41–50 of 134 posts
I wrote a parody of Theranos as a TV pilot that is increasingly becoming true: http://www.pricks.com/ (I'm sharing this here because the Hacker News community seemed to enjoy my Season 3 premiere of Silicon Valley [ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10179894 ], but apologies if others feel it detracts from the discussion.)
No matter how this story ends (whether they eventually ends up with having a fully functioning product or not) this should be a cautionary tale to anyone wanting to actually change the world in healthcare. Science speaks for itself and does not care how much you raised at what valuation. It requires a rigorous approach to testings and facts and data or it will be merciless if you aren't living up to your own claims.…
Does the composition of Theranos' board strike anyone else as very weird? It seems much more like the board of a foreign policy think thank than a biotech start up. There are three former cabinet secretaries (state and defense), two former very senior military officers, two former senators (one regarded as a foreign policy expert), a bigshot DC lawyer, and the former CEOs of Bechtel and Wells Fargo. The only physicia…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For one thing, it's almost impossible to get your skin perfectly clean. Any test that uses a single drop of blood will be very sensitive to even the slightest amount of soil or contamination on the fingertip where the drop is extracted.
Couldn't this be alleviated with a finger prick method that prevents the droplet from sitting on the surface of the skin before it is collected? (i.e. a tiny needle that reaches below the epidermis to extract a drop of blood)
No matter how this story ends (whether they eventually ends up with having a fully functioning product or not) this should be a cautionary tale to anyone wanting to actually change the world in healthcare. Science speaks for itself and does not care how much you raised at what valuation. It requires a rigorous approach to testings and facts and data or it will be merciless if you aren't living up to your own claims.…
Should Bill Gates have spent a little more time actually writing an operating system before selling one to IBM? Fake it 'till you make it is often an important part of success.
No matter how this story ends (whether they eventually ends up with having a fully functioning product or not) this should be a cautionary tale to anyone wanting to actually change the world in healthcare. Science speaks for itself and does not care how much you raised at what valuation. It requires a rigorous approach to testings and facts and data or it will be merciless if you aren't living up to your own claims.…
Should Bill Gates have spent a little more time actually writing an operating system before selling one to IBM? Fake it 'till you make it is often an important part of success.
Does the composition of Theranos' board strike anyone else as very weird? It seems much more like the board of a foreign policy think thank than a biotech start up. There are three former cabinet secretaries (state and defense), two former very senior military officers, two former senators (one regarded as a foreign policy expert), a bigshot DC lawyer, and the former CEOs of Bechtel and Wells Fargo. The only physicia…
I suspect that Holmes is the "front" for someone connected to her father (who is a "civil servant" -- dunno why the article isn't more specific). Probably someone connected to military, government, etc.
- make bold claims
- avoid going into details ("trade secrets", sheesh)
- make investors believe in your "vision"
- give talks about successful entrepreneurship to polish one's image
And still nothing reliably demonstrated.
What amazes me the most is how clueless investors are. If they don't care about Science, what do they care about when it comes to providing new Healthcare solutions? What's next, a new take on homeopathy ?
I wrote a parody of Theranos as a TV pilot that is increasingly becoming true: http://www.pricks.com/ (I'm sharing this here because the Hacker News community seemed to enjoy my Season 3 premiere of Silicon Valley [ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10179894 ], but apologies if others feel it detracts from the discussion.)
I can imagine an entire episode dedicated to trying to get Pricks onto Product Hunt. The double entendre's and puns write themselves.