[codezero]

The use of existing technologies seems like an unimportant factor. Uber uses cars, more to the point they started using private limo contractors and still do. They nonetheless provided a service above and beyond what you could get before.

Is Theranos using existing technologies and still not providing value above the incumbents? This is what I really want to know. I just don't know.

[Pyxl101]

No, I think that their use of existing technology is exactly the heart of the issue. They claim to have made a breakthrough in how blood tests are conducted that allows them to run a large set of blood tests on a tiny fingerprick blood sample. An investigative journalist then reported that they're not using this technology at all, and all the tests they sell commercially are regular venous blood draws run through testing machines purchased from other companies.

If Theranos is not using their fingerprick blood testing technology, then they are not using their technology commercially at all. So if this is true, then they're a company that's been in business 11 years, has a massive valuation, and has not developed a commercially viable technology yet. It's as if a web search company like Google had been around 11 years, was worth >$1 billion, and then was found to be exclusively using and rebranding Microsoft's search technology instead. It's a scandal.

Theranos' valuation cannot be sustained anywhere near its current value simply by selling blood tests conducted on equipment manufactured by other firms. Theranos' claim to fame is a breakthrough in fingertip-prick blood testing technology, and they have no way to differentiate themselves in the market without this breakthrough technology - their investment value cannot be sustained simply by reselling technology made by other firms.

[mattmanser]

Unimportant factor?

A better comparison would be if Uber had claimed they had self-driving car before they'd even entered the market, had started doing rides, and then it turned out Lyft drivers were surreptitiously hidden inside the front of the car and were actually driving instead of the mystical self-driving computer.

That's how it looks at the moment with the way Theranos is behaving.

[Dr_tldr]

...I think you just came up with an amazing new startup. All we need now are some Iron Man halloween costumes and some disgruntled Lyft drivers.

[nradov]

The funny thing is that this is exactly what some lean startup advocates would propose as a "concierge MVP" to test the viability of the self-driving car market before spending money on actually developing the technology.

[codezero]

How, and to whom did Theranos over-promise?

[ascorbic]

This is more like if Uber claimed to be using self-driving cars, but actually had a guy sitting in the trunk doing all the driving. Or maybe a chess machine with a person inside it. Sure it works, but it's a little less interesting.

[adevine]

In the beginning, the secret sauce of Uber was still its technology - being able to order a car on your phone, seeing where the nearby drivers are, not having to pull out cash or a credit card at the end. This made the experience much better than ordering a cab.

[codezero]

Yes I get this. I am wondering how Theranos is failing to take advantage of other technologies, despite using existing ones, just like Uber did. What exactly has Theranos failed to deliver?

[adevine]

Their "nanotainer". Theranos claimed they could do all sorts of blood tests with just a finger prick and a few drops of blood. The original WSJ article found they were doing normal venous draws, performing the tests on other companies' machines.

[codezero]

OK, did they deliver the results that were expected of the tests? Is the main issue that they said, finger prick, but, it didn't take a finger prick? That's a serious main issue, but I'm just trying to determine if that is the main point of contention. Also, that doing such a draw is exactly what incumbents do. Thanks for clearing this up.

[Frondo]

It really does seem like you're trolling here, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt:

Theranos, the company, has claimed to be building an amazing new testing system. They're not just about getting blood test centers set up in grocery stores, they're very specifically all about a new technology that gives consumers access to a lot of tests all at once, from a pin-prick blood sample. Not an old-style blood sample from a vein, and not this piecemeal "we mostly use the current equipment, but then we can also use our own" weirdness.

The business was "fancy new tech, disrupting health care," not "we'll take blood from your vein in a grocery store".

If you're going to try and say, well, ok, but maybe they're just pivoting to using standard equipment but now it's in a grocery store, I guess you could say that...