3 ms·

Why is there such a culture of fake it till you make it in SV? If the tech is good, no need for faking. If the tech is bad, figure it out, don't fake it. Oth

by yters 9y ago

Why is there such a culture of fake it till you make it in SV? If the tech is good, no need for faking. If the tech is bad, figure it out, don't fake it. Otherwise, if it doesn't work and it is faked, things will get really bad and at worst lives could be lost. It seems like there is a lot of stupid money around and a lot of scam artists trying to suck the supply dry.

tomtimtall 9y ago
> Why is there such a culture of fake it till you make it in SV? If the tech is good, no need for faking. Nothing happens in a vacuum. If you don’t work hard to hype and oversell your cure for cancer, investors will be passing you by to invest in this nonexistant blood analysis product hyped to the skies. In VC it doesn’t matter what’s you have. The game is to attract enough captital to the point where you can hopefully crate what you sold investors on already having before he house of cards collapses. It’s like one big hype/investment ponzi skeam after another, however companies can openly loose money for years after years without anyone calling bullshit as long as the prospect of gains are hyped enough. Though importantly, you have to work the right line between outright lying and hyping. Prefix everything with “might be” and “could potentially” dumb investors will still be fooled but you might survive the legal fallout more gracefully.
- yters 9y ago
  Believing your own hype does not make it any less a scam.
pg_bot 9y ago
It may be the case that Theranos could not "figure it out" as it may be impossible to do what they claim they could. In that case there is no reason for Theranos to exist as the real fix would be to do what existing labs already do (draw more blood) and they would not have any competitive advantage in their field. The correct move is to always be honest with results and to pursue one of two strategies. Spend the rest of the money they have attempting to perfect a machine that is likely to never work, or return the rest of your investors money and close up shop. The healthcare market does not tolerate fuck ups. If you are working in this space you have to be tough and competent. Things need to work as advertised or you will be sued out of existence.
cvaidya1986 9y ago
I would highly recommend reading how Microsoft got the IBM deal.

by yters 9y ago

tomtimtall 9y ago

> Why is there such a culture of fake it till you make it in SV? If the tech is good, no need for faking. Nothing happens in a vacuum. If you don’t work hard to hype and oversell your cure for cancer, investors will be passing you by to invest in this nonexistant blood analysis product hyped to the skies. In VC it doesn’t matter what’s you have. The game is to attract enough captital to the point where you can hopefully crate what you sold investors on already having before he house of cards collapses. It’s like one big hype/investment ponzi skeam after another, however companies can openly loose money for years after years without anyone calling bullshit as long as the prospect of gains are hyped enough. Though importantly, you have to work the right line between outright lying and hyping. Prefix everything with “might be” and “could potentially” dumb investors will still be fooled but you might survive the legal fallout more gracefully.

yters 9y ago
Believing your own hype does not make it any less a scam.

pg_bot 9y ago

It may be the case that Theranos could not "figure it out" as it may be impossible to do what they claim they could. In that case there is no reason for Theranos to exist as the real fix would be to do what existing labs already do (draw more blood) and they would not have any competitive advantage in their field. The correct move is to always be honest with results and to pursue one of two strategies. Spend the rest of the money they have attempting to perfect a machine that is likely to never work, or return the rest of your investors money and close up shop. The healthcare market does not tolerate fuck ups. If you are working in this space you have to be tough and competent. Things need to work as advertised or you will be sued out of existence.

cvaidya1986 9y ago

I would highly recommend reading how Microsoft got the IBM deal.