The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess Is the Tech Press
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Re: The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess Is the Tech Press
#2The media is 100% to blame here... I think in large part because of how they treat female entrepreneurs, with well-meaning, but harmful attitudes.
IMO we live in a world where there are too few successful female entrepreneurs and at the same time people are very eager to see that world change. So as a result, if there is any inkling of a successful female entrepreneur, that story gets gobbled up by the press ad nauseam.
A couple of problems created by this that stick out in my mind are: there's a lot unfair pressure for said female entrepreneur to succeed. And a lot of female entrepreneurs who would otherwise be ignored, suddenly find themselves as celebrity icons despite having any real success deserving of such praise, which creates a disastrous over confidence and the "personality" being placed before the business.
Elizabeth Holes isn't the only one. Marissa Mayer was hailed a hero before crashing and burning. Less know is Sophia Amoruso, who despite only have a moderately popular online clothing shop (Nasty Gal), has written two books about her success and has an upcoming Netflix series about how "awesome" she is. And the press complete ignores the fact that Amoruso's company has gone through multiple lay-off rounds, has atrocious Glassdoor reviews, a declining relevancy, is being sued for firing pregnant women, and by all accounts is struggling to stay in business. All of this is true about Amoruso, but she still gets a Netflix series about how "wildly successful" she is...
Re: The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess Is the Tech Press
#3Non-tech press outlet: "Uhh, it wasn't us, it was them."
Re: The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess Is the Tech Press
#4Non-tech press outlet: "Uhh, it wasn't us, it was them."
This is Nick Bilton, occasionally of the NYTimes. Definitely an insider, even if not preaching from the usual pulpit. He's legit and worth reading.
Re: The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess Is the Tech Press
#5The media is 100% to blame here... I think in large part because of how they treat female entrepreneurs, with well-meaning, but harmful attitudes. IMO we live in a world where there are too few successful female entrepreneurs and at the same time people are very eager to see that world change. So as a result, if there is any inkling of a successful female entrepreneur, that story gets gobbled up by the press ad nause…
100%? So Elizabeth Holmes is blameless now? These CEO's and the press engage in what they believe to be a mutually beneficial endeavor. I think we can split the blame.
Re: The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess Is the Tech Press
#6It's worth noting that The New York Times, where Nick Bilton worked previously, did not write any articles about Theranos/Holmes. (I checked)
The discussion about the suspiciously positive press strongly resembles uBeam (http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/26/kill-the-cord/): the wunderkind founder, the game changing product. But no practical proof of concept and a weak defense when others point out it violates the laws of physics. (http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/07/wireless-power-charger/)
Re: The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess Is the Tech Press
#7The media is 100% to blame here... I think in large part because of how they treat female entrepreneurs, with well-meaning, but harmful attitudes. IMO we live in a world where there are too few successful female entrepreneurs and at the same time people are very eager to see that world change. So as a result, if there is any inkling of a successful female entrepreneur, that story gets gobbled up by the press ad nause…
100%? So Elizabeth Holmes is blameless now? These CEO's and the press engage in what they believe to be a mutually beneficial endeavor. I think we can split the blame.
I'm not the parent commenter. However, I think he/she might mean that the media is 100% culpable, not necessarily that the media is to blame for 100% of the problem.
Re: The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess Is the Tech Press
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
100%? So Elizabeth Holmes is blameless now? These CEO's and the press engage in what they believe to be a mutually beneficial endeavor. I think we can split the blame.
I'm not the parent commenter. However, I think he/she might mean that the media is 100% culpable , not necessarily that the media is to blame for 100% of the problem .
Good chance you are right about that.
Re: The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess Is the Tech Press
#9It's worth noting that The New York Times, where Nick Bilton worked previously, did not write any articles about Theranos/Holmes. (I checked) The discussion about the suspiciously positive press strongly resembles uBeam ( http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/26/kill-the-cord/ ): the wunderkind founder, the game changing product. But no practical proof of concept and a weak defense when others point out it violates the laws…
She was featured in this one: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/12/t-magazine/eli...
Re: The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess Is the Tech Press
#10It's worth noting that The New York Times, where Nick Bilton worked previously, did not write any articles about Theranos/Holmes. (I checked) The discussion about the suspiciously positive press strongly resembles uBeam ( http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/26/kill-the-cord/ ): the wunderkind founder, the game changing product. But no practical proof of concept and a weak defense when others point out it violates the laws…
She was featured in this one: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/12/t-magazine/eli...
Technically that's a guest post (by Marc Andreessen's wife, where the OP already discussed the Twitter-blockings by him) and was not at the peak of the Theranos hype when the referenced New Yorker article was written.