The Dropout

The story of Elizabeth Holmes is so unbelievable that if I didn’t watch it happen in real time, I wouldn’t believe it was true.

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Holmes grew up believing she would change the world, and she decided at the age of 19 that she would do that by developing a blood test that could identify a range of diseases with a drop of blood. She raised billions in funding for the company, had a gold chip advisory board, and was hailed as the next Steve Jobs on the cover of Fortune. But this self-made billionaire was like technology’s Icarus - she flew too close to the sun, and this podcast chronicles her rapid ascent, and even more rapid fall.

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Based on the book Bad Blood, which is well worth reading before or after you listen, The Dropout podcast weaves Holmes’s story into a compelling narrative through interviews with key players, past media interviews, and depositions. By the end of it you can’t decide if Holmes is a mad genius or the world’s biggest con artist - but either way, it’s one hell of a story.