“The Dropout”, created by Elizabeth Meriwether, tells the story of Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried), a young Stanford dropout who starts her own company, Theranos, and sets out to simplify complex and expensive testing procedures. blood. The series is inspired by the life of Holmes and is based on the ABC Audio podcast of the same name by Rebecca Jarvis.
In the series, Elizabeth teams up with engineers Rakesh Madhava and Edmond Ku to develop a device that can test blood with just a drop of blood. Since “The Dropout” is inspired by the true story of Holmes, viewers should be curious about the inspirations behind Ku and Madhava and their future with Theranos. If so, here’s everything you need to know! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Are Rakesh Madhava and Edmond Ku based on real people?
In “The Dropout”, Rakesh Madhava and Edmond Ku are two of Theranos’ main employees. After Elizabeth starts her own company and decides to develop the concept of a simplified blood testing device, she hires Madhava and Ku, who are both engineers who work on developing the device. Actor Utkarsh Ambudkar plays the role of Rakesh Madhava. He is perhaps best known for his performance as Jay on the sitcom “Ghosts.” Actor James Hiroyuki Liao tries out the role of Edmond Ku in the series. Liao is popular for his roles in shows such as “Cowboy Bebop” and “Manifest.”
Ku’s iteration of the show appears to be based on Edmond Ku, an engineer renowned in Silicon Valley for his problem-solving skills. Ku was hired by Holmes in 2006 and led the Engineering division. Ku was born in Hong Kong and spent part of his childhood in Canada before moving to the United States. While at Theranos, he was in charge of the development of the “Theranos 1.0” device. Ku was reportedly fired from the company around 2008, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.
On the other hand, although a person named Rakesh Madhava actually exists, the character in the series is unlikely to be based on him. The real Madhava is a software engineer who founded his own company in 2005. On the other hand, the fictional Madhava is a biotechnology engineer and worked at Theranos until 2008. However, Madhava is probably a composite character inspired by different first employees of Theranos.
Why did Rakesh Madhava and Edmond Ku quit?
In the third episode of “The Dropout”, Elizabeth is pressured to prove to board members that she can handle the responsibilities of a CEO. She wants to speed up development of the prototype, but the technology needed to make it work effortlessly is still years away from being perfected. As a result, Elizabeth hires a different engineer, Brendan Morris, to lead her own competing engineering team. Elizabeth pits the two teams against each other to speed up development.
Additionally, Elizabeth takes care of Ku’s engineering team around the clock. After Elizabeth is dissatisfied with the team’s progress, she fires Ku. The device created by Morriss’ team is nicknamed “The Edison”, but it can hardly produce accurate test results. Shortly after Ku’s dismissal, Madhava also becomes dissatisfied with Elizabeth’s methods and quits the company. Ultimately, Elizabeth’s lack of understanding of the finer elements of the engineering and technology aspects of her business led to Theranos losing employees like Ku and Madhava.
Read more: Where is The Dropout’s Sunny Balwani now?
