1,145 karma · joined September 9, 2009
(1) Nebula is our laboratory partner, and they sequence with high-throughput MGI DNBSEQ-T7 DNA sequencing machines.
(2) They are our laboratory provider, but the product is not the same! The whole genome sequencing product sold by Nebula on their site is different from the Ultimate Genome Sequencing service we offer in some key ways. One big one is that our service includes more than $200 in DNA analysis apps and reports (such as the Healthcare Pro report designed for healthcare providers and the Rare Disease Screen that analyzes thousands of rare diseases).
The biggest difference, however, is in the processing of the raw genetic data into data files that you can then use to get health insights. We have enhanced processing for these kits that is able to create insights not available from Nebula directly, including enhanced raw data processing through two special bioinformatics pipelines that provide comprehensive data and analysis of structural variations, copy number variations, and mitochondrial heteroplasmy. Both Telomere Length and HLA Typing are coming soon and will be retroactively added to all past purchases of our Ultimate Genome Sequencing service.
This is all fed into our One Genome technology, which allows you to do analysis in ways that you can't do anywhere else. This technology takes all of your genetic data and turns it into an enhanced virtual genome. This advantage of this is that you can run analysis on everything all at once, where in some other cases you might have separate files that can't be analyzed simultaneously.
The long and short of it is that it takes a lot of processing to turn raw genetic data into usable data, and then to analyze that data. That piece is where we come in, and are at the forefront of the field.
There are far too many examples of founders succeeding with an idea after many people before them failed with same idea. I think any good investor is cognizant of this.
If anyone wants a startup idea, it's to make the inverse of Stripe Atlas. Closing down a company properly is a very long and complicated process.
I've seen the $66m figure quoted a lot but not sure where it comes from.
And to be clear, I've invested in plenty of startups with similar models. But I understand your perception of how things went.
I met Ted while trying to find a copy of the book and when he told me he had a bunch in storage, I volunteered to help sell the rest. 100% sales go to him.
This edition is just a reprint of his first edition. Ted re-published it himself.
I haven't read the Microsoft edition yet but I know Ted hates what they did with his book.
Advisors use most of their time on this doing group office hours sessions. Last year each advisor had around 25-30 companies each, so we only needed 100 or so. They're all YC alum who love to pay it forward.
Anyone can audit the course. If you'd like to participate fully, it is an application process.