Elizabeth brings on an unexpected character as her right-hand man at Theranos and it turns out they are hiding a big secret. They strike a monumental deal with Walgreens that could potentially put millions of lives at risk while insiders say a culture of fear and intimidation at the company leads to incredible tragedy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Previously on the Dropout.
We met Elizabeth Holmes, a Stanford dropout with less than two years of college under her belt, who launched her blood testing company, Theranos, at just 19 years old.
I actually originally did not intend to drop out of Stanford, but I wasn't going to any classes, and I was spending all of my time talking to VC's.
And so then, logistically, it just seemed like a waste of money.
Obsessed with Apple and Steve Jobs, she'd started wearing black turtlenecks and recruiting heavily from her hero's company.
I left 15,000 shares at Apple, but c'est la vie and life continues on.
But one by one, those Apple recruits, including Avi Tivanian, Steve Jobs right hand guy, had been dropping like flies.
So you were done with Theranos?
I had seen so many things that.
Were bad go on.
I never expected anyone would behave the way that she behaved as a CEO.
And believe me, I worked for Steve Jobs.
I saw some crazy things.
The business was also running out of cash.
Okay, so you knew that the company was short on cash.
Yes.
Yeah.
But Elizabeth was about to find a solution to all of those problems.
From ABC Radio and Nightline, this is the dropout, episode two, the Enforcer.
When did Sunny Balwani join the company?