[exelius]

90% of success in any business is marketing. That drops to 40% in a heavily regulated industry, with the other 50% being who you know.

Holmes is really smart for connecting with the right people early. Every account I've read of the woman is that she is incredibly smart and a relentlessly hard worker. Chances are she was able to impress a number of powerful people who backed her early, and she has been able to build a functional company (no small feat in itself) that is attempting to disrupt the medical testing industry.

A large part of successful disruption in heavily regulated industries is building a popular brand. Uber and Square are perfect examples of this: regulatory agencies are willing to bend over backwards to accommodate them in ways that they have never done. A large part of this is their popularity. I'm guessing that's why we're hearing so much about Theranos -- this is an industry that's largely hidden from the public eye, and she feels the best chance to disrupt the industry is if it's brought into the spotlight with Theranos at the forefront.

It could all be marketing fluff, but it's likely to be effective.