Theranos Lays Off Most of Its Remaining Workforce
wsj.com
wsj.com
Instead, for a sec, look at one positive point in what Tyler Shultz brought forth through his heroic actions against Theranos[0]. His story showed us what SV is and what it can be. Though never guaranteed, he has a happy ending as he recently launched Flux Biosciences in 2017[1].
Remember: Be like Tyler Shultz.
[0]https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/explosive-new-detail...
[1]https://www.forbes.com/sites/elliekincaid/2017/10/03/after-b...
(And is it an episode of black mirror that I'm even on this train of thought?)
In a way, it's worse than the ads on the internet promising to cure cancer with nettles and probiotics and yoga. Online ad scammers can plead ignorance that what they sell isn't actually useful, and I'm sure there're legal disclaimers in fine print saying the products are sold purely for entertainment. Theranos, on the other hand...
The whistleblowing is based on the data 'grooming' that their machines did, which made it look like the machines were more accurate than they actually were. Tyler Shultz brought up his concerns and was rebuked, and then went to the WSJ.
The basic idea is that their machines didn't actually work.
When the shitcoin bubble completely falls apart (a process which it may be going through right now), we might see a bunch of Theranoses popping up.
Eh, I dunno. I'm not a big cryptocurrency fan, but that doesn't really sound like the current reality. It may have lost a lot of its December peak value, but the value of cryptocurrencies is still about where it was in November and has been stable there for a month or two. That's still a lot higher than the first ten months of 2017 (and previous years), so "completely falls apart" seems a bit strong.
Eventually you burn enough people and there's nobody left to scam, or governments step in to regulate it. There's a reason you don't see stock peddling scams anymore.
Watching 'dominance' of the various coins is an informative indicator (IMO) of the overall health of the system. https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/ (3rd chart down) Obviously market cap is an extremely fraught metric for coins (trade one token for $1.00, with a supply of trillions, and it's 'worth' trillions), but it should average out somewhat.
Bitcoin is recovering a bit of dominance (which I think is a good sign), but that growing 'other' portion suggests that there's a lot of garbage, and that's only growing. So I agree with you; the crypto space is taking on more dubious value, more shitcoins, etc.
I feel like it has lost its influence over the last few years as folks are a bit more clued in now, so I see another Theranos as _slightly_ less likely.
Specifically, what got him in trouble is probably his public persona as much as his actual crimes. Plus... he was stupid enough to violate the terms of his probation and got thrown into jail. I don't think most executives are anywhere as stupid.
It was a last straw, not a sole offense.
To use a crude analogy, if you're wronged, are you more likely to be vindictive if the transgressor is a close relative, or a complete stranger?
If he had simply closed his mouth for a while, I suspect he would have gotten a slap on the wrist.
The board was scammed by her and lost billions of potential dollars, so that's probably not why. If anything, I wonder the opposite, why the connected people didn't do more; I'm guessing it's because destroying her further isn't worth their time?
I think it is fair to summarize the literal job, and legal responsibility, of the board as don't get scammed
They aren't ma and pa kettle...
[1] Just to be clear, 'fake it till you make it' does not require deception. If you're up front about what you're doing with the people paying you, and are following the law, there is nothing wrong with doing things that don't scale.
> “We will return our undivided attention to our miniLab platform,” writes Holmes of the new device she unveiled in early August at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry’s convention in Philadelphia. She added that “our ultimate goal is to commercialize miniaturized, automated laboratories capable of small-volume sample testing, with an emphasis on vulnerable patient populations, including oncology, pediatrics, and intensive care.”
This woman needs to steer far, far away from anything in the medical field for a LONG time. If she does end up back in that field, she needs to be way behind the scenes. Not presenting at a conference.
Sadly I think she would do great in the field. "Oh look she managed to raise all this money and start a company based on bogus results. We clearly need her on our team. She can deliver!". I guess it depends how you view the field and their ethics and business perspective.
Associated Press, March 14, 2018:
"Under an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Holmes is barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years. The SEC said it will pursue its case against the president of the company, Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, in federal district court in the Northern District of California."
Any public company.
[1]: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-lehman-fiveyear-people/you...
For example: Airbnb started out by scraping Craiglist for their listings. This was not only ethically dubious, it was against Craigslist's terms of service.
They got away with it, though, and have obviously gone legitimate since. Same with YouTube and copyrighted content.
No doubt. However, I personally don't see this as being at all related to 'fake it till you make it' as a concept.
cough Ubeam cough
I suspect the average HNer is much more employable than the average corporate/office worker, and it's something we all probably lose sight of from time to time (particularly when I see comments like "just get a different job!")
In every group I've been in where things went south, there's always one guy with a nest egg and a firm sense of self who shows up every day, puts in the work, brushes it off and goes home to hug his family and pursue outside interests.
Typically the same guy, when I was somewhere between panic and burnout, would gently try to tell me that I take this stuff way too seriously. For a long while this horrified me. It can be hard to distinguish between letting go and giving up, and I often assumed the latter.
Also, chaos is a ladder. There's probably a huge vacuum of leadership within the company. That's an opportunity for lower-level employees to take on more responsibilities than they'd be given at a normal company. If staying for another few months gives you a good resume project then it might be worth it, even if that project is literally helping shut down the company.
https://medium.com/multiple-personalities-order/how-to-be-th...
Unicorn funding makes it a little different but I've worked with multiple CEOs that lost investors millions of dollars, had companies fail and then had the same investors bank roll them again. So long as the investors feel like they're running things the right way and communicating with them the right way, they appear to think a 40% hit ratio is stellar. Greed has a very limited memory. She'll take a break, probably get some sort of sweetheart deal either as a CEO or C-level officer of some small existing company in a different space (ad analytics or something, who knows?) and if they knock that out of the park, she'll be a champion again ready to get funding for whatever hot idea turns up. I also wouldn't be surprised to see her working at a VC firm.
If the DOJ swoops in and has charged, that would make things different.
HK is scum of the earth, a murderous warmonger and fraud himself. No wonder why he is a board member at Theranos.
Indeed.