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This CEO is out for blood

fortune.com

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Re: This CEO is out for blood

#91

Post by Centigonal »

Alupis wrote: post #35
rayiner wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I skimmed through the first part, but based on your comment I went back and read the article. > As a bonus, board meetings are also attended by the company’s de facto legal adviser at large, trial lawyer David Boies. Boies represented the DOJ in the Microsoft antitrust proceedings and Al Gore in Bush v. Gore. What an odd cast for a startup board. I wonder what connects all these people, other than all being high-prof…

Seems rather sad state of our Patent system here in the US where a 19 year old with no prior technical background, who was a Chemical Engineering student, a sophomore no less (meaning barely finished or finishing General Ed. requirements and just starting Major courses), can write and file for a highly-technical patent involving radios, sensors, embedded devices, and the like. > And we could put a cellphone chip on i…

Since there's been so much arguing back and forth about this patent and its legitimacy and what it says about the state of the US patent system, I thought it might be a little useful to post a link to the patent in question:

https://www.google.com/patents/WO2005025413A3?cl=en&dq=ininv...

Here's a search of all the patents with Holmes as an inventor: https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=pts&hl=en&q=ininvent...

I hope this helps ground the discussion in fact to some extent.

Re: This CEO is out for blood

#92

Post by HelloMcFly »

DaniFong wrote: post #83
Alupis wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I should make it clear -- this is not a gender issue. Let's stop trying to make it one. It, perhaps, is a age issue, sure. I have my doubts that an 19 year old chemical engineering student would have enough technical background to implement: radios, embedded systems, various sensors, medical analysis algorithms, database usage, notifications systems, knowledge of cellular technology, agreements with hospitals…

Well, you'd be mistaken. There are people who learn 3, heck, even 10 times faster than your standard bright university student, in large part because they needn't wait for formal instruction. You have probably learned at this pace on certain topics. Such people can defy the standardized logic of what's possible by a certain age. For example, Howard Hughes: Showing great aptitude in engineering at an early age, Hughes…

Yes, these people exist in the population. I'm inclined in most instances, this included, to "bet the field" when such an intelligence is claimed to be presented. I find it more likely that she is an "idea person" than a modern Farnsworth simply because the former is only about 10,000x more likely (perhaps 1,000x more likely if you get all Bayesian on me).

But fortunately for all of us my opinion, and that of the person you responded to, are irrelevant and only good for intellectual quibbling. We'll see what becomes of this company and CEO.

Re: This CEO is out for blood

#93

Post by ejain »

guiambros wrote: post #90

What an amazing story. Best read of the entire week. It's 20 minutes well spent. A look at their website (and the profiles they're hiring for) gives a clear idea of where she is going. You don't need iOS/Android developers, or ASIC/FPGA designers, or hardware and mechanical engineers, to support Walgreen's Wellness centers. She's clearly going after the last mile. Blood tests for the masses. In your phone. No need fo…

Here's another company going after the last mile, i.e. blood testing at home: https://cue.me/

Re: This CEO is out for blood

#94

Post by presty »

Alupis wrote: post #35
rayiner wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I skimmed through the first part, but based on your comment I went back and read the article. > As a bonus, board meetings are also attended by the company’s de facto legal adviser at large, trial lawyer David Boies. Boies represented the DOJ in the Microsoft antitrust proceedings and Al Gore in Bush v. Gore. What an odd cast for a startup board. I wonder what connects all these people, other than all being high-prof…

Seems rather sad state of our Patent system here in the US where a 19 year old with no prior technical background, who was a Chemical Engineering student, a sophomore no less (meaning barely finished or finishing General Ed. requirements and just starting Major courses), can write and file for a highly-technical patent involving radios, sensors, embedded devices, and the like. > And we could put a cellphone chip on i…

Hey, look at this website http://www.thielfellowship.org/home/

You might find some under-20s that could be in the same category as Elizabeth Holmes.

Re: This CEO is out for blood

#95

Post by pests »

rurounijones wrote: post #88

Anyone know a link to the patent in question at the beginning? some people have been decrying it as an "here is an idea" style with no substance, would help to have the thing available.

Posted elsewhere in the thread:

https://www.google.com/patents/WO2005025413A3?cl=en&dq=ininv...

Re: This CEO is out for blood

#96

Post by EdwardDiego »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #79
jessaustin wrote: post #65

Holmes had then just spent the summer working in a lab at the Genome Institute in Singapore, a post she had been able to fill thanks to having learned Mandarin in her spare hours as a Houston teenager. Everyone knows that English is spoken in Singapore, right? I'm not saying Mandarin wouldn't look good on a resume, but very few Singaporeans with the education to work in that facility would not also be fluent in the i…

Heck, I work in China and mandarin is hardly required.

Do you blog about your experiences at all? If so, could I please have the url?

Re: This CEO is out for blood

#97

Post by mreiland »

MaysonL wrote: post #61
Alupis wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I was meaning I find it highly unlikely she understood or could actually implement the technology behind her patent. A 19 year old, no matter how smart, is not likely to have a thorough enough background to understand all of the related technologies involved in this patent. This is a medical device, and has to be "done right", or people can be injured or worse. I don't expect even a top-tier CS student could pull…

Back in 1963, I was tutored in calculus by a 15-year old who won that year's Science Talent Search for his research in nuclear magnetic resonance. He had completed essentially all of undergrad math and physics. I think you have a badly warped view of what is possible for smart people, whatever age.

No, I think there's a reason she recruited a professor in that industry who had well over 30 years of experience.

That doesn't detract from her intelligence, but I think it's safe to say she would have simply done it herself if she could have.

I think simply describing her as an "idea person" is also missing the mark, but so are you. She isn't a magician, she's just a person.

And considering she was 19 and in a normal college curriculum, it's very likely her talent is not in being super smart, but in being able to come at a problem sideways.

Re: This CEO is out for blood

#99

Post by w1ntermute »

ghshephard wrote: post #82
Alupis wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I was meaning I find it highly unlikely she understood or could actually implement the technology behind her patent. A 19 year old, no matter how smart, is not likely to have a thorough enough background to understand all of the related technologies involved in this patent. This is a medical device, and has to be "done right", or people can be injured or worse. I don't expect even a top-tier CS student could pull…

Depends on how motivated the 19 year old was, and how much freedom they had to focus on what was important to them. By the age of 14 or 15, most intelligent and motivated people have enough education to start learning advanced processes and systems. Say you start at 14, if you are focussed, by the time you are 19, you will have had 12,000+ hours of opportunity to develop expertise in your field. And Ms. Holmes sounds…

> Ms. Holmes sounds very capable (Learned Mandarin in her spare time as a teenager, as a result spent a summer at the Genome Institute in Singapore,etc, etc,...)

Actually, that anecdote made it evident that the reporter clearly didn't do his research. If he had, he would have known that one of Singapore's draws since its inception has been its English fluency. This is particularly true in its white collar/STEM companies and research institutes.

Moreover, many of Singapore's ethnic Chinese are non-native Mandarin speakers, being of Southern Chinese descent. They would almost certainly feel more comfortable conversing in English than in Mandarin, particularly if they are highly educated.

Re: This CEO is out for blood

#100

Post by pessimizer »

mreiland wrote: post #97
MaysonL wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back in 1963, I was tutored in calculus by a 15-year old who won that year's Science Talent Search for his research in nuclear magnetic resonance. He had completed essentially all of undergrad math and physics. I think you have a badly warped view of what is possible for smart people, whatever age.

No, I think there's a reason she recruited a professor in that industry who had well over 30 years of experience. That doesn't detract from her intelligence, but I think it's safe to say she would have simply done it herself if she could have. I think simply describing her as an "idea person" is also missing the mark, but so are you. She isn't a magician, she's just a person. And considering she was 19 and in a norma…

Or in being rich and well-connected.
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