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How Theranos Misled Me

fortune.com

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Re: How Theranos Misled Me

#81

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

gamesbrainiac wrote: post #37

I 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…

> I would assume that the VCs in SV are a pretty smart bunch. How on earth did this happen in the first place?

Maybe the pg effect writ large?

“I can be tricked by anyone who looks like Mark Zuckerberg. There was a guy once who we funded who was terrible. I said: ‘How could he be bad? He looks like Zuckerberg!’ ”

Re: How Theranos Misled Me

#82

Post by dekhn »

DanBC wrote: post #46

All the investors, and all the journalists had a simple option that none of them appear to have taken: have your own blood tests done by Theranos. When they start sticking something into a vein you then know it's more than a finger-stick. Still, this is a great article, and it clearly shows that Theranos were failing in their duty of candour.

Google Ventures said that when they were looking at Theranos as an investment, they sent an employee to have the test, then were puzzled why a blood draw was required, and said that was suspicious enough not to invest.

Re: How Theranos Misled Me

#83

Post by pessimizer »

gamesbrainiac wrote: post #37

I 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…

> But what I do know is that people don't invest their money without good reason to do so.

Not coincidentally, this false belief is by far the most common reason people invest their money badly, and why Ponzi schemes work.

Re: How Theranos Misled Me

#84

Post by pessimizer »

randycupertino wrote: post #77
Pyxl101 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems possible that there wasn't much initial due diligence nor a working product at the beginning: > Tim Draper, the venture capitalist, said Holmes, who was friends with his daughter growing up, is the first entrepreneur he knows who kept quiet about her business From what I understand, Tim Draper, of DFJ Venture invested in Holmes when she was a Stanford student. > DFJ, formerly known as Draper Fisher Jurvetson…

> It seems most likely to me that this investment was based on her personality and/or personal connection isn't that how most founders get their initial $$? At least the ones I know. One got his money from his parents because his dad is a world famous cardiologist and the other one because he was friends with a bunch of people on the board of YC. Heck, even the go pro founder got a ton of $$ from his parents. Elizabe…

Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk—they come from families with money

http://qz.com/455109/entrepreneurs-dont-have-a-special-gene-...

Re: How Theranos Misled Me

#85

Post by bpicolo »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #53
bpicolo wrote: post #4

Hard 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?

Given articles like this one, probably a lot less than you'd think.

Re: How Theranos Misled Me

#86

Post by bigchewy »

meric wrote: post #36
asadlionpk wrote: post #20

Not to get all tinfoil hat, this sudden press attack on Theranos seems so synchronized.

Theranos was offering standard tests at a lower rate. I'm guessing the market price is so high, it's quite easy to generate positive cash flow from it. Could it be the incumbent industry players do not want a new competitor into the market? Also Martin Shkreli got arrested recently. Who benefits most from arresting Shkreli? The pharmaceutical industry he shone the light on. Now where can you buy one of those hats?

Do you have any knowledge of this or pure speculation? The lab industry I know (10+ years in healthcare) does not have the 60%+ in waste necessary for Theranos to offer their prices + generate positive cash flow. Perhaps the investor dollars are funding the low prices

Re: How Theranos Misled Me

#87

Post by PhasmaFelis »

asadlionpk wrote: post #20

Not to get all tinfoil hat, this sudden press attack on Theranos seems so synchronized.

On the other hand, once one person has started criticizing, others who had doubts are likely to come forward; and the media always gets focused when they smell blood in the water.

Re: How Theranos Misled Me

#88

Post by Kalium »

ryporter wrote: post #73
randycupertino wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're incredibly shady. $750k in lobbying helps https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D00005517... Their VC firm was the CIA: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125200842406984303 Cashing fat the .gov to "fight terrorism" doesn't help make US citizens any safer, but does the founder wealthy enough to buy castles & fly his Stanford undergrad floozy around the world on private jets. Nice work if you can get i…

If $750K of lobbying makes them shady, what do you think of millions of dollars spent on lobbying per-quarter by the likes of Google, Amazon, and Apple? [1] Their VC firm was not the CIA. It was In-Q-Tel, which was founded by the CIA (yes, there is a difference). In-Q-Tel has also funded companies such as FireEye. [2] What's your opinion of them? I don't really know how to respond to the claim about "Cashing fat the…

It's semi-public knowledge that In-Q-Tel is the investment arm of the government. They make investments on behalf of any government department that puts up the money.

Re: How Theranos Misled Me

#89

Post by meric »

bigchewy wrote: post #86
meric wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theranos was offering standard tests at a lower rate. I'm guessing the market price is so high, it's quite easy to generate positive cash flow from it. Could it be the incumbent industry players do not want a new competitor into the market? Also Martin Shkreli got arrested recently. Who benefits most from arresting Shkreli? The pharmaceutical industry he shone the light on. Now where can you buy one of those hats?

Do you have any knowledge of this or pure speculation? The lab industry I know (10+ years in healthcare) does not have the 60%+ in waste necessary for Theranos to offer their prices + generate positive cash flow. Perhaps the investor dollars are funding the low prices

No knowledge. Pure speculation.
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