Serious My Textbook Answer for PAP to Excuse NUS-ASTAR Fiasco

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Just Google and quote the recent Theranos fiasco. Even the super high IQ Silicon Valley VCs also kenna conned by this young Angmo chiobu CEO.

Apparently this Angmo got her 'inspiration' while working in our local research lab during SARS.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Silicon Valley Looks for Lessons in Theranos

Silicon Valley’s best-known venture investors have emerged largely unscathed from the rapid descent of Theranos Inc., but the decline offers a cautionary tale for a community that bets big on visionary founders touting revolutionary technology.

U.S. health regulators on Friday dealt Theranos a major blow by moving to revoke its license to operate a California lab and banning founder Elizabeth Holmes from the blood-testing business for at least two years.

Silicon Valley investors say Palo Alto, Calif.-based Theranos—which was valued at $9 billion in a 2014 funding round—offers lessons about the importance of oversight and due diligence in the venture-capital business, which bets sometimes on nothing more than an idea.

Advertisement

“For me, the Theranos saga is a wonderful reminder: While you want to invest in people who are visionary and are committed to their businesses, you want to partner with people who are truth-seeking,” said health-care investor Bryan Roberts, a partner at Venrock. “A lot of people [involved with Theranos] fell down on that in this.”

A Theranos spokeswoman said, “Theranos is taking concrete steps to back up its commitment to transparency. We are also preparing to introduce and explain our technologies to the scientific community.”

Theranos said it is seeking to resolve its issues with the regulator. The most serious sanctions don’t go into effect for about two months and an appeal is possible.

U.S. regulators have barred Elizabeth Homes, founder and CEO of Theranos from operating a medical laboratory for at least two years, raising questions about the future of the once promising startup. Photo: Theranos

Ms. Holmes personified Silicon Valley’s archetypal founder: A Stanford dropout who emulated Steve Jobs and had a grand vision to disrupt an entrenched industry. Before Theranos’s problems came to light last October, at least some Silicon Valley investors cheered her apparent success. Marc Andreessen, whose firm isn’t a backer of Theranos, tweeted that Ms. Holmes would be the first female tech founder on his list of “revolutionary entrepreneurs.”

A spokeswoman for Mr. Andreessen’s firm, Andreessen Horowitz, declined to comment.

Much of Silicon Valley has since pointed out what was perhaps the company’s biggest red flag: its unusual roster of investors and board members. The only big-name venture firm to invest was Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which along with founding partner Tim Draper ’s own fund, supplied Theranos’s first $1 million. Ms. Holmes was a childhood friend of Mr. Draper’s daughter and came to him “with extraordinary energy and brilliance,” he has said.

Other investors include Don Lucas, an early backer of software company Oracle Corp. ; little known ATA Ventures; and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., which recently terminated a partnership to use Theranos blood tests in some of its stores. ATA and Don Lucas didn’t respond to a request for comment. A Draper Fisher Jurvetson spokeswoman and a Walgreens spokesman declined to comment.

Several investors with expertise in life-science deals say they either passed on investing because they thought Theranos’s technology claims were too good to be true, or didn’t get a chance. Theranos’s board of directors consisted mostly of political heavyweights rather than medical experts. The company never published its research in peer-reviewed medical journals, as is customary.

“When none of the top VC firms are in a super-hyped company, you have to wonder if there is something not quite right,’” said Jeff Richards, a managing partner at GGV Capital, which doesn’t invest in medical companies.

Theranos replaced many of its directors last October and created a new medical-advisory board. The Theranos spokeswoman said, “Theranos has boards composed of individuals of extraordinary experience and talent in many fields. Their contributions have been significant.”

Other highflying startups with prominent venture investors have suffered from corporate-governance issues.

Health-benefits broker Zenefits had a single outside board member, Lars Dalgaard of Andreessen Horowitz, until five months ago. He had no experience in the regulated-insurance business and encouraged the company to grow quickly and to secure the highest possible valuation in its last round of financing, say people familiar with the matter.

In February, Zenefits replaced founder Parker Conrad as chief executive and added three outside directors. Zenefits has since laid off staff and experienced stalled sales. It is under investigation from regulators in multiple states regarding insurance-license issues. Two weeks ago, it agreed to reset the valuation for its last financing round to $2 billion from $4.5 billion.

David Sacks, Zenefits’s new CEO, has argued that any comparisons with Theranos are unfair, because his company quickly took steps to rectify its regulatory and governance issues and replaced its founder. A Zenefits spokeswoman referred back to Mr. Sacks’s tweets.

Zenefits has shown that “absolute max growth rate isn’t necessarily the right thing to optimize for,” said Mr. Roberts of Venrock, which was an early investor in the company.

Some companies are moving to bolster oversight. Enlitic Inc., which applies artificial intelligence to medical data, is reconstituting its advisory board with experts who are expected to take a more active role overseeing the company, a move that took on added urgency in the wake of Theranos’s revelations, said board member and angel investor Jim Golden.

The Silicon Valley community also has to avoid buying into its own hype machine, said Stephen Kraus, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. Entrepreneurs must sell a vision of the future to attract investors and talented employees, but it can backfire when hype outpaces reality.

Ms. Holmes was adamant about staying in control at Theranos from early on, said Sam Colella, managing director at Versant Ventures, who recalls meeting her when she was first raising venture capital. He said he was impressed, but thought she might need management help along the way.

“‘Every company needs more gray hair,’” he said he told her. “ ‘What if I came to you later and asked to recruit a partner for you who has experience in building a billion-dollar company?’ ” Mr. Colella said the reaction was startlingly abrupt. “She closed her notebook and said, ‘I’m the chairman and CEO and it’s going to stay that way,’ ” before promptly leaving.

“Anyone who knows Elizabeth Holmes can tell you she has never abruptly walked out of a meeting,” a Theranos spokeswoman said.


Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.