The book opens with a brief past presentation of Elizabeth Anne Holmes. She is described by the author as being the type of who aimed to become a rich and independent woman. In terms of her family history, she had numerous members who were remarkable business people and who ensured that she will get the right education. Inspired by her father, she studied biotechnology at Stanford, because she saw it as an opportunity to become rich and also to leave a mark on the world. In 2004, after a trip to Asia, she decided to start a company that would focus on developing a device that will be able to process blood samples a lot easier. Shaunak Roy, a Ph.D student and also her professor Robertson joined the board. The name Theranos was chosen because it was a combination of two words meaning therapy and diagnosis. She leveraged her family friends in order to raise money for the TheraPatch which was the microchip she tried to invent and which would be able to analyze blood and offer the patients the results of different parameters.