4 ms·

From the looks of it the founder and her roommate (a political science major who's since been written out of the company's history) developed a basic idea with

by learc83 10y ago

From the looks of it the founder and her roommate (a political science major who's since been written out of the company's history) developed a basic idea with no experience or demonstrable ability to turn it into a product, and received tens of millions to give it a shot. It's not a new idea--ultrasound is already used to power pacemakers, and people have been playing with the concept for years. However, basic calculations shows that this is not likely to be practical as a consumer device. The founder has no physics or electrical engineering background, so there's no reason to think that she has some unique ability to overcome these hurdles. She's also hasn't demonstrated that she's developed any novel techniques to overcome the engineering challenges. So why all the VC money? Why give VC money to a 20 something with no experience and no background with the hope that she'll hire enough engineers to figure it out? It just doesn't make sense to me. I said the same thing about Theranos. They basically gave an inexperienced person who had no real domain knowledge millions of dollars to run a research lab. It looks very similar. Are VCs just desperate for a media friendly founder success story? edit: Turns out there was already a patent covering something very similar filed in 2003 https://www.google.com/patents/US6798716?dq=ultrasound+power+transmission#v=onepage&q&f=false https://www.google.com/patents/US6798716?dq=ultrasound+power...

deepnotderp 10y ago
From personal experience, I've gathered that ~80% of vcs are "dumb money". There's a reason why a small subsection of vcs firms dominate the profits.
axtscz 10y ago
Just a shot in the dark, but I think VC's probably see this as game changing tech if someone can pull it off. Something that would pay off big and that slot of risk must've been acceptable. Also possibly to fill diversity requirements.
- learc83 10y ago
  > but I think VC's probably see this as game changing tech if someone can pull it off I'm sure it would be. But what I don't understand is why not hire someone who knows what they're doing to try to pull it off? Why hire an inexperienced person with almost no domain knowledge just because she happens to have a very basic idea sketched out.
  - axtscz 10y ago
    It's not like she's the only person at the company. I'm sure that they've got at least some engineering under that VC Capital umbrella
    - learc83 10y ago
      I'm sure the company is filled with engineers now. But my point is why put someone with no research, engineering, or management experience in charge? Imagine a hypothetical scenario. I'm a VC and some kid with a degree in biology told me we should make phones that use ultra capacitors instead of batteries. Me: "That sounds cool, but it's probably not going to work because ultra caps just don't have the energy density." Kid: "Yeah but if you give me 25 million dollars I can hire a bunch of engineers and figure it out." Me: "Why do I need you? You're idea isn't novel. You don't have any experience or training, and you probably can't even do it." Kid: "But if I do, you'll make billions." Me: "I can give the same money to anyone of thousands of people qualified to actually run an R&D project, and I'll have a much higher chance of success."
hellbanner 10y ago
Yes, this is odd. If the company fails, do the VCs take over? This could be their way of ensuring control over this technology.
alphaoverlord 10y ago
It is not true that ultrasound is used to power pacemakers. Citation definitely needed.
- sergers 10y ago
  Found a press release from 2013 that research is being performed with ultrasound charging of cardiac/in body devices http://www.newswise.com/articles/tune-in-turn-on-power-up http://www.newswise.com/articles/tune-in-turn-on-power-up The Arizona research company is piezo energy technologies. http://gopiezo14.com http://gopiezo14.com 2011 patent: https://www.google.com/patents/US8082041 https://www.google.com/patents/US8082041 2014 patent: https://www.google.com/patents/US8974366 https://www.google.com/patents/US8974366 But I haven't seen anything commercially available in the medical industry
  - alphaoverlord 10y ago
    All three links are about the same small startup that is being funded by SBIR through the NIH, which is all about trying to give seed funding for experimental technology. The patents are listed on their website and links don't show anything more advanced than ubeam.
    - learc83 10y ago
      No, it's not more advanced, but it was filed several years before ubeam's first patent.
  - Animats 10y ago
    That's direct-contact transmission at very short range: "an acoustic energy emitting device is disposed on coupling medium which in turn is disposed against skin surface. The coupling medium may comprise carageenan, xanthum gum, alginic acid, silicon gel, or other acoustic impedance matching material that is suitable for long-term skin contact." With a viscous gel, as used for ultrasonic medical scanning, efficiency is much better than through air.

by learc83 10y ago

deepnotderp 10y ago

From personal experience, I've gathered that ~80% of vcs are "dumb money". There's a reason why a small subsection of vcs firms dominate the profits.

axtscz 10y ago

Just a shot in the dark, but I think VC's probably see this as game changing tech if someone can pull it off. Something that would pay off big and that slot of risk must've been acceptable. Also possibly to fill diversity requirements.

learc83 10y ago
> but I think VC's probably see this as game changing tech if someone can pull it off I'm sure it would be. But what I don't understand is why not hire someone who knows what they're doing to try to pull it off? Why hire an inexperienced person with almost no domain knowledge just because she happens to have a very basic idea sketched out.
- axtscz 10y ago
  It's not like she's the only person at the company. I'm sure that they've got at least some engineering under that VC Capital umbrella
  - learc83 10y ago
    I'm sure the company is filled with engineers now. But my point is why put someone with no research, engineering, or management experience in charge? Imagine a hypothetical scenario. I'm a VC and some kid with a degree in biology told me we should make phones that use ultra capacitors instead of batteries. Me: "That sounds cool, but it's probably not going to work because ultra caps just don't have the energy density." Kid: "Yeah but if you give me 25 million dollars I can hire a bunch of engineers and figure it out." Me: "Why do I need you? You're idea isn't novel. You don't have any experience or training, and you probably can't even do it." Kid: "But if I do, you'll make billions." Me: "I can give the same money to anyone of thousands of people qualified to actually run an R&D project, and I'll have a much higher chance of success."

hellbanner 10y ago

Yes, this is odd. If the company fails, do the VCs take over? This could be their way of ensuring control over this technology.

alphaoverlord 10y ago

It is not true that ultrasound is used to power pacemakers. Citation definitely needed.

sergers 10y ago
Found a press release from 2013 that research is being performed with ultrasound charging of cardiac/in body devices http://www.newswise.com/articles/tune-in-turn-on-power-up http://www.newswise.com/articles/tune-in-turn-on-power-up The Arizona research company is piezo energy technologies. http://gopiezo14.com http://gopiezo14.com 2011 patent: https://www.google.com/patents/US8082041 https://www.google.com/patents/US8082041 2014 patent: https://www.google.com/patents/US8974366 https://www.google.com/patents/US8974366 But I haven't seen anything commercially available in the medical industry
- alphaoverlord 10y ago
  All three links are about the same small startup that is being funded by SBIR through the NIH, which is all about trying to give seed funding for experimental technology. The patents are listed on their website and links don't show anything more advanced than ubeam.
  - learc83 10y ago
    No, it's not more advanced, but it was filed several years before ubeam's first patent.
- Animats 10y ago
  That's direct-contact transmission at very short range: "an acoustic energy emitting device is disposed on coupling medium which in turn is disposed against skin surface. The coupling medium may comprise carageenan, xanthum gum, alginic acid, silicon gel, or other acoustic impedance matching material that is suitable for long-term skin contact." With a viscous gel, as used for ultrasonic medical scanning, efficiency is much better than through air.