[rhizome]

>Look at Theranos, it would have died a quick death like this, but ended up being a hugely successful business right up to the point of collapse.

Your mistake is in conflating "successful business" and "fraud." It was not a successful business until the collapse, it was a successful fraud. In this way, I believe you're promoting a poor ethical standard, one that valorizes crime as long as you get away with it.

[Fricken]

Well, consider the Catholic Church, it's been able to keep the story alive for 1500 years without ever, once, demoing a working product to it's investors. Sometimes people just want something to believe in, and old white guys Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger and Rupert Murdoch weren't looking for a product, or an ROI, they were looking for a savior. While Holmes will never unlock the gates of heaven, she demonstrated clearly that she will fight at all costs to keep that dream alive, she made her value proposition and she delivers, she is still fighting.

You can declare that kind of religiosity unethical, but it comes off sounding slightly disingenuous when that kind of religiosity was instrumental in forming the ethical foundations of western civilization.

The traditional religions, of course, aren't super compatible with the modern world and we're moving away from them. Still, people need things to believe in as much as they ever did so it shouldn't be surprising that non-traditional religions such as Musk or Theranos will emerge.

With the most deeply held beliefs it's essential that they can never be proven true, because they'll stop being beliefs and become facts, which don't serve the intended purpose. For Theranos to fulfill it's mission, that blood testing device can never materialize.

For most startups it's about having blind faith that an idea can be turned into a meaningful service or product. With Theranos blind faith is the product, and it's the most meaningful product of all.