The subtext of the Theranos story is that it's easy to mislead the press, and even investors. Silicon Valley still relies largely on optimism and TRUST. When a wolf in turtleneck clothing comes along and takes advantage of that, it risks putting all other companies on the defensive.
How Theranos Misled Me
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Re: How Theranos Misled Me
#52Theranos has been the only biotech firm that I've seen mentioned on the news lately. Is there anything GOOD happening in biotech right now?
Re: How Theranos Misled Me
#53Hard to not have a lot of doubt in much of what Theranos has claimed to accomplish. Far too much shroud of secrecy to seem legitimate. Every article that comes up about it reeks of something not being quite right.
I agree, but how much of this is biopharma vs. techie cultural mismatch?
Re: How Theranos Misled Me
#54I did not know much about Theranos before the recent skeptical articles started to appear on newspapers regarding the falseness of their claims. The larger question is, how do you get to a $9B valuation without having rock solid technology or evidence to prove the effectiveness of their technology? I would assume that the VCs in SV are a pretty smart bunch. How on earth did this happen in the first place? If Theranos…
It's true, we can make mistakes from time to time.
Re: How Theranos Misled Me
#55The company seems to be grasping at straws in desperate attempts at damage control now that everyone seems to be catching on that the company is perhaps more hype than substance. Certainly not the first time in business history that a product has failed to live up to initial expectations, but if theres a feeling that people were misled about what was real vs. conceptual then it can get ugly quite quick.
"not the first time..." What other product/company has not lived up at this scale, and with this capitalization?
Webvan.com
Re: How Theranos Misled Me
#56I did not know much about Theranos before the recent skeptical articles started to appear on newspapers regarding the falseness of their claims. The larger question is, how do you get to a $9B valuation without having rock solid technology or evidence to prove the effectiveness of their technology? I would assume that the VCs in SV are a pretty smart bunch. How on earth did this happen in the first place? If Theranos…
Careful. That kind of logical hiccup is exactly what investors #2 through the last thought. And like you say, few to none in that line come from from biomedical or biotech backgrounds. The emperor might have been sold an invisible set of clothing.
Re: How Theranos Misled Me
#57Re: How Theranos Misled Me
#58Re: How Theranos Misled Me
#59What I really find upsetting, more than Silicon Valley wasting millions on hype, is the board of directors. Senior government and military officials are making bad decisions for their own pocket books post retirement. General Mattis squashed any internal criticism of Theranos in the military and then left to join the board.[1] This is happening repeatedly with crappy technology being forced down the throat of the military by senior leaders who miraculously get board positions after retiring. Retirement needs to mean retirement for senior government officials. Help a non-profit or teach, but stop selling out the services and the country.
[1] http://www.techinsider.io/emails-theranos-elizabeth-holmes-u...
Re: How Theranos Misled Me
#60Theranos' reply: http://fortune.com/2015/12/20/letter-to-the-editor-theranos-... It reads like it was written by a small team of lawyers who have had little sleep - not a good sign. :/
That link appears to have been deleted, so here it is, via Google cache: ---- Letter to the Editor: Theranos Responds Brooke Buchanan is vice president of communications at Theranos Both the headline and much of the content of Roger Parloff’s December 17 story, “How Theranos Misled Me” are inaccurate and — ironically — misleading. Theranos was honest and transparent with Mr. Parloff, and the headline to Mr. Parloff’s…
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