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Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

nytimes.com

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Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#11

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

n0us wrote: post #7

The idea of rapid disruption in the healthcare industry makes me uncomfortable for some reason. I admire Holmes's ambition and in interviews I've watched she seems competent and well guided but something just doesn't seem to add up. How was a college dropout able to get a break in the healthcare sector? Becoming a doctor requires years of education and training and along comes this young woman who just decides "I'm g…

She comes from a very, very privileged family with the kind of connections most of us can only dream about. Alas that still counts for a lot, even amongst the VCs (especially amongst?) in PAMPA.

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#12

Post by n0us »

panic wrote: post #10
n0us wrote: post #7

The idea of rapid disruption in the healthcare industry makes me uncomfortable for some reason. I admire Holmes's ambition and in interviews I've watched she seems competent and well guided but something just doesn't seem to add up. How was a college dropout able to get a break in the healthcare sector? Becoming a doctor requires years of education and training and along comes this young woman who just decides "I'm g…

Becoming a doctor requires years of education and training and along comes this young woman who just decides "I'm going to change all of this." You don't need to be a doctor to hire doctors. Aren't startups supposed to be all about this kind of disruption by outsiders? People who come along and decide "I'm going to change all of this"?

Perhaps not, and perhaps she has a gifted eye for talented medical professionals/chemists and/or is able to put people in place who do but it's still a company being built by someone who doesn't really have the deep domain specific knowledge that would be required to make truly informed decisions. How many tech companies were founded by people with literally zero experience in tech? probably not many except medicine is even harder to learn. While you can spend all day reading Stack Overflow and writing apps to become a reasonable programmer it isn't like you can do the same thing with Web Md and become a reasonable doctor.

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#13

Post by jerryhuang100 »

> Dr. Bill Frist, the former Senate majority leader from Tennessee who joined Theranos as a director last year, supports Ms. Holmes and asserts that “the data I have seen speaks.” But he also points out that the Theranos story has taken on the cast of a vicious political campaign and there’s nothing more appealing than watching a front-runner fall from grace.

This is ridiculous. A lifetime politician accuses other clinical scientists and medical practitioners questioning Theranos' basic technology and its secrecy as political campaign? That's not how Science and Medicine work. Even that "a front-runner" statement is questionable. Theranos can not even releases its revenue number to be compared to LabCorp or Quest Dx.

> In the early 1990s, Mr. Holmes moved the family to Texas where he worked for energy companies, including Tenneco and Enron. (Mr. Holmes has since returned to public service and now works at the United States Agency for International Development.)

NOW that gets very interesting! Mr. Holmes [1] was found to be listed as officers in at least four Enron subsidiaries[2,3]. Guess that would be great lessons for some future entrepreneur. Conveniently such Enron experiences are not listed on USAID website [4].

[1] http://individual-contributors.insidegov.com/d/c/Christian-H...

[2] http://www.corporationwiki.com/Texas/Houston/christian-r-hol...

[3] http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~eesi/scs/Holmes.htm

[4] https://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/organization/christian-holm...

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#14

Post by n0us »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #11
n0us wrote: post #7

The idea of rapid disruption in the healthcare industry makes me uncomfortable for some reason. I admire Holmes's ambition and in interviews I've watched she seems competent and well guided but something just doesn't seem to add up. How was a college dropout able to get a break in the healthcare sector? Becoming a doctor requires years of education and training and along comes this young woman who just decides "I'm g…

She comes from a very, very privileged family with the kind of connections most of us can only dream about. Alas that still counts for a lot, even amongst the VCs (especially amongst?) in PAMPA.

This is a true point. When you have a lot of money available to invest and you already have a diverse portfolio of high risk-reward investments I suppose it isn't such a big deal to spend 1m on an intelligent family friend. Still... they didn't get to be that wealthy by being careless with their money so I suppose we/I just don't know the full story.

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#15

Post by nostrademons »

n0us wrote: post #7

The idea of rapid disruption in the healthcare industry makes me uncomfortable for some reason. I admire Holmes's ambition and in interviews I've watched she seems competent and well guided but something just doesn't seem to add up. How was a college dropout able to get a break in the healthcare sector? Becoming a doctor requires years of education and training and along comes this young woman who just decides "I'm g…

FWIW when I saw Safeway was giving flu shots (which apparently is because of an aborted partnership with Theranos), I thought "WTF would I get a shot at the grocery store?" But then my doctor recommended that I get routine vaccinations there because it's apparently about 1/2 the price of getting them at the clinic. And I tried it, and it's actually a lot more convenient than going to the clinic. The shots are given in a private room by a licensed pharmacist who's trained to know about any possible adverse reactions, and there's usually no lines and little waiting.

I was a skeptic, but a doctor's suggestion turned me into a believer. It's just that Safeway's the beneficiary of this rather than Theranos now.

Workplaces have also given flu shots for a while now - they had a yearly flu clinic at Google the years I was there, but I always found it more convenient to go into Safeway at my leisure than drop my work during the day and get stuck with a needle in front of my coworkers.

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#16

Post by wavefunction »

n0us wrote: post #14
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She comes from a very, very privileged family with the kind of connections most of us can only dream about. Alas that still counts for a lot, even amongst the VCs (especially amongst?) in PAMPA.

This is a true point. When you have a lot of money available to invest and you already have a diverse portfolio of high risk-reward investments I suppose it isn't such a big deal to spend 1m on an intelligent family friend. Still... they didn't get to be that wealthy by being careless with their money so I suppose we/I just don't know the full story.

I don't know, it seems like many people with a lot of money can afford to be frivolous and end up bailed-out by the government.

See the Wall Street melt-down in 2009. These are supposedly finance professionals who "lent to the wrong sorts" but that's their only job, determining who and who not to lend to, right?

There's a lot of "boys will be boys" among the upper-middle class and wealthy, whether those "boys" are boys or girls of these families.

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#17

Post by dikdik »

n0us wrote: post #7

The idea of rapid disruption in the healthcare industry makes me uncomfortable for some reason. I admire Holmes's ambition and in interviews I've watched she seems competent and well guided but something just doesn't seem to add up. How was a college dropout able to get a break in the healthcare sector? Becoming a doctor requires years of education and training and along comes this young woman who just decides "I'm g…

If you look at CEO's and other higher ups of healthcare companies, a significant number have absolutely no science training.

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#18

Post by wavefunction »

xkcd-sucks wrote: post #9

Why are all these articles about Holmes' personality?

What else does a chief-executive have? Number crunching is left to the CFO. Engineering strategy to the CFO. Domain knowledge to the CMO. Operating strategy to the COO.

Did I leave anyone out?

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#19

Post by jaskerr »

ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #11
n0us wrote: post #7

The idea of rapid disruption in the healthcare industry makes me uncomfortable for some reason. I admire Holmes's ambition and in interviews I've watched she seems competent and well guided but something just doesn't seem to add up. How was a college dropout able to get a break in the healthcare sector? Becoming a doctor requires years of education and training and along comes this young woman who just decides "I'm g…

She comes from a very, very privileged family with the kind of connections most of us can only dream about. Alas that still counts for a lot, even amongst the VCs (especially amongst?) in PAMPA.

PAMPA? Sorry.

Re: Theranos Founder Faces a Test of Technology, and Reputation

#20

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

jaskerr wrote: post #19
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She comes from a very, very privileged family with the kind of connections most of us can only dream about. Alas that still counts for a lot, even amongst the VCs (especially amongst?) in PAMPA.

PAMPA? Sorry.

Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton.
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