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23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

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Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#171

Post by downerending »

theflyinghorse wrote: post #46
t_serpico wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"As a tech person, you belong out here in the Bay, even if it's not with us" - What the fuck does that mean? People working in tech not in the bay aren't second tier.

> People working in tech not in the bay aren't second tier. Are we though? If we were to establish criteria by which to judge tiers how would anywhere else in the world compare to the Bay? My intuition is that the Bay is probably more productive and gets paid far more for it. The bay certainly drives just about about every tech trend worth a note. Innovation as well how much tech came out out of that region. Disclaim…

As a guess, people are probably on average a bit sharper. But it's a weak signal. If it were strong, companies would just hire people from the BA without a tech screen, and rarely or never look at people outside the BA. Which is not the case.

I've not worked there and once dreamed of it as you did. On a few business trips, sat in on tech meetups. It is indeed glorious to sit in a large room full of nerds on any given evening. If you're still young and single, you should ride the ride for a few years.

At the same time, it seems like a terrible place to actually live your life, relative to other possibilities in the US.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#172

Post by reaperducer »

Ohn0 wrote: post #149
bobthepanda wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I would also say that a partial reason why these would've dropped is that everyone who can do it has done it. You only need these kinds of results once because your DNA doesn't change. I knew people who were giving or had gotten these as gifts, but those are one-off purchases. And if you've heard of people doing it then you'll do it too but that's also a one-off. I don't think I'd personally benefit because…

They need a SaaS! Monthly/yearly subscription to updates of some sort

Monthly/yearly subscription to updates of some sort

And tie it into credit score fear.

"Do you want a higher credit score? Sure, we all do. So be sure your 23andMe DNA is up-to-date!"

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#173

Post by sombremesa »

fiftyfifty wrote: post #83
ilamont wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ancestry.com has also stepped up its marketing game. Used to be a follower with DNA, now a leader, and discounting heavily. And, unlike 23andMe which got rid of family tree tools used by genealogists, Ancestry still has a very strong suite of trees and traditional genealogy tools. Some people really want to have both genetic and traditional genealogy accounts under the same provider, and are either unaware or don't r…

One thing I would add is the data for places outside of Europe looks pretty weak for both Ancestry.com and 23AndMe, at least it was the last time I looked. If you are from European descent they can practically tell you what village your ancestors are from (how accurate that is I don't know) but if you are Asian about the best you get is yep, you're Asian! I married into an Asian family and the reports I've seen from…

This was my main reason for not doing it as well, until I got it as a gift. Still waiting on results, though I expect to be disappointed.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#174

Post by reaperducer »

markdown wrote: post #119
nradov wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) specifically prohibits health insurance companies from denying coverage or setting rates based on such tests.

Thank goodness for that. They definitely won't break that law. Nope. Corporations don't do that.

Thank goodness for that. They definitely won't break that law. Nope. Corporations don't do that.

"We're sorry. We can do better. How about we help write a law that regulates us?"

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#175

Post by laurencerowe »

nordsieck wrote: post #75
laurencerowe wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With 23 pairs of chromosomes we have 46 dominoes each (ignoring recombination.) This changes the odds of inheriting none of your mother's Scottish dominoes from 1 in a million (2^20) to 1 in 512 (2^9).

> This changes the odds of inheriting none of your mother's Scottish dominoes from 1 in a million (2^20) to 1 in 512 (2^9). That may be true for mom, but conservatively, there's between a 1-in-100 and 1-in-20 odds of inheriting none of your father's dominoes.

What's the mechanism at play here? Each chromosome pair is one from the father and one from the mother.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#176

Post by downerending »

dekhn wrote: post #48
redis_mlc wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Anne Wojcicki married Google co-founder Sergey Brin in May 2007." There ya go. 23andMe was a vanity project for Sergey's wife (now ex-wife.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Wojcicki Same story for Marissa Mayer.

I know quite well (have met all the people involved), but I still can't believe how much money has been sunk into them.

One of the joys of being rich is being able to spend your money however you like.

It's a caution to the rest of us, though. My annual salary is just a rounding error to them, and it's not worth their time to consider my individual fate in any way.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#177

Post by killjoywashere »

The real risk in my mind is that this opens market space for Beijing-backed companies like Novogene in Sacramento. They will occupy that space and every adjacent space as fast as they can. They'll sequence your tumor genetics, or your germline to get a better read on you're kid's inherited disease. And you'll never know it because your doctor contracted with them, they signed a BAA (so it's all legal, right). And then Novogene will take that BAA to the bathroom, piss on it, and send your genome to China for cross-referencing in Face++ and see if you have any Uigher in you.

Everyone will eventually get some amount of sequencing done, probably multiple times throughout their lives. The vastly more important question in my mind is who's going to do it, and what are their incentives?

With cost-conscious medical professionals, you can bet it will be the lowest bidder, and the lowest bidder will not have your best interests in mind.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#178

Post by tfigment »

buckminster wrote: post #167
rrdharan wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mutation is a thing.

"No, no, I wasn't questioning the paternity, you can use the test to check if your baby is a mutant."

Given the popularity of the X-men i think that might improve sales enough to reverse the trend.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#179

Post by reaperducer »

epistasis wrote: post #150
markdown wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank goodness for that. They definitely won't break that law. Nope. Corporations don't do that.

When it's in their financial interest, they will avoid doing things that cost them money. Lawsuits are one such cost. Which is why companies train interviewers not to ask any information that laws prevent them from using during the hiring process. If you don't know, clearly you didn't use that info for discriminatory hiring practices. Similarly, there was a very recent article about how GINA might be acting as a priv…

Which is why companies train interviewers not to ask any information that laws prevent them from using during the hiring process.

And yet it happens all the time. All. The. Time.

If it didn't we wouldn't spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on enforcement agencies and lawsuits.

It doesn't matter how many laws are passed, companies are still run by people. And people do bad things, either knowingly or unknowingly or just because they can.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#180

Post by jacquesm »

blackswan101 wrote: post #156

Lots of layoffs happening recently: 23andme, stubhub, tripadvisor etc. Early indicators of a tech bubble?

No, just crap companies that you don't really need. Companies that have products with actual users rather than novelty items or pure convenience will be around for a long long time because they are profitable.
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