Elizabeth Holmes urged employees to hide Theranos’ lab equipment from inspectors

Re:Elizabeth Holmes urged employees to hide Theranos’ lab eq... by hn_throwaway_99 on Thursday September 30, 2021 @01:35AM (#28703517)

I commented this in a different story, but I hate that the media (and now apparently HN) is conflating outright fraud with "fake it until you make it" culture. They are totally different, and the line between them is actually bright and clear, not some "gray, fuzzy" distinction some people propose.

That clear line is simply "are you telling a material lie about the present?" In Theranos' case, there were numerous instances when Holmes lied about the current capabilities of her company and its tech that she knew to be false. That is very different from making overly optimistic assessments about future capabilities.

Would love to hear any stories about a company that "faked it" when talking about their present day capabilities but we're able to "make it" before the fraud was discovered.

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Re:Elizabeth Holmes urged employees to hide Theranos’ lab eq... by kube-system on Thursday September 30, 2021 @08:53AM (#28705725)

I agree that there is a difference. But, I do think that the line is not so clear in more than a few instances, and that the business culture in SV has normalized this.

The use of exaggeration, vague, misleading and/or conflicting statements, labels, or depictions can really blur that line.

Determining whether a statement is a lie is not always a straightforward and undisputed process.

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