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So your question isn't "what's going on here?" but "why do so many people want to know what's going on here?" Is Theranos holding open tryouts for their PR dep

by Dr_tldr 11y ago

So your question isn't "what's going on here?" but "why do so many people want to know what's going on here?" Is Theranos holding open tryouts for their PR department or something?

codezero 11y ago
Nope. It's definitely what's going on here. Sorry I'm not very good at enunciating that. It sounds like Theranos is providing a really useful service but there are a lot of hurdles and they are either not doing anything new, or they are and it's not better than what already exists, but it is hard for a casual observer which is all I am to know which it is.
- Dr_tldr 11y ago
  Yeah, I just re-read your original post and realized you're probably not a native speaker of english (or were writing in a hurry on a phone), my apologies! Theranos is catching a lot of flak right now because they claim to be a company founded on this awesome new technology, but they seem to be use existing technologies for all the services they currently offer, they won't show people their wonder-device, and the story of the way the company was initially funded and valued keeps getting sketchier.
  - codezero 11y ago
    Writing in a hurry on a phone after a few beers and a hockey game. :)
  - codezero 11y ago
    The use of existing technologies seems like an unimportant factor. Uber uses cars, more to the point they started using private limo contractors and still do. They nonetheless provided a service above and beyond what you could get before. Is Theranos using existing technologies and still not providing value above the incumbents? This is what I really want to know. I just don't know.
    - adevine 11y ago
      In the beginning, the secret sauce of Uber was still its technology - being able to order a car on your phone, seeing where the nearby drivers are, not having to pull out cash or a credit card at the end. This made the experience much better than ordering a cab.
      - codezero 11y ago
        Yes I get this. I am wondering how Theranos is failing to take advantage of other technologies, despite using existing ones, just like Uber did. What exactly has Theranos failed to deliver?
        adevine 11y ago
        Their "nanotainer". Theranos claimed they could do all sorts of blood tests with just a finger prick and a few drops of blood. The original WSJ article found they were doing normal venous draws, performing the tests on other companies' machines.
        codezero 11y ago
        OK, did they deliver the results that were expected of the tests? Is the main issue that they said, finger prick, but, it didn't take a finger prick? That's a serious main issue, but I'm just trying to determine if that is the main point of contention. Also, that doing such a draw is exactly what incumbents do. Thanks for clearing this up.
        Frondo 11y ago
        It really does seem like you're trolling here, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt: Theranos, the company, has claimed to be building an amazing new testing system. They're not just about getting blood test centers set up in grocery stores, they're very specifically all about a new technology that gives consumers access to a lot of tests all at once, from a pin-prick blood sample. Not an old-style blood sample from a vein, and not this piecemeal "we mostly use the current equipment, but then we can also use our own" weirdness. The business was "fancy new tech, disrupting health care," not "we'll take blood from your vein in a grocery store". If you're going to try and say, well, ok, but maybe they're just pivoting to using standard equipment but now it's in a grocery store, I guess you could say that...
deleted 11y ago
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by Dr_tldr 11y ago

So your question isn't "what's going on here?" but "why do so many people want to know what's going on here?" Is Theranos holding open tryouts for their PR department or something?

codezero 11y ago

Nope. It's definitely what's going on here. Sorry I'm not very good at enunciating that. It sounds like Theranos is providing a really useful service but there are a lot of hurdles and they are either not doing anything new, or they are and it's not better than what already exists, but it is hard for a casual observer which is all I am to know which it is.

Dr_tldr 11y ago
Yeah, I just re-read your original post and realized you're probably not a native speaker of english (or were writing in a hurry on a phone), my apologies! Theranos is catching a lot of flak right now because they claim to be a company founded on this awesome new technology, but they seem to be use existing technologies for all the services they currently offer, they won't show people their wonder-device, and the story of the way the company was initially funded and valued keeps getting sketchier.
- codezero 11y ago
  Writing in a hurry on a phone after a few beers and a hockey game. :)
- codezero 11y ago
  The use of existing technologies seems like an unimportant factor. Uber uses cars, more to the point they started using private limo contractors and still do. They nonetheless provided a service above and beyond what you could get before. Is Theranos using existing technologies and still not providing value above the incumbents? This is what I really want to know. I just don't know.
  - adevine 11y ago
    In the beginning, the secret sauce of Uber was still its technology - being able to order a car on your phone, seeing where the nearby drivers are, not having to pull out cash or a credit card at the end. This made the experience much better than ordering a cab.
    - codezero 11y ago
      Yes I get this. I am wondering how Theranos is failing to take advantage of other technologies, despite using existing ones, just like Uber did. What exactly has Theranos failed to deliver?
      - adevine 11y ago
        Their "nanotainer". Theranos claimed they could do all sorts of blood tests with just a finger prick and a few drops of blood. The original WSJ article found they were doing normal venous draws, performing the tests on other companies' machines.
        codezero 11y ago
        OK, did they deliver the results that were expected of the tests? Is the main issue that they said, finger prick, but, it didn't take a finger prick? That's a serious main issue, but I'm just trying to determine if that is the main point of contention. Also, that doing such a draw is exactly what incumbents do. Thanks for clearing this up.
        Frondo 11y ago
        It really does seem like you're trolling here, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt: Theranos, the company, has claimed to be building an amazing new testing system. They're not just about getting blood test centers set up in grocery stores, they're very specifically all about a new technology that gives consumers access to a lot of tests all at once, from a pin-prick blood sample. Not an old-style blood sample from a vein, and not this piecemeal "we mostly use the current equipment, but then we can also use our own" weirdness. The business was "fancy new tech, disrupting health care," not "we'll take blood from your vein in a grocery store". If you're going to try and say, well, ok, but maybe they're just pivoting to using standard equipment but now it's in a grocery store, I guess you could say that...

deleted 11y ago

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