Entrepreneurship & Deception

Cases of deceptive entrepreneurs

  • Elizabeth Holmes at Theranos. Using the Theranos case study and the sources suggested below, retrace the evolution of the entrepreneur’s claims about the company, from slight exaggerations all the way to clear frauds. Present the chronological evolution of these claims showing how far/detached from reality they were at each point in time. Use the table below to evidence the deceptive claims, and try to identify the point at which exaggerations became lies, if not fraud.
  • Adam Neumann at WeWork. Using the sources suggested below, retrace the evolution of the entrepreneur’s claims about the company, from slight exaggerations all the way to clear frauds. Present the chronological evolution of these claims showing how far/detached from reality they were at each point in time. Use the table below to evidence the deceptive claims, and try to identify the point at which exaggerations became lies, if not fraud.
  • Elon Musk at Tesla. Using the sources suggested below, retrace the evolution of the entrepreneur’s claims about the company, from slight exaggerations all the way to clear frauds. Present the chronological evolution of these claims showing how far/detached from reality they were at each point in time. Use the table below to evidence the deceptive claims, and try to identify the point at which exaggerations became lies, if not fraud.
  • Bill Gates at Microsoft. How did Bill Gates get Microsoft’s first contract with IBM? Using the sources suggested below, describe the conditions under which the negotiations between IBM and Microsoft took place, their respective market positions, and the opportunity that Bill Gates detected in this context. Use the table below to evidence the deceptive claims, and try to identify the point at which exaggerations became lies, if not fraud.

Suggested template for the table

Quote of the entrepreneurSourceReal state of the companySourceType of deception