| I've too been in the position of trying everything I could think of to avoid being shot in the head (my company that is), and then watching it get destroyed by the bank ... I can and do empathize with those in this position now. Obviously I don't and won't condone the lying to investors, the apparent falsifying of test modalities, and so on. But I know what watching your baby, that you poured your life blood, your energy, your soul into, feels like[1]. Slightly more than a year for me. I empathize with the Theranos people. And though I don't agree with her tactics, I have a sense of what the CEO is going through watching it die. That is, assuming she was a true believer in her company and not a scammer. I did not enjoy letting my team go. I did not enjoy the repo company collecting the assets, or the auction. I didn't enjoy what the bank did next, after shooting us in the head. What I've learned from this exercise is that many times when the provisions are triggered, the entity does not actually act in its own best interests. We were in the midst of talks to sell our company when the bank shot us in the head. Scared the other player off. Guaranteed that they would not get what they wanted. [1] http://scalability.org/2017/03/requiem/ |
There is absolutely no sympathy necessary here. You may empathize with the feeling of loss, but concluding that they are not scammers because of that is absurd. “Best intentions” do not matter if your actions contrast with them.