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U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

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Re: U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

#111

Sometimes company leaders have severe problems with ethics. As mentioned in other comments, even YC has had companies that have bundled adware/malware with software, practiced dark patterns, hidden news of security breaches, etc. I tend to see YC as being more "evolved" than other VC's, but I also think that these problems are more ingrained into the human condition. YC could consider making funding contingent on all…

I wonder if I am too cynical, but at the root of it the main purpose of building a company is to make money. You might genuinely want to change the world but that is emotionally secondary to gaining wealth. To be a successful entrepreneur, it helps to be ambitious and generally this is a trait that is unlikely (though not unheard of) to be paired with a significant degree of concern for others.

Most companies, and many large tech companies have shady practices, usually in the form of misleading advertising.

Re: U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

#112
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon Musk is himself an expert who knew rocketry. He knew his shit. Even then, he almost failed.

No, he wasn't an expert when he started down this path. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-elon-musk-learned-rocket-...

It doesn't contradict my argument at all.

Re: U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

#113
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, that is how innovation occurs. There are many examples of "ridiculous" ideas that ended being wildly successful. Where would Elon Musk be if he listened to all of the incumbents who said that his ideas would never work? Obviously, the putative innovators massively failed in this case, but I don't think that the outcome proves that their original idea was fatally flawed, or at least that it wasn't worth at…

Theranos promised a faster, cheaper way of doing something. Tesla built a very expensive sports-car, before they advanced towards cheaper products for the masses.

They had to raise significant sums of money to advance. Starting a car company is no joke. I would argue that Tesla is still not out of the woods. The most trying times still lay ahead for Tesla. This is why people have laughed for decades at anyone who says, "I want to start a car company." Tesla is still an absurd and absolutely crazy idea that I hope pans out.

Re: U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, that is how innovation occurs. There are many examples of "ridiculous" ideas that ended being wildly successful. Where would Elon Musk be if he listened to all of the incumbents who said that his ideas would never work? Obviously, the putative innovators massively failed in this case, but I don't think that the outcome proves that their original idea was fatally flawed, or at least that it wasn't worth at…

Elon Musk wasn't playing with people's lives. The FDA exists for a reason.

You sure? The two autopilot deaths say otherwise. There has and will always be risk in starting a company. Your products might have flaws and they might kill. Some companies make it through these events...some don't. Innovation is embracing a crazy idea to move humanity forward. However, it also means embracing all the unknowns.

Re: U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

#115
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, he wasn't an expert when he started down this path. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-elon-musk-learned-rocket-...

It doesn't contradict my argument at all.

What is your argument? Mine is that both Holmes and Musk were not initially experts in their respective fields.

Re: U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

#116

I've talked to over 100 hematologists. This business, didn't pass a basic litmus test of objective criticism from people who work in the space. There seems to be this bravado among founders who believe they're sticking it to all the people who say something's amiss. I think if there's an elephant in the room though, it probably should be assassinated with a huge body of transparent evidence.

To be fair, that is how innovation occurs. There are many examples of "ridiculous" ideas that ended being wildly successful. Where would Elon Musk be if he listened to all of the incumbents who said that his ideas would never work? Obviously, the putative innovators massively failed in this case, but I don't think that the outcome proves that their original idea was fatally flawed, or at least that it wasn't worth at…

Elon Musk had pedigree

Re: U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

#117

I've talked to over 100 hematologists. This business, didn't pass a basic litmus test of objective criticism from people who work in the space. There seems to be this bravado among founders who believe they're sticking it to all the people who say something's amiss. I think if there's an elephant in the room though, it probably should be assassinated with a huge body of transparent evidence.

To be fair, that is how innovation occurs. There are many examples of "ridiculous" ideas that ended being wildly successful. Where would Elon Musk be if he listened to all of the incumbents who said that his ideas would never work? Obviously, the putative innovators massively failed in this case, but I don't think that the outcome proves that their original idea was fatally flawed, or at least that it wasn't worth at…

> the incumbents who said that his ideas would never work

which ideas? Is there really that much innovative stuff by elon musk?

My impression is, that it was always more about economic feasibility than technical feasibility. Competitors to Tesla and SpaceX existed before those were founded but they lacked the investment.

Re: U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

#118
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theranos promised a faster, cheaper way of doing something. Tesla built a very expensive sports-car, before they advanced towards cheaper products for the masses.

I was actually thinking more about SpaceX. They promised technology that was faster (in terms of development speed) and cheaper.

Isn't that because they could work outside many bureaucratic regulations and Musk's focus on the essential?

Re: U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

#119

I've talked to over 100 hematologists. This business, didn't pass a basic litmus test of objective criticism from people who work in the space. There seems to be this bravado among founders who believe they're sticking it to all the people who say something's amiss. I think if there's an elephant in the room though, it probably should be assassinated with a huge body of transparent evidence.

Can someone explain me how Theranos' claim is anything else than me claiming that I can do a representative study with 5 participants and have the same statistical significance as others doing a study with 10000 participants?

Isn't this just elementary statistics and completely independent from the domain?

Re: U.S. Bans Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from Operating Labs for Two Years

#120
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't contradict my argument at all.

What is your argument? Mine is that both Holmes and Musk were not initially experts in their respective fields.

Musk lives to learn. Holmes apparently - doesn't.

In an engineering culture, there's solid respect for reality.

In a political culture there's respect for caste, status, and power, but not so much for reality.

Political people believe their own PR. They believe all they have to do is throw money at something and bang the table enough and they can get whatever they want.

Engineers know it doesn't work like that. Sometimes they throw money at things and bang the table too, but ultimately if reality says "No" - or "Not yet" - they accept that and move on.

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