SILICON VALLEY “FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT” ETHOS TAKEN TOO FAR EARNS ELIZABETH HOLMES JAIL TERM

Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty on two counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by a jury on Monday.

Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison for each guilty count. She was also found not guilty on four counts of fraud, but the jury returned a split verdict on a further three

The Elizabeth Holmes case was perhaps the highest-profile test of whether the Silicon Valley ethos taken to the extreme could withstand legal scrutiny. Now she makes history as the first Silicon Valley CEO to be convicted of a white-collar crime.

There is nothing in any ‘Silicon Valley ethos’ that insuniate telling lies is okay,  ‘taken to extremes’ (a weasel phrase) or otherwise. Fraud is fraud.  

‘Fake it till you make it’ does not mean that you lie to your investors. That’s not up for debate. It doesn’t mean fraud. It means things like the Instacart founder doing deliveries by Uber to see if the model might work.

This and fake it until you make it etc. are a part of the overall culture in SV. It is the ethos and it cultivates a mindset of “making it” at all costs. This is going to cultivate bad behavior.

Theranos isn't a one off and saying this isn’t up for debate is a cop out.

The idea to “fake it ‘til you make it” culture in Silicon Valley has been taken to the extreme as it were. In this case, it's something that’s not really up for debate. In any case or way, therefore if jail term is the reward of her fake it ethos, so be it.