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Goodbye East Paly

n early 2008, Theranos moved to a new building on Hillview
Avenue in Palo Alto. It was the Silicon Valley equivalent of moving
from the South Bronx to Midtown Manhattan.
Appearances in the Valley are paramount and for three years
Theranos had been operating on the wrong side of the tracks. The
“tracks” in this case were Route 101, otherwise known as the Bayshore
Freeway. It separates Palo Alto, one of the most affluent towns in
America, from its poorer sibling East Palo Alto, which once held the
dubious distinction of being the country’s murder capital.

The company’s old office was on the East Palo Alto side of the four-
lane highway, next to a machine shop and across the street from a
roofing contractor. It wasn’t the type of neighborhood wealthy venture
capitalists liked to be seen in. The new address, by contrast, was right
next to the Stanford campus and around the corner from Hewlett-
Packard’s plush headquarters. It was pricey real estate that signaled
Theranos was graduating to the big leagues.

Don Lucas was pleased with the move. During a conversation with
Tony Nugent, he made clear his disdain for the old location. “It’s nice
to finally get Elizabeth out of East Paly,” he told Tony.

The move was not fun for the person who had to make it happen,
however. That job fell to Matt Bissel, the head of IT. Bissel was one of
Elizabeth’s most trusted lieutenants. He’d joined Theranos in 2005 as
employee number 17 and took his duties seriously. In addition to being
responsible for the company’s IT infrastructure, his role also included