Heard on the Street: Silicon Valley’s fake-it-till-you-make-it ethos has bled into U.S. startup culture writ large
There has long been a stereotype of Silicon Valley venture capitalists as those who chase narratives rather than numbers. Lately, the notion has permeated the masses.
Last week, fallen biotechnology founder Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of defrauding some of her blood-testing company’s biggest investors. A so-called startup, Theranos at its peak was valued at more than $9 billion and, as of 2018, had raised over $1 billion, according to PitchBook, despite giving inaccurate blood-test results to some patients who have said they were falsely told they had HIV or cancer. Ms. Holmes was found not guilty of four charges involving patients.