The media attention surrounding convicted Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes never ceases, especially now that she’s the subject of a scripted, true-crime miniseries, The Dropout. Starring Amanda Seyfried, the eight-part drama chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of the deep-voiced, blonde entrepreneur’s quest to create a groundbreaking home device that people could use to test their blood for all types of illnesses. Despite her attempts to revolutionize the healthcare industry, her Silicon Valley startup proved to be nothing more than a false promise that cost investors millions of dollars. With The Dropout streaming on Hulu March 3, here’s what to remember about Holmes, her conviction, and where she is now.
As a 19-year-old sophomore at Stanford, Holmes decided to found a company, which would eventually become Theranos (derived from “therapy” and “diagnosis”). Her goal was to develop a device that would draw a substantial amount of testable blood from no more than a prick of a finger, with the hope that it could then be tested for all types of healthcare needs.
A little over a year later, in 2004, the college dropout reportedly raised $6 million to fund her ambitions. And by 2010, Theranos had collected more than $92 million in venture capital, making Holmes a sudden star of Silicon Valley. She soon found herself on the covers of Fortune and Inc., with Forbesdubbing her the youngest self-made female billionaire in 2014 and Time magazine listing her as...
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