5 ms·

There seem to have been quite a few high-profile outright tech frauds the last couple of years Quintillion Theranos UBeam etc

lbstr_ftw 7y ago
Lesson learned: stay away from CEOs named Elizabeth.
investinme 7y ago
Interesting how these three all had a female founder/CEO, given how rare female founders are among big startups.
- ajiang 7y ago
  Not that interesting, just the result of a cherry picked list. https://www.cbinsights.com/research/biggest-startup-frauds/ https://www.cbinsights.com/research/biggest-startup-frauds/ Most are men. Not indicative of men, just that most VC-backed startup founders are men.
  - jacknews 7y ago
    by outright tech fraud I mean that the tech itself is just not there Magic Leap should also perhaps be in the list, but that seems more a case of gross exaggeration than complete wishful thinking
    - sp332 7y ago
      Yeah, Magic Leap actually built a VR headset with two separate focal planes, which no one else has managed to ship. It might be wishful thinking but you can't do that without some serious tech chops.
      - nikanj 7y ago
        Did Magic Leap manage to ship it?
        sp332 7y ago
        Yeah, end of last year. https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/10/17960722/magic-leap-one-creator-edition-shipping-continuous-us https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/10/17960722/magic-leap-one-... You can apparently buy one at https://shop.magicleap.com/ https://shop.magicleap.com/
    - jmull 7y ago
      By that definition this company doesn't belong your list in the first place. edit to clarify: I mean Quintillion doesn't belong on the list.
- imglorp 7y ago
  This may be the Glass Cliff: a tendency to appoint a female CEO to a sinking ship. https://www.fastcompany.com/90206067/what-is-the-glass-cliff-and-why-do-so-many-female-ceos-fall-off-it https://www.fastcompany.com/90206067/what-is-the-glass-cliff...
  - TallGuyShort 7y ago
    All 3 of those were founders, FYI, not that I agree with the female-fraud link.
  - GhettoMaestro 7y ago
    Articles and memes like this are fucking annoying. Does the author think male CEOs aren’t fucked regularly as well?
    - chrxr 7y ago
      That's not the point of the glass cliff. The point is that women are more likely to be hired as CEOs when a company is in trouble than when a company is in good shape. It is specifically about the circumstances when a woman is more or less likely to be hired as a CEO.
      - GhettoMaestro 7y ago
        So the lesson here is don't accept a job that is destined for fail. I still fail to understand why it is a female-centric thing. Tons of guys have taken CEO jobs and gotten rick-rolled.
  - lunchables 7y ago
    Didn't Holmes found the company?
- alasdair_ 7y ago
  >Interesting how these three all had a female founder/CEO, given how rare female founders are among big startups. https://xkcd.com/385/ https://xkcd.com/385/
- bpodgursky 7y ago
  At risk of wading into a toxic swamp, I would interpret this more as "the hype around ambitious female founders makes it easier for a scam run by a woman to get media attention, prominent board members, and funding than an equivalent man" Not that women are any more likely to run a scam than men -- they just have had an easier time of it over the past 10 years. It's really interesting to look back at Elizabeth Holmes's media profile around 2014-2015. She was hyped as the next Steve Jobs, and not in a mocking way. The media, the tech industry, the country at large wanted a female founder to be the next tech titan, so they chose one. Unfortunately, it turned out to be vaporware. So I don't think there's much to read into here, other than selection bias from investors and the media attention. Lots of men run ambitious but failed startups or scams, but over the past decade, the women have had a better time getting attention. That will probably change as successful female founders becomes commonplace, not exceptional.
Throway93894 7y ago
I'm going to make a bet that the next one on the list will be infiBond. Israeli A.I. startup valued at something like 1.25B[1] but doesn't seem to have ever done anything. [1] https://sifted.eu/articles/infibond-investigation-israeli-startup/ https://sifted.eu/articles/infibond-investigation-israeli-st...
WillPostForFood 7y ago
This wasn't a tech fraud like Theranos or Ubeam though. Quintillion did build a working fiber network. The CEO faked numbers to their investors, but they had a real working product, and the company is still in business providing internet access.
NotSammyHagar 7y ago
We work, enron, endless examples. There seem to be a lot of male failures the last few years.
- puranjay 7y ago
  Badly managed, yes, but how is WeWork a fraud? They have a product that's well liked and used by thousands of people. They have real revenues and increasingly, assets they own. The founder did a lot of shady stuff, yes, but maligning an entire company with more than $2.5B in revenue as "fraud" is very harsh. $2.5B annual is higher revenue than the vast majority of businesses will see in their lifetime
  - akiselev 7y ago
    > The founder did a lot of shady stuff, yes, but maligning an entire company with more than $2.5B in revenue as "fraud" is very harsh. $2.5B annual is higher revenue than the vast majority of businesses will see in their lifetime Using revenue as a measure of legitimacy doesn't make any sense. SoftBank has invested over $10 billion into WeWork since 2017. They'd have made more revenue if they sold $10 billion in $10 bills for $9 each.

lbstr_ftw 7y ago

Lesson learned: stay away from CEOs named Elizabeth.

investinme 7y ago

Interesting how these three all had a female founder/CEO, given how rare female founders are among big startups.

ajiang 7y ago
Not that interesting, just the result of a cherry picked list. https://www.cbinsights.com/research/biggest-startup-frauds/ https://www.cbinsights.com/research/biggest-startup-frauds/ Most are men. Not indicative of men, just that most VC-backed startup founders are men.
- jacknews 7y ago
  by outright tech fraud I mean that the tech itself is just not there Magic Leap should also perhaps be in the list, but that seems more a case of gross exaggeration than complete wishful thinking
  - sp332 7y ago
    Yeah, Magic Leap actually built a VR headset with two separate focal planes, which no one else has managed to ship. It might be wishful thinking but you can't do that without some serious tech chops.
    - nikanj 7y ago
      Did Magic Leap manage to ship it?
      - sp332 7y ago
        Yeah, end of last year. https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/10/17960722/magic-leap-one-creator-edition-shipping-continuous-us https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/10/17960722/magic-leap-one-... You can apparently buy one at https://shop.magicleap.com/ https://shop.magicleap.com/
  - jmull 7y ago
    By that definition this company doesn't belong your list in the first place. edit to clarify: I mean Quintillion doesn't belong on the list.
imglorp 7y ago
This may be the Glass Cliff: a tendency to appoint a female CEO to a sinking ship. https://www.fastcompany.com/90206067/what-is-the-glass-cliff-and-why-do-so-many-female-ceos-fall-off-it https://www.fastcompany.com/90206067/what-is-the-glass-cliff...
- TallGuyShort 7y ago
  All 3 of those were founders, FYI, not that I agree with the female-fraud link.
- GhettoMaestro 7y ago
  Articles and memes like this are fucking annoying. Does the author think male CEOs aren’t fucked regularly as well?
  - chrxr 7y ago
    That's not the point of the glass cliff. The point is that women are more likely to be hired as CEOs when a company is in trouble than when a company is in good shape. It is specifically about the circumstances when a woman is more or less likely to be hired as a CEO.
    - GhettoMaestro 7y ago
      So the lesson here is don't accept a job that is destined for fail. I still fail to understand why it is a female-centric thing. Tons of guys have taken CEO jobs and gotten rick-rolled.
- lunchables 7y ago
  Didn't Holmes found the company?
alasdair_ 7y ago
>Interesting how these three all had a female founder/CEO, given how rare female founders are among big startups. https://xkcd.com/385/ https://xkcd.com/385/
bpodgursky 7y ago
At risk of wading into a toxic swamp, I would interpret this more as "the hype around ambitious female founders makes it easier for a scam run by a woman to get media attention, prominent board members, and funding than an equivalent man" Not that women are any more likely to run a scam than men -- they just have had an easier time of it over the past 10 years. It's really interesting to look back at Elizabeth Holmes's media profile around 2014-2015. She was hyped as the next Steve Jobs, and not in a mocking way. The media, the tech industry, the country at large wanted a female founder to be the next tech titan, so they chose one. Unfortunately, it turned out to be vaporware. So I don't think there's much to read into here, other than selection bias from investors and the media attention. Lots of men run ambitious but failed startups or scams, but over the past decade, the women have had a better time getting attention. That will probably change as successful female founders becomes commonplace, not exceptional.

Throway93894 7y ago

I'm going to make a bet that the next one on the list will be infiBond. Israeli A.I. startup valued at something like 1.25B[1] but doesn't seem to have ever done anything. [1] https://sifted.eu/articles/infibond-investigation-israeli-startup/ https://sifted.eu/articles/infibond-investigation-israeli-st...

WillPostForFood 7y ago

This wasn't a tech fraud like Theranos or Ubeam though. Quintillion did build a working fiber network. The CEO faked numbers to their investors, but they had a real working product, and the company is still in business providing internet access.

NotSammyHagar 7y ago

We work, enron, endless examples. There seem to be a lot of male failures the last few years.

puranjay 7y ago
Badly managed, yes, but how is WeWork a fraud? They have a product that's well liked and used by thousands of people. They have real revenues and increasingly, assets they own. The founder did a lot of shady stuff, yes, but maligning an entire company with more than $2.5B in revenue as "fraud" is very harsh. $2.5B annual is higher revenue than the vast majority of businesses will see in their lifetime
- akiselev 7y ago
  > The founder did a lot of shady stuff, yes, but maligning an entire company with more than $2.5B in revenue as "fraud" is very harsh. $2.5B annual is higher revenue than the vast majority of businesses will see in their lifetime Using revenue as a measure of legitimacy doesn't make any sense. SoftBank has invested over $10 billion into WeWork since 2017. They'd have made more revenue if they sold $10 billion in $10 bills for $9 each.