As a fellow health-tech entrepreneur, it's refreshing to see the business press reporting on something more than just "Yo." I hope this kind of publicity continues. The industry needs it.
This CEO is out for blood
11–20 of 105 posts
Re: This CEO is out for blood
#12> “I realized that I could have just as well been looking into the eyes of a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates.” > Though Theranos is largely unknown even in Silicon Valley, that is about to change. > Precisely how Theranos accomplishes all these amazing feats is a trade secret. > The analyzers look like large desktop computer towers. Holmes declines to explain how they work, or even allow them to be photographed, citing th…
The whole article was pretty weird. Anyone care to speculate what's going on here?
Pretty clear, they are getting significant traction in a market dominated by 'old school' companies and players. Perhaps their PR department wanted to get out front with the narrative :-). Having friends that work around the FDA's influence it is a very politicized space. She clearly built her board such that she could counter those threats.
Re: This CEO is out for blood
#13> “I realized that I could have just as well been looking into the eyes of a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates.” > Though Theranos is largely unknown even in Silicon Valley, that is about to change. > Precisely how Theranos accomplishes all these amazing feats is a trade secret. > The analyzers look like large desktop computer towers. Holmes declines to explain how they work, or even allow them to be photographed, citing th…
The whole article was pretty weird. Anyone care to speculate what's going on here?
Cynical interpretation: well-funded med-tech company hires an incredibly well-connected board and presumably a great PR firm, and lands an epic puff piece in Fortune.
Uncynical interpretation: well-funded med-tech company quietly grows to become an inspiring success, thanks to game-changing technology and a brilliant founder.
I see both of these interpretations as compatible. In fact, #1 can often follow from #2. In either or both cases, this seems like the kind of company we should root for: using new approaches to technology to solve big problems. As another commenter in this thread put it: this is a lot more than just "Yo."
Re: This CEO is out for blood
#14> “I realized that I could have just as well been looking into the eyes of a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates.” > Though Theranos is largely unknown even in Silicon Valley, that is about to change. > Precisely how Theranos accomplishes all these amazing feats is a trade secret. > The analyzers look like large desktop computer towers. Holmes declines to explain how they work, or even allow them to be photographed, citing th…
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-profile.
Re: This CEO is out for blood
#15> “I realized that I could have just as well been looking into the eyes of a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates.” > Though Theranos is largely unknown even in Silicon Valley, that is about to change. > Precisely how Theranos accomplishes all these amazing feats is a trade secret. > The analyzers look like large desktop computer towers. Holmes declines to explain how they work, or even allow them to be photographed, citing th…
Theranos == Umbrella Corporation?
Re: This CEO is out for blood
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
The whole article was pretty weird. Anyone care to speculate what's going on here?
Pretty clear, they are getting significant traction in a market dominated by 'old school' companies and players. Perhaps their PR department wanted to get out front with the narrative :-). Having friends that work around the FDA's influence it is a very politicized space. She clearly built her board such that she could counter those threats.
Ah, the FDA, that makes sense. There's a certain hallucinogenic quality to the prose that, when combined with the Kissenger namedrop, made me kinda nervous. I guess that's just because I don't generally read fortune magazine.
Re: This CEO is out for blood
#17> “I realized that I could have just as well been looking into the eyes of a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates.” > Though Theranos is largely unknown even in Silicon Valley, that is about to change. > Precisely how Theranos accomplishes all these amazing feats is a trade secret. > The analyzers look like large desktop computer towers. Holmes declines to explain how they work, or even allow them to be photographed, citing th…
The whole article was pretty weird. Anyone care to speculate what's going on here?
Wild guess? Someone at DOD or DOS has a simulation that really has them spooked and wants to get civilian testing coverage in place fast, so they've thrown support behind Holmes who has a way to do it. Zombie jokes aside, it's really a pretty reasonable first step for pandemic resilience.
Or Holmes is an alien who wants to inject everyone with vegan mind control spiders.
Either way it's likely good for humanity in the long run.
Re: This CEO is out for blood
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
The whole article was pretty weird. Anyone care to speculate what's going on here?
Pretty clear, they are getting significant traction in a market dominated by 'old school' companies and players. Perhaps their PR department wanted to get out front with the narrative :-). Having friends that work around the FDA's influence it is a very politicized space. She clearly built her board such that she could counter those threats.
[deleted]
Re: This CEO is out for blood
#19So what happened to the original idea? The patch that takes blood measurements while administering a drug? I can see how the current business is an extension of that original idea, but the article never states what became of the original. Did it die in the FDA approval process?
Re: This CEO is out for blood
#20> “I realized that I could have just as well been looking into the eyes of a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates.” > Though Theranos is largely unknown even in Silicon Valley, that is about to change. > Precisely how Theranos accomplishes all these amazing feats is a trade secret. > The analyzers look like large desktop computer towers. Holmes declines to explain how they work, or even allow them to be photographed, citing th…
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…
"What an odd cast for a startup board. I wonder what connects all these people, other than all being high-profile."
Government relations. Influence with policymakers and thought leaders. Makes total sense for a med-tech company. This is an industry where "non-market factors" (government regulation, threat of competitive lobbying or lawsuits by incumbents, etc.) play an enormous role. If I were starting a med-tech company that threatens a $60B+ industry with hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying efforts every year, I'd love to have a board featuring policy elites, ex-government officials, and a legendary trial lawyer who's argued successfully in front of the Supreme Court on multiple occasions.
The only person she's missing here is Bill Gates. (And it would be quite interesting to see him and Boies on the same side after all these years.)