The recent imprisonment of Elizabeth Holmes got me thinking more deeply about the old Silicon Valley adage, “Fake it ’til you make it.” This saying has long been the mantra of startups not only in Silicon Valley but throughout the country. I’ve been involved in the startup community for the better part of 8 years now. I worked at a startup that believed faking it was a legitimate business strategy. Its founders are now staring at substantial prison time tied to a multitude of fraud convictions. I’ve also worked at two startups (my current one included) where the focus was grit, effort and hard work always backstopped by integrity. You don’t tell people you can do something you can’t do simply to benefit your own self-interest.
