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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

#211

Post by jayrot »

jedberg wrote: post #183
bobthepanda wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gifting someone a thing that could be used as a paternity test at a baby shower would be more than a little rude. And presumably if both parents have already done it why would you need to test the baby?

> And presumably if both parents have already done it why would you need to test the baby? Before all the privacy concerns, I was considering getting my kids tested, even though my wife and I have both done it. Mainly so that I could see which genes they picked up from each of us and if they got any new mutations. Also, a situation that might be somewhat niche -- we had IVF, so it is possible there was a mistake in t…

> at this point I would keep them regardless,

Gee, how magnanimous of you...

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

#212

Post by testplzignore »

jedberg wrote: post #164
0xCMP wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC you can request the data to be deleted. You have no way of knowing if it's been done correctly, but at least it's something you could do to prevent your kid's DNA from effectively being there.

I seem to remember reading that even when they delete your data, they keep your sample. So really all it does is prevent you from getting it.

This is not correct and in fact is the exact opposite. By default, they destroy the sample after analyzing it.

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

#213

Post by scarmig »

johntiger1 wrote: post #193
evv555 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I definitely would not submit my kids to the same fate. You already have since your DNA is out there in a database.

That's not exactly how DNA works. Their kids should be mostly fine (99.99% similar is still night and day)

If the government encounters one of their kid's DNA, that's enough to identify them as a son/daughter of the person with that DNA profile.

If a medical insurance company purchases their DNA, analyzes it, and anticipates that a child of theirs is likely to have medical costs 5x the average, those costs will be passed on to those kids, absent legislation to the contrary.

This applies to everyone you're related to, as well.

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

#214

Post by stevenwoo »

hbosch wrote: post #104

I didn’t buy a test, because my brother did. Why pay $100 to get the same story twice?

It probably would have been different, based on other stories of twins that have been on hackernews or siblings in other news reports (the % ethnic background should be considered a guestimate) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18938750

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

#215

Post by rowathray »

blackswan101 wrote: post #156

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

Saw an analysis of game sales on Steam for 2019 recently. Way, way down compared to 2018. Yeah, sure, it could be everybody is busy working, but it didn't look good.

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

#216

Post by megablast »

xivzgrev wrote: post #203
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…

This. Only so many people willing to spend $100 on a novelty purchase, and they do it once

This makes no sense. Most people only go to paris once, of bunjie jump once, or a billion other things. Just because you do it once doesn't mean it is no sustainable.

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

#217

Post by hi41 »

fetus8 wrote: post #4
dragonwriter wrote: post #3

> Wojcicki has theories, but she doesn’t have clear proof for why consumers are shying away from getting tests Because the ones that want them have gotten them and there's no reason to ever buy the product again once you've done it once. I mean, smartphones are great, but the market for them would have hit a wall pretty quickly if no one ever had a reason to replace them after buying their first.

I mean, there's the fact that companies like this also provide your data to DNA databases that governments and other companies have access too. That seems like a good reason to shy away from getting their tests done.

I sent a saliva swab and got my dna analyzed by 23andme. I got back information I already knew such as where I came from etc.

Serious question. IF the government catches a relative of mine who is a rapist or a murderer from my dna, I don’t see anything wrong with it. Could someone please explain what could go wrong. Keeping our community from heinous criminals is a good thing isn’t?

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

#218

Post by miker64 »

theflyinghorse wrote: post #61
igetspam wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30 year bay area veteran here. There is nothing special about the bay area that isn't geography. The density of workers means you meet a ton of talentless people who shuffle along with the crowd and are rewarded for it because it's unnoticed. I'm paid more to be remote than I was in the bay area and my money goes a lot further. I'm also exponentially more productive not being in a sardine can office. Your intuition i…

> Your intuition is shaped by your inexperience of the reality of the situation Yes, largely. Though, frankly the grass IS greener on the other side in my case. I am in the middle of nowhere in Canada and my window into the tech world at large is github and YC. > 30 year bay area veteran here Do you believe you would have the same opportunities today if you did not spend time in the Bay (didn't get experience, networ…

Not the poster, but also an ex-bay area tech.

The amount to which I was steeped in tech due to being able to do things like dumpster dive for computer hardware in the 80s definitely affected my career path, but _that is not a thing anymore_. And you are already interested, so having a seed of 'what's that?' isn't so necessary.

I've been out of the bay for 5 years, and worked there for almost 20. The opportunities I had were about a time and place, and _today_ that place is far more online than physically based.

If you can make it to the bay, it is a wonderful place, full of tech and culture and people from all over, but it is not the only place with all that. It's also hella expensive.

I think the Bay's time as _the_ place to be is over, but it's still _a_ place to be.

Good luck!

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

#219

Post by [deleted] »

e_y_ wrote: post #168
nordsieck wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

It's been a while since I've taken high school biology, but the odds should be the same as the mother. Scottish-ness is not something that's limited to the X or Y chromosome. Mitochondrial DNA will only come from your mother, but I don't think we're talking about that here.

[deleted]

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

#220

Post by calf »

inetknght wrote: post #113
rfc wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your germ line genome rarely changes. Your exome changes all the time. Your gut biome changes all the time. There's massive market opportunity but a ton of regulations around how to tap into that market opportunity. On a separate note, Ancestry is going through a similar issue. They've had double digit revenue declines in their DNA testing suite. The truth around 23andMe and Ancestry is that they're really doing a su…

> Your exome changes all the time. I work in DNA analysis (not for 23andme). Citation needed. > Your gut biome changes all the time. Your gut biome isn't being tested by a genetics company collecting your saliva or epithelial cells.

How complete are theses tests? If I wait another 10, 15 years to get sequenced, would I get more accurate, reliable information? Can advances in sequencing technology make it worth people to get resampled? Or is it just an issue of better analysis?
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