If your reaction to the above was ‘who cares?,’ do not pass go, do not collect $200. How can we so quickly forget one of the seminal unicorns of Web 2.0.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of four of the 11 counts of fraud brought against her (three of the charges were dismissed and the jury was deadlocked on the other four, so it may not be over yet), and while she may serve (a reportedly fairly negligible amount of) jailtime, did this send chills through Silicon Valley, which at this point has become a generic term, like ‘Band-Aid’ and ‘google,’ considering that Report: Californians Leaving for Texas So Rapidly, U-Haul Ran Out of Trucks?

Will this verdict be a wake-up call? The Elizabeth Holmes verdict: Silicon Valley’s reckoning or a single bad apple? Will the guilty verdict change “fake it ’till you make it” culture?, the Mercury News asked. “Experts say the guilty verdict and the potential prison sentence it carries are sure to send a chill down the spines of entrepreneurs and investors — especially in the health care field — and prompt them to tread carefully. But it may not be the major reckoning that some have been clamoring for in Silicon Valley, where criminal charges remain rare and money continues to flow.”

And note that none of the investors or board members who were touting Theranos to other potential investors faced any charges. That would hit just a bit too, too close to home.

A seemingly more prescient and observant Pitchbook noted that A hot VC market gave us Theranos. Today’s bigger boom could bring us more of them. “The jury’s decision comes during heady times for venture capital, which is an open invitation for the Holmeses of the world. This week, the tech world reflected on another record-shattering year—$329.8 billion in US venture capital investment was raised in 2021, nearly double the previous year. There’s arguably never been a better time to be a huckster in VC.”

Remember ‘due diligence?’ Is it now just a quaint concept that belongs to a previous era of venture investment?

FLASHBACK: Figures From Across Political Spectrum Praised Elizabeth Holmes And Her Biotech Company. And flashback: remember (ousted) WeWork founder Adam Neumann? Seems he’s reinventing himself as a real estate tycoon and has indirectly bought majority stakes in over 4,000 apartments worth more than $1 billion altogether, a report says, according to Yahoo!News.

WeWork was hardly a tech company and basically a Ponzi scheme from the onset. Or as BizNews called it back when things were beginning to come undone,  WeWork: A $47bn master class in how to play investors for a fool. Here’s the idiot’s guide. The piece is worth a read. It’s a classic case of how to set up a Ponzi scheme – which we’re not at all recommending or advocating, by any means.

So how is it that Neumann is back, albeit self-funded – so far – and why not? Despite the fact that his company lost money, Neumann exited with a fortune, plus WeWork SPAC Leaves Adam Neumann With a $2.3 Billion Fortune and Holmes may be heading to prison. Is it that the former was the consummate showman while the latter felt that invoking memories of Steve Jobs was the way to go? Do tech bro get a pass, even though WeWork was certainly a real estate play rather than a tech company? Then again, real estate is always a good bet, what, eh? Although apparently not so much in the hands of a tech bro/master showman, while with her health startup, Holmes could potentially harm people and considering the current state of the world, with PCR tests no longer in use to test for COVID as they’ve been deemed ‘unreliable,’ well, no irony there.

We are by no means defending Holmes or the verdict. Just wondering why the lens of justice is so selective.

As for Travis Kalanick, he may be shying away from the press, but not from starting companies.  In fact, Travis Kalanick is building a secretive dark kitchen empire in Europe and as Sifted reported, “the controversial cofounder of Uber’s… dark kitchen ventures have been backed by a $400m investment from the Saudi Arabian government.

Kalanick’s past indiscretions don’t appear to have harmed him at all and time will tell how the Theranos verdict will affect entrepreneurs in the long run.

Current perception may be that there’s a fine line between hyperbole and lies, hype and fraud and we’ll see if that will soon change. Given the Theranos verdict, and the funding firehose we’ve been witnessing so far, heads up, founders: that may be all well and good – until it strikes just a bit too close to Holmes. Onward and forward.