A part of me feels sad for Theranos. I wanted them and Elizabeth to succeed; more the latter, actually. If she had succeeded (I still hold out hope), she would have been a terrific role model for young women everywhere.
A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos
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Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos
#12I wonder, is this good or bad for other startups in the diagnostics space?
There's been a lot of speculation about this being bad for other health related startups, etc. But I don't think so. To be a valid comparison, your startup would have to be perceived to have a confluence of factors shielding it from accountability: A combination of long tenure (Theranos is 13 years old) + huge amount of funding (this co. has $750M+) + a very politically influential board appear to be shielding Theranos from typical consequences of non-verified innovation (contrary to standard scientific process) and resistance to directly address specific allegations of misconduct (in tech process, company operations, among personnel etc).
Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos
#13Unfortunate that Theranos didn't live up to expectations. Bill Gurley writes that the expose on Theranos may have been the seminal moment causing reality to kick in for this tech cycle: http://abovethecrowd.com/2016/04/21/on-the-road-to-recap/
So in a way, it can be seen as a good and necessary thing that expectations are brought back to match reality.
Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos
#14A part of me feels sad for Theranos. I wanted them and Elizabeth to succeed; more the latter, actually. If she had succeeded (I still hold out hope), she would have been a terrific role model for young women everywhere.
A role model for young women with parents coming from old money, with both Beltway and VC connections?
It'll be great to have another role model in tech for young women, but incidents like this do more harm than good…
Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm surprised by your latter statement, especially in light of your former statement. Being blinded by passion, and having "no ill intentions", even if we liberally grant that much, is not the same as being properly considerate of the risks and responsibilities of as critical a technology as healthcare diagnostics. I assign a CEO direct responsibility for being aware of the efficacy of their product, and being honest…
I think what's happening to the company is what should have happened from my understanding of the situation. At the time time I can sympathise with the CEO because she has been working on that since she was 19 years old and it would appear that she is behind this with a passion. That by no means implies that she is not responsible for this. In my mind it's just a sad development from that perspective. Something I wou…
Working on end result properly is not the same as "wishing" or "dreaming".
My commentary is this,
The quantification of the relationship between her leadership role and the direct effectiveness of the product is quite different than many other successful founder/CEOs. It is that which blinded her from either pivoting or acknowledging the reality of low effectiveness. A circumstance which to others would be justification to shutdown.
Unless this was all well understood and then that would enter into discussions of willful negligence. A characteristic that has consequences as people's livelihood were expected to be affected.
The spectacle is negatively impact ing startup partnerships. The result is either more due diligence with all parties, which either translates to more funding and a longer IPO journey, or cutting off these less mature startups at the knees early from funding until "results" are evident.
Another question is will this situation coupled with general lack luster equity market enthusiasm be incorrect fodder for "bubble" talk (barring this a straw on camel back scenario - doubt it).
Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos
#16A part of me feels sad for Theranos. I wanted them and Elizabeth to succeed; more the latter, actually. If she had succeeded (I still hold out hope), she would have been a terrific role model for young women everywhere.
She did make some progress for equality though - to show that not just men can be completely incompetent founders running an overhyped company that never had any connection with reality whatsoever.
Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos
#17Test accuracy aside, isn't finger prick blood draw painful? I've had blood drawn both ways, and finger prick is very unpleasant. I'll pick arm blood draw any day.
Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos
#18Test accuracy aside, isn't finger prick blood draw painful? I've had blood drawn both ways, and finger prick is very unpleasant. I'll pick arm blood draw any day.
Time, skill required and volume are all in favor of the finger prick method. And some people absolutely freak out about needles but would be ok with a finger prick.
Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos
#19One would think Walgreens would have done some due diligence when partnering with anyone. Wouldn't they put someone providing healthcare diagnostics services through rigorous testing to see if they could deliver on promises? I'm hoping they don't take providers' word when they partner with providers.
Or is Walgreens just trying to get from under the weight of theranos's bad publicity at this point?
Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos
#20A part of me feels sad for Theranos. I wanted them and Elizabeth to succeed; more the latter, actually. If she had succeeded (I still hold out hope), she would have been a terrific role model for young women everywhere.
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