--- title: Tie Guy Has Become a Secret Star of This Buzzy Documentary description: Venture capitalist Tim Draper has become the focus of internet attention after appearing in 'The Inventor' in a memorable bitcoin tie. canonical: https://time.com/5555061/theranos-tie-guy/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-20T18:19:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:10.028Z og:title: 'Tie Guy' Has Become a Secret Star of This Buzzy Documentary og:description: This investor is the Theranos documentary's breakout star, thanks to his tie og:url: https://time.com/5555061/theranos-tie-guy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc92f60e44d65495/698946fc457a525bf0d60b9a/tim-draper-tie.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Web Summit 2018 - Day 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Tie Guy' Has Become a Secret Star of This Buzzy Documentary twitter:description: This investor is the Theranos documentary's breakout star, thanks to his tie twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc92f60e44d65495/698946fc457a525bf0d60b9a/tim-draper-tie.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This 'Tie Guy' Has Become a Major Talking Point From the Buzzy Theranos Documentary > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a4821d51-e54b-4397-8ceb-31ad1314b048&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Inventor- Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019) - Official Clip - HBO [Watch (HLS stream): The Inventor- Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019) - Official Clip - HBO](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Qc1iO6Gm.m3u8) (1:40)  _Published 2019-03-14. The Inventor- Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019) - Official Clip - HBO_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Mar 20, 2019 6:19 PM UTC  Draper Associates Founder Tim Draper speaks during the Web Summit 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal on November 6, 2018. Draper Associates Founder Tim Draper speaks during the Web Summit 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal on November 6, 2018. NurPhoto—NurPhoto via Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Mar 20, 2019 6:19 PM UTC The buzzy new documentary[ _The Inventor_,](http://time.com/5550930/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-documentary/) on failed and fraudulent medical tech start-up Theranos and its [polarizing founder](http://time.com/5551319/the-inventor-documentary-review/) Elizabeth Holmes, came out on this week on HBO — and although there’s plenty of the actual story to raise eyebrows, it’s a side character who appeared in the documentary that’s generating his own fair share of attention online. The man in question is investor Tim Draper, a noted venture capitalist who [reportedly put](https://www.crunchbase.com/funding%5Fround/theranos-seed--dfd832be#section-locked-charts) $500,000 in to Theranos during the company’s early stages through the venture capital firm DFJ, of which he is a founder. (Holmes would go on to raise $1.4 billion over 10 funding rounds, according [to Crunchbase.](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/theranos/funding%5Frounds/funding%5Frounds%5Flist#section-funding-rounds)) Apparently Draper loves this fashion statement; cryptocurrency blogs [point out](https://cryptorenegade.com/theranos-documentary-introduces-world-to-tim-drapers-bitcoin-tie-bitcoinist-com/) that he’s been seen wearing his bitcoin neckwear on TV before, and even rocked it onstage at the Web Summit conference in Portugal this fall, making it something of a signature by now. He is an advocate for cryptocurrency, with early successes using viral marketing to grow companies like Hotmail and Skype, according to [his company profile.](https://dfj.com/people/timothy-draper/?category%5Fmatch=All) He also founded the self-titled Draper University of Heroes, “a residential and online school to help extraordinary young people meet their entrepreneurial goals.” This documentary is not the first deep look into Holmes’s story; she was brought to task by investigative reporter John Carreyrou’s work in the _Wall Street Journal_, and further explored in his book [_Bad Blood_](http://time.com/5454719/best-nonfiction-books-2018/). But it is the first time we’re paying attention to Draper’s now-infamous fashion choice as part of her associated saga. He’s also gone on record as recently as last May to support Holmes, suggesting she was still a visionary and [“great icon”](http://fortune.com/2018/05/11/tim-draper-theranos-elizabeth-holmes/) who was unfairly attacked by the media. If you are moved to emulate Draper’s look, the tie is available [for purchase online](https://www.zazzle.com/bitcoin%5Ftie%5Fwith%5Fpurple%5Fbackground-151548628345831105) for $44.30\. Knowing you are echoing the style of an internet-famous venture capitalist with a dubious take on Theranos? Priceless. This is also not the first time a secondary interviewee in a documentary has gone viral of late. Just this winter, the [Netflix documentary _Fyre_](http://time.com/5500409/netflix-fyre-festival-documentary-review/) featured event producer Andy King who became internet-famous for his [surprising comments.](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michaelblackmon/fyre-festival-netflix-andy-king-dick-suck) > [](https://twitter.com/thedavidrindexp/status/1108223226935762946) > [](https://twitter.com/AmandaRosenberg/status/1108198036457439232) > [](https://twitter.com/KengJuan/status/1107887596414197760) > [](https://twitter.com/BlueSpaceCanary/status/1108248190841610240) > [](https://twitter.com/CamillaHodgson/status/1108011313744089088) ## Transcript When I think of Pharnose, I really feel like there were two entirely different worlds. There was the carpeted world, and there was the tiled world. In the carpeted world was where Elizabeth was a goddess. Everyone, almost worshipped the ground she walked on. She could do no wrong, she was the next Steve Jobs. Daniels was changing the world and then you go on to the tile side and nothing works, we're on a sinking ship, everything is a lie. Reconciling the differences between those two worlds was really hard for me to do. I knew it was a bit personally from all these Interactions through my family, so I really trusted her, I believed in her. I would leave the tired world, thinking man, sinking ship. And I would go home have a conversation with Elizabeth. Venus was founded [ INAUDIBLE ]- You can begin to understand [ INAUDIBLE ]- And I would be so motivated to go back and work in a focus changing the world [ UNKNOWN ] Again, now go back into tower road and I would go wait! What just happened? You wanted to be true so badly and even for me I was working with these devices every single day and she could still kind of convince me. When I think back on those conversations I just think like how did she do that. 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