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At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags

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Re: At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags

#91
post #9

I like how Holmes' recollection of meetings is always different than the other attendees. Only one machine had an error message, not all three. She didn't abruptly walk out of the meeting. She didn't refuse to answer a question due to "trade secrets". And so on.

I can't help but be impressed by the spokesperson as well. It's clear the reporter didn't buy a word of it, and I don't either. But I wish I could have seen the discussion; that was a lot of impressive tap dancing.

Re: At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags

#92
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glassdoor actually removed a few of the more scathing negative reviews about working there. I think Theranos advertised on Glassdoor so they removed some of the even worse reviews... there used to be some even more negative ones.

Can someone post those reviews? I'm curious to read them. Hopefully there is a daily cache of glassdoor that we can look at.

The couple I remember reading that have been deleted were about how the CEO and the COO park their Ferraris/crazy racecar sports car in 2 designated spaces directly in the front entryway (like literally exactly in front foyer the building) whereas the actual handicapped spots were about 150 yards away down the parking lot away from the entry of the building compared to the CEO/COO spaces.

There were also complaints about ridiculously high security to the point where people didn't even know their own exact job descriptions/workflows because of "competitive secrets" and that they couldn't talk to people working in other departments due to paranoia/culture of fear.

Finally there were a couple about how they interview and act like your job will be at the fancy building on Sand Hill near Stanford but really the bulk of the employees are relegated to annexed buildings far away in EPA or in Mountain View, yet they don't tell them this until their start date - during all their onsite interviews up through the offer letter it seems like they'd be working at the HQ on Sand Hill.

Re: At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags

#93

Theranos = Pets.com of this decade's bubble, which will once again be defined by founders, often young ones, having no clue what they are doing. Investors can you please get better at realizing that sometimes experience and know-how can help?

Should they get better at that? I mean, I'd like them to. But they're after return, not virtue or value.

I can certainly say I don't like what they're doing, but I'm not sure I can say that they won't make money on this.

Re: At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags

#95
post #2

> In April 2014, she got a long email from another employee. The employee alleged that Theranos had cherry-picked data when comparing Edison machines to traditional lab machines to make the Edison look more accurate, according to a copy of the email. > For one test, the device’s accuracy rate increased sharply after some information was deleted and manipulated, the employee wrote. Edison machines also allegedly faile…

Just FYI for anyone clicking this link, this is a link that sets it to show the worst reviews on Glassdoor, not a random sampling. I wasn't that familiar with GD beforehand it and confused me.

You kind of have to. The vast majority of them are obviously fake. If you look at the wording / grammar there is a lot of similarity (uses of the word "Great", etc)

Re: At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags

#96
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Her father has a high-level job at USAID. https://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/organization/christian-holm...

> Holmes worked in the field with USAID missions in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Egypt, Yemen, Ghana, Haiti, Liberia, Kenya, and Ethiopia > Holmes served in the U.S. Army, Second Lieutenant, Civil Affairs, receiving the U.S. Army Soldier’s Medal for Heroism. Want to guess who he really works for?

[deleted]

Re: At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags

#97
post #96
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Holmes worked in the field with USAID missions in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Egypt, Yemen, Ghana, Haiti, Liberia, Kenya, and Ethiopia > Holmes served in the U.S. Army, Second Lieutenant, Civil Affairs, receiving the U.S. Army Soldier’s Medal for Heroism. Want to guess who he really works for?

[deleted]

Civil Affairs actually tend to be in the field quite a bit.

Re: At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags

#98
post #55

> Sunny Balwani is an entrepreneur and a computer scientist. Sunny joined Theranos after dropping out of the Computer Science program at Stanford University. He received his MBA at UC Berkeley and undergraduate degree from UT Austin. Honest question, can you claim to be a Computer Scientist if you drop out from a computer Science program ? To me it sounds like calling yourself a Doctor after dropping out following th…

> Honest question, can you claim to be a Computer Scientist if you drop out from a computer Science program ?

Yes, absolutely. Plenty of luminaries in computer science don't have actual CS degrees.

Re: At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags

#99
post #87
post #2

> In April 2014, she got a long email from another employee. The employee alleged that Theranos had cherry-picked data when comparing Edison machines to traditional lab machines to make the Edison look more accurate, according to a copy of the email. > For one test, the device’s accuracy rate increased sharply after some information was deleted and manipulated, the employee wrote. Edison machines also allegedly faile…

Here's some fascinating things I came across above and beyond lousy management kvetching and nepotism complaints: - complaints about poor pay, minimal benefits, no options, no 401(k) matching, no wellness benefits, no gym - not allowed to post Theranos on your linkedin profile...that's crazy goobers - lots of acknowledgement by reviewers that many of the reviews of Theranos are fake, including a couple that say there…

Interesting thing about Balwani is he already had an IS/CS degree from UT Austin in '90 and a MBA from Haas in '03 - the CS degree from Stanford is from '04.

Re: At Theranos, Many Strategies and Snags

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just thinking that someone needs to write a novelization of this Theranos nonsense & turn it into a screenplay and voilà:- Silicon Valley's "Wolf of Wall Street" or the next "The Social Network" ... I'm sure someone is already writing it up.

I thought Arrested Development has been parodying the tech scene well. Seasons 1-3, which aired during the Bush era, showed the lives of incompetent and corrupt property developers + military contractors. Now the main running gag is a BS non-existent app.

Don't forget what Parks and Rec did in it's last season. We've seen a lot of great comedy about tech recently.
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