like all the rest) is true. 

Anyway the government has filed a superseding indictment on Holmes and Balwani, which doesn't look good.

Draper put on the order of $1 million in early (and none later, but has been a big defender, his daughter was apparently a childhood friend of Holmes)

Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison also reportedly put in big money (Murdoch reportedly sold his stake $125m back for $1 https://www.businessinsider.com/rupert-m...ake-2017-3 )

In "Bad Blood", which may or may not be 100% accurate, the Walgreens and Safeway behavior is mind boggling, the former afraid that if the technology worked and CVS jumped in they would be screwed and the Safeway CEO wanting to leave a new business legacy around wellness before he retired.

I'm not a biotech/blood expert but the few people I know in that field were highly skeptical from the beginning that a small amount of blood from your finger could give reliable test results.

[82lsju]

I hear this self-defense a lot and think it's not terribly convincing, for a few reasons: 

1) it's not true that valley outsiders were the sole (or preponderance) investors. Larry Ellison and Draper put money into it. And BlueCross BlueShield's in-house investors (who are actually reasonably well-regarded) put money in too. 

2) This is, to be fair, a subjective thing. You might think this represents not a of immense proportions slice of the Silicon Valley elite, and I suppose as a semantic matter I might concede. But I would argue this makes the Valley look even worse. Because Valley insiders were definitely complicit in hyping the company. Tons and tons of insiders either invited Holmes to speak at their events or feted her with awards. Several insiders, including Marc Andreessen, reflexively defended her when the first wave of negative press coverage came; and in fact some of them indulged in bizarre conspiracy theories (that the coverage was somehow prompted by her "enemies") rather than treating it as a good-faith disagreement. 

Defending her to the hilt while refusing to put their money at stake looks like trying to put one over the rubes. So, to be honest, I think it's better for the Valley if story 1) (that actually many of their investors were conned, like all the rest) is true. 

Anyway the government has filed a superseding indictment on Holmes and Balwani, which doesn't look good.

Draper put on the order of $1 million in early (and none later, but has been a big defender, his daughter was apparently a childhood friend of Holmes)

Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison also reportedly put in big money (Murdoch reportedly sold his stake $125m back for $1 https://www.businessinsider.com/rupert-m...ake-2017-3 )

In "Bad Blood", which may or may not be 100% accurate, the Walgreens and Safeway behavior is mind boggling, the former afraid that if the technology worked and CVS jumped in they would be screwed and the Safeway CEO wanting to leave a new business legacy around wellness before he retired.

I'm not a biotech/blood expert but the few people I know in that field were highly skeptical from the beginning that a small amount of blood from your finger could give reliable test results.