This story was so unbelievable that no one on page 1 even mentioned the guy who had half a beard on his face.

https://www.thecut.com/2015/07/terrible-accident-led-to-dan-arielys-career.html

While the HBO doc was entertaining, if you're interested in the story you must, IMO, listen to the podcast - "The Dropout." Fills in a LOT of gaps in the story.

Fun fact - Sunny is a sip. Studied (not sure if he ended up getting his degree there) at t.u.

Edit - he did get a undergraduate degree there. Then moved on to Cal where he got an MBA

Txmoe said:

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This story was so unbelievable that no one on page 1 even mentioned the guy who had half a beard on his face.

https://www.thecut.com/2015/07/terrible-accident-led-to-dan-arielys-career.html

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That is the good side of the story being so over the top.

The bad side is that no one has commented on the collection of literal war criminals she had on the board.

Finally got around to watching last night. I'm not sure if she is a straight up sociopath or just delusional and completely blind to her ideas vs reality. I thought the most interesting aspect of the story was that there were two sets of employees and they had two different ideas about what kind of company they were working for. Enjoyed the documentary, but it could have been better. I would have enjoyed more of how she fleeced these smart, powerful, rich people without the proof you'd think is necessary to invest massive sums of money. I'm sure they tried but people didn't want to admit they were taken.

Any clinical pathologist or rep from an existing diagnostic company knew her claims were unrealistic. Simple adage for accurate and precise blood analysis is garbage in = garbage out. That's why most point of care type systems are limited

Here is the freak partying at Burning Man while the company was closing it's doors.

https://burners.me/2019/03/03/holmes-partied-at-burning-man-while-theranos-burned/

Max Power said:

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Finally got around to watching last night. I'm not sure if she is a straight up sociopath or just delusional and completely blind to her ideas vs reality. I thought the most interesting aspect of the story was that there were two sets of employees and they had two different ideas about what kind of company they were working for. Enjoyed the documentary, but it could have been better. I would have enjoyed more of how she fleeced these smart, powerful, rich people without the proof you'd think is necessary to invest massive sums of money. I'm sure they tried but people didn't want to admit they were taken.

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I feel like the fleecing smart people piece is scary... it's no different than the Madoff deal. People tend to not question stuff if you just give them good news. Nobody calls for auditing results unless the **** hits the fan. Just say yo don't want to give up proprietary info and boom... people think your are a money-making magician.

Madoff scandal was crazier because there were actual fund of funds companies invested who could have easily pulled open interest and volumes from publicly available info (very common thing to do) to verify trade lists, but nobody did that because they were receiving excess returns so why question the gravy train?

Anyhow I agree with that last point and wish docs like these would explore this so people understand the hazards of their own hubris and confirmation when it comes to investing.

Read in the Chronicle this morning that she graduated from St. John's in Houston. Didn't know she was from around here.

I think it's pretty funny that Dan Ariely is significantly more famous because of a documentary like this.

The guy has three NYT best sellers and is one of the most famous/influential behavioral economists in the world but now he "that guy with half a beard" on HBO.

Max Power said:

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Read in the Chronicle this morning that she graduated from St. John's in Houston. Didn't know she was from around here.

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She was born in DC area. Then moved to Houston as a child when dad took a job with Tenneco.

The name of her company sounded like a supervillain. Of COURSE it was a fraud!

Dad worked for Enron as well

I think she may have only done high school here.

Aggie09Derek said:

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Dad worked for Enron as well

I think she may have only done high school here.

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Yeah forgot about the Enron connection.

Article I read said she started St. John's in sixth grade.

she thought she was a zuckerberg but was actually a mcfarland.

I just finished a good podcast on this: The Dropout.

Vernada said:

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I just finished a good podcast on this: The Dropout.

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To get the complete story one should read the Carreyrou book first. The Dropout podcast complements the book well because you hear interviews of people that play pivotal roles in the book.

The HBO doc was ok but leaves way too many holes in the story.

ATM9000 said:

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Max Power said:

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Finally got around to watching last night. I'm not sure if she is a straight up sociopath or just delusional and completely blind to her ideas vs reality. I thought the most interesting aspect of the story was that there were two sets of employees and they had two different ideas about what kind of company they were working for. Enjoyed the documentary, but it could have been better. I would have enjoyed more of how she fleeced these smart, powerful, rich people without the proof you'd think is necessary to invest massive sums of money. I'm sure they tried but people didn't want to admit they were taken.

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I feel like the fleecing smart people piece is scary... it's no different than the Madoff deal. People tend to not question stuff if you just give them good news. Nobody calls for auditing results unless the **** hits the fan. Just say yo don't want to give up proprietary info and boom... people think your are a money-making magician.

Madoff scandal was crazier because there were actual fund of funds companies invested who could have easily pulled open interest and volumes from publicly available info (very common thing to do) to verify trade lists, but nobody did that because they were receiving excess returns so why question the gravy train?

Anyhow I agree with that last point and wish docs like these would explore this so people understand the hazards of their own hubris and confirmation when it comes to investing.

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I'm ignorant on this. I watched the doc tonight based on the OP rec. IMO, it's hard to compare her to Madoff. He was well established, then went off the rails. She was a nobody! She's not even that attractive yet lured old, established men to her side.
From now on, any time I want a loan or an investor, my first statement is, "it's a basic, human right..."
fwiw, I clear land and sell mulch and that's a basic human right to have your land cleared, in an environmentally sensitive way and with that comes a recycled product that I can't use, but can be repurposed (sold) to the less fortunate, as long as the taxpayer is paying for it!

And yes, this doc did a piss poor job of focusing on the downfall. I kept checking the time left thinking there's no way this wraps up in 10 minutes.