Hard Fork
What’s the Deal With Billy Evans? A Spoiler-Filled Guide to ‘You Can See Everything’
This debrief was written and voiced by AI from the episode's audio.
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Key Moments
Max Read introduces the central mystery of You Can See Everything: who is Billy Evans, Elizabeth Holmes' romantic partner, and what is he really getting out of this relationship? The film raises urgent questions about his identity, motivations, and the nature of their bond.
Finance reporter Rob Copeland describes how he learned Evans was running a blood-testing company and initially thought he was being scammed. Hemanthes, named after the blood lily flower, was pitched as a cheaper pet blood-testing service—a lower-regulation entry point into the business.
Rob Copeland reveals he obtained a letter from Evans dated October 2024 claiming it proved regulatory approval. When Copeland called the USDA directly, they said his interpretation was wrong—the letter did not grant him the approval he thought it did.
The company has raised roughly three million dollars—two orders of magnitude below what would be needed to start a real blood-testing company. One of the few identifiable investors is a tapas restaurant owner in Austin who Evans describes as a friend.
Jim Breyer, one of Facebook's early backers, went on record saying he looked at the company and thought it was no good. This is extremely unusual in Silicon Valley, where investors typically don't publicly reject companies to avoid seeming non-founder-friendly. The fact that Breyer broke this unspoken rule reveals how little appeal the startup had.
During filming, viewers see Holmes making investment calls alongside Evans. Carreyrou notes that if these calls were filmed in 2023, they're legally questionable because Holmes is a convicted felon barred from securities involvement. He speculates the company wasn't actually raising money at that point, but the footage suggests she was participating.
The documentary reveals Evans runs Holmes' Twitter account while she's in prison, either tweeting words she sends him or tweeting on her behalf entirely. Some tweets sound like Holmes (philosophical, abstract) while others are strategically designed to reinforce the narrative that she's neurodivergent or alien. The hosts play a game guessing which tweets are genuine versus performative.
Rob Copeland highlights CoreWeave, an AI infrastructure company with seventy billion dollars in liabilities across fifty-one data centers. Their stock is collapsing and borrowing costs are doubling. This is a classic Wall Street story of a company that grew too fast and assumed the market would keep going up. The financial crisis could spread faster than technological breakthroughs.
Elon Musk confirmed on SpaceX's earnings call that independent board committees are exploring a potential merger between SpaceX and Tesla. Musk noted he cannot participate in discussions because he's a conflicted party. This continues a pattern of Musk consolidating his empire, from XAI to SpaceX's recent IPO.
Meta's global policy chief Joel Kaplan is departing after a decade and a half. Kaplan was a close friend of Brett Kavanaugh's and served as Meta's primary liaison to conservative critics, helping navigate manufactured controversies about censorship and shadow banning. His exit signals a potential shift in Meta's political strategy.
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Summary
This Hard Fork episode dives deep into Billy Evans, Elizabeth Holmes' romantic and business partner who emerges as the unlikely protagonist of the Netflix documentary "You Can See Everything." Host Max Read sits down with New York Times finance reporter Rob Copeland, who interviewed Evans about his blood-testing startup Hemanthes, and tech reporter Erin Griffith to dissect Evans' character, his relationship with Holmes, and Silicon Valley's reaction to the film. The episode explores whether Hemanthes is a real company (it raised roughly $3 million with few notable investors), how Evans differs on and off camera, and the peculiar dynamic between Holmes and Evans—who appears to be both a mark and opportunist. The hosts also discuss news stories including CoreWeave's debt crisis, a potential SpaceX-Tesla merger, and Joel Kaplan's departure from Meta. Finally, John Carreyrou returns to answer listener questions about Holmes, Theranos, and the film, clarifying key facts about the fraud and addressing whether Holmes genuinely believed her own narrative.
Key Takeaways
Billy Evans' startup Hemanthes is not a credible company: it raised only $3 million with minimal investor backing (including a tapas restaurant owner) and has no working product, making it fundamentally different from a legitimate tech venture despite Evans' pitches to tier-one investors like Jim Breyer and Michael Dell.
highEvans deliberately misrepresented his company to reporters and investors while secretly filming footage with Holmes for the documentary, suggesting a coordinated media strategy to control his narrative before the film's release.
highElizabeth Holmes faces ongoing legal jeopardy: her involvement in Hemanthes while imprisoned raises questions about whether she violated her sentencing restrictions on securities involvement, especially given documentary footage showing her making investment calls in 2023.
highThe relationship between Holmes and Evans mirrors her dynamic with Sunny Balwani—they are running the same fraud playbook together, suggesting she has not fundamentally changed despite imprisonment and that both parties see opportunity in the documentary and resulting notoriety.
highCoreWeave's $70 billion debt crisis signals broader fragility in AI infrastructure spending; the company's stock collapse is a harbinger of potential problems in the broader AI financing ecosystem as market assumptions about unlimited growth face reality.
mediumSilicon Valley investors may be willing to back controversial figures as a statement against 'cancel culture,' but Holmes' felony conviction for fraud sets a different threshold—few VC firms have backed someone actually convicted of fraud.
mediumHolmes runs her Twitter account through Billy Evans, who tweets both genuine-sounding reflections and strategic posts that reinforce a narrative of her as neurodivergent or alien, suggesting calculated image management rather than authentic self-expression.
mediumNotable Quotes
“When I called him and said I'd want to talk about your startup, he said, 'Which startup?'”
— Rob Copeland
Evans' deflection when confronted about Hemanthes, showing his PR strategy of avoiding direct answers while maintaining a veneer of openness.
“She simply believes in things with such depth that it is alluring. She's more of a zealot than a showman.”
— John Carreyrou
Evans' characterization of Holmes in a sentencing letter, which Carreyrou identifies as the narrative the documentary amplifies to frame her as genuinely deluded rather than deliberately fraudulent.
“The pathology of fraud is the inability or refusal to accept responsibility.”
— John Carreyrou (quoting Judge Davila)
Davila's observation during Holmes' sentencing, which Carreyrou argues perfectly encapsulates Holmes' refusal to show contrition or acknowledge harm despite multiple opportunities.
“I think he's both [a mark and an opportunist]...you can't tell me it's a coincidence that the first guy she dates seriously after Theranos blew up is a very rich heir.”
— Erin Griffith
On whether Billy Evans is being used by Holmes or is using her; Griffith argues he fulfills both roles simultaneously.
Predictions
If Elizabeth Holmes receives a presidential pardon, venture capital firms may be willing to back Hemanthes or similar ventures, providing a mechanism to tell a comeback story to LPs.
— Erin Griffith · Confidence: medium · Dependent on 2028 or later political developments
CoreWeave's debt crisis and stock collapse will spread to other AI infrastructure companies and eventually impact demand from firms like Anthropic, causing a broader correction in AI spending.
— Rob Copeland · Confidence: medium · Months to a few years
The financial problems in AI infrastructure will manifest faster than technological breakthroughs, creating a mismatch between hype and actual business viability.
— Rob Copeland · Confidence: medium · Near-term (6-12 months)
Joel Kaplan will likely land in a Trump administration position, possibly connected to Marco Rubio's 2028 presidential campaign.
— Max Read · Confidence: low · 2025-2028 timeframe
Action Items
Read John Carreyrou's 'Bad Blood' to understand the full scope of Theranos fraud and Holmes' actions, moving beyond the documentary's narrative framing.
The documentary is a work of art that may obscure facts; the book provides comprehensive reporting and context that clarifies what actually happened versus what might be performative in the film.
Monitor CoreWeave's financial situation and broader AI infrastructure spending patterns as a leading indicator of AI market health; skepticism about unlimited AI spending may be warranted.
Rob Copeland positioned CoreWeave as a canary in the coal mine for broader fragility in AI financing, suggesting investors should watch this sector closely.
Be cautious about narratives that frame fraud perpetrators as neurodivergent or 'different'—examine evidence of intentional deception rather than accepting performance as fact.
Carreyrou emphasizes that Holmes' calculated behavior and refusal to accept responsibility suggest knowing wrongdoing, not genuine inability to understand right and wrong.
Consider the distinction between convicted fraudsters (Holmes) and controversial figures when evaluating whether VC backing might materialize; felony fraud convictions remain a higher bar than most scandals.
Understanding investor hesitation around backing Holmes without a pardon helps calibrate expectations about potential 'comeback' narratives.