| General > General Technical Chat |
| Where did all the Theranos money go and did they actually do 'work' ? |
| << < (3/4) > >> |
| james_s:
I remember reading about that Fyre Festival disaster. That probably could have worked if it had been planned better. It didn't violate any laws of physics, it didn't require the invention of any new cutting edge technology, it was not unlike numerous other large events that have taken place in the past. IIRC the promoters just did a lousy job of planning things, made promises that were thwarted when other things fell through and overall what could go wrong did. I don't really think they set out to defraud people, they just failed in their execution and then failed every step of the way in mitigating the unfolding catastrophe. |
| MathWizard:
She sure loved stringing marketing buzzwords together in word soup, while saying nothing. |
| wilfred:
There is this book " Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup" by John Carreyrou. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37976541-bad-blood# |
| fourfathom:
--- Quote from: MasterTech on May 27, 2021, 03:08:59 am ---Investors don’t know about technology so they can be easily fooled --- End quote --- This isn't always true. I've been part of a couple of startups, and the VCs usually came from a technical background and were pretty sharp. Also, the VCs I've worked with often brought in experienced engineers and technologists and businessfolk to help evaluate a potential investment. After my last startup (quite successful) I had the opportunity to be an "Entrepreneur in Residence" at one of the VC firms, and that role would have included active analysis and participation in the portfolio companies. I ultimately decided not to take the job as there were other things I wanted to do. But I will admit that it can be very hard for even an experienced outsider to accurately gauge the likely success or failure of a company. There is the technology of course, but that might be the easy part. There are many other factors at play. And of course some companies are pretty obviously doomed to failure (uBeam for example, at least as seen from a distance). And some investors are indeed clueless. |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: fourfathom on May 28, 2021, 02:06:57 am ---But I will admit that it can be very hard for even an experienced outsider to accurately gauge the likely success or failure of a company. There is the technology of course, but that might be the easy part. There are many other factors at play. And of course some companies are pretty obviously doomed to failure (uBeam for example, at least as seen from a distance). And some investors are indeed clueless. --- End quote --- If it was easy, everyone would fund successful startups and we'd all get rich. In the real world it's almost impossible to know what will succeed. Starting with a plausible idea that doesn't violate the laws of the universe is a good start, but even a lot of things that are technically possible to do still run into insurmountable snags. |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |