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In 2014, WIRED ran a long-form Q&A headlined “One Drop, Infinite Data: How Elizabeth Holmes Built a Better Blood Test.” Other publications followed suit, until the Wall Street Journal published an article titled “Theranos Has Struggled with Blood Tests.”

It turned out the speedy and accurate blood tests were fake, the innovative tech didn’t exist, and Walgreens, a major partner, terminated its deal with Theranos. It was a grift. A new documentary, out this week, covers Holmes' eventual incarceration.

Caitlin Roper, a WIRED editor at the time, went down to Theranos’ offices, in the Valley, to interview Holmes, she was only the second reporter to be there, and she got the performance that Holmes would become famous for. www.wired.com/story/how-el...

At Theranos, Roper got her blood drawn. She asked if she could follow her blood sample, but company reps denied permission, implying it was a health-and-safety issue.

Instead, Holmes took Roper to the Palo Alto Walgreens, one of the few where Theranos had actually set up shop. “That part seemed like a snow job,” Roper says. “It was clear even from my own basic research that it hadn’t rolled out.”

Was it weird to believe a 19-year-old college dropout had noticed something about pathology and microfluidics no one else had? Sure, but the system valorizes those kinds of iconoclasts. Steve Jobs himself, after all, was a dropout.