2 ms·

Silicon Valley is confusing pseudo-science with innovation

41 points by tokenadult 11y ago

empressplay 11y ago
Also see http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/30/10690420/theranos-blood-test-no-fda-federal-inspections-elizabeth-holmes http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/30/10690420/theranos-blood-t...
quanticle 11y ago
The more interesting line from the article, for me, was this: As the funding environment cools, a lot of companies with unsustainable business models are going to go under. I wonder how long it'll be before Groupon declares Chapter 11. They've been bumping along at near zero growth and profits for some time now, and investor patience is going to start running out once other sectors of the economy start generating meaningful returns.
- andersen1488 11y ago
  You've basically described half of the silicon valley "unicorn" crowd. The next 2 years are going to see the death of many VC backed tech companies as interest rates rise.
jerryhuang100 11y ago
I'm curious how they did their 510(k) or just some simple math for their (only) approved HSV-1 IgG assay [1]: In their "Table 3: Design of Precision Study", the Equivocal Panel C, Lot 3 is asterisked with the citation of "sufficient cartridges not available". However if you try to sum up the total valid replicates (27 + 44 + 8 = 79) and it just does not match to the total of 78. [1] http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf14/K143236.pdf http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf14/K143236.pdf
m0llusk 11y ago
This piece makes a general statement and focuses on one company. Another Silicon Valley Company, Zonare Medical Systems, has moved ultrasound forward so that it can be used for more diagnostic tests more accurately. They are also quite stable and have not seen wild variation in their valuation. Perhaps that is why they are not interesting to the press? Only calls of condemnation and crisis actually drive clicks?
joshu 11y ago
Remind me which fallacy it is the one where the argument treats many things as if they are one thing? I have done a couple medtech investments. They are very, very hard to DD. For plain tech I am just used to having enough background to be able directly evaluate the company. Much harder when one gets out of their own arena.

41 points by tokenadult 11y ago

Also see http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/30/10690420/theranos-blood-test-no-fda-federal-inspections-elizabeth-holmes http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/30/10690420/theranos-blood-t...

quanticle 11y ago

The more interesting line from the article, for me, was this: As the funding environment cools, a lot of companies with unsustainable business models are going to go under. I wonder how long it'll be before Groupon declares Chapter 11. They've been bumping along at near zero growth and profits for some time now, and investor patience is going to start running out once other sectors of the economy start generating meaningful returns.

andersen1488 11y ago
You've basically described half of the silicon valley "unicorn" crowd. The next 2 years are going to see the death of many VC backed tech companies as interest rates rise.

jerryhuang100 11y ago

I'm curious how they did their 510(k) or just some simple math for their (only) approved HSV-1 IgG assay [1]: In their "Table 3: Design of Precision Study", the Equivocal Panel C, Lot 3 is asterisked with the citation of "sufficient cartridges not available". However if you try to sum up the total valid replicates (27 + 44 + 8 = 79) and it just does not match to the total of 78. [1] http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf14/K143236.pdf http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf14/K143236.pdf

m0llusk 11y ago

This piece makes a general statement and focuses on one company. Another Silicon Valley Company, Zonare Medical Systems, has moved ultrasound forward so that it can be used for more diagnostic tests more accurately. They are also quite stable and have not seen wild variation in their valuation. Perhaps that is why they are not interesting to the press? Only calls of condemnation and crisis actually drive clicks?

joshu 11y ago

Remind me which fallacy it is the one where the argument treats many things as if they are one thing? I have done a couple medtech investments. They are very, very hard to DD. For plain tech I am just used to having enough background to be able directly evaluate the company. Much harder when one gets out of their own arena.