He touches on, but doesn't quite make explicit, the central point that the business techniques that are appropriate for one industry aren't always appropriate f

He touches on, but doesn't quite make explicit, the central point that the business techniques that are appropriate for one industry aren't always appropriate for another. Much of Theranos' alleged sins would be wrong in any industry, but it's hard to avoid the conclusion that Silicon Valley methods are not appropriate in health care. Even 23andMe, a vastly more responsible company than Theranos, got into a bit of trouble for dispensing health advice without FDA approval. I am thinking that we will see a few high-profile mismatches of industry culture in the fintech space sometime in the next few years. If you were a software startup in, say, civil engineering or architecture, you would similarly not be able to use people like Larry Ellison for your role models, because buildings falling down is fundamentally different than a search engine, social media, or e-commerce site crashing under high volume. I think the real lesson for VC's is that when the industry involved is an established, conservative one, that doesn't just mean it's "ripe for disruption"; sometimes there are good reasons that risk is viewed differently in that industry.