
How Playing the Long Game Made Elizabeth Holmes a Billionaire - prostoalex
http://www.inc.com/magazine/201510/kimberly-weisul/the-longest-game.html?cid=cp01002quartz
======
luxstyle
As amazing as her accomplishment is, I feel kind of sad for her.

"Holmes has taken a similar life-hack approach to every aspect of her
existence outside of her lab test company, which is at best minimal, given
that the 31-year-old works seven days a week. Holmes is a vegan because
avoiding animal products allows her to function on less sleep. She says she
"doesn't really hang out with anyone anymore," aside from her younger brother,
who joined Theranos as a product manager four years ago. She didn't take a
vacation during the entire decade of her 20s and doesn't date. "I literally
designed my whole life for this,".

She has no life but work. Not even friends or dating. She literally worked
away her 20s which is one of the most exciting times of life.

While it's fine to sacrifice for a while to get your business started, it
doesn't sound like she has any plans to enjoy any part of her life outside of
her work.

I hope other entrepreneurs don't take her plan to heart and give up everything
that makes life enjoyable. It should be a balance. Work hard but also enjoy
the things that makes life worth living.

~~~
oldmanjay
As amazing as you think your empathy is, I suspect your comment comes from a
sense of feeling superior because you are applying your value system in a
place where it has no use at all.

~~~
Frondo
Yeah, you're probably right, but I'd go so far as to place all empathy as
coming from a place of superiority. Some poor guy can feel sorry for a rich
dude because the poor guy knows his friends really like him and aren't just
out for his money. The childless couple can feel sorry for how the couple with
children has no free time, and the couple with kids can feel sorry for how the
childless couple doesn't experience the joy of having a family, and so on, and
so on.

That said, I sure feel sorry for someone with no friends, romantic partners,
or human engagement on anything outside their work. It may be rewarding, but
it doesn't sound very fun.

AND, if it's fun for them, then great! Different strokes and all. I hope
they're as satisfied at the end of their days as I suspect I will be, looking
back on life.

~~~
Retra
> I sure feel sorry for someone with no friends, romantic partners, or human
> engagement on anything outside their work.

That would actually describe most of my life, including the parts where I
wasn't being paid to work. However, the reason I didn't have those things is
because, outside of work, all I think about is work. I don't want friends who
don't want to talk about work, because it is the most important thing in my
life. I don't want a romantic partner who doesn't want to work with me because
my work is the top priority. I don't want human engagement outside of work
because it is time I could put into my work.

The bottom line is this: the best way for me to make the world a better, more
enjoyable place for both myself and for others is for me to be successful at
my work. Anything that detracts from that becomes stressful and frustrating to
deal with, and ultimately feels pointless.

~~~
Frondo
That's great!

How do you actually know you're making the world a better place for others,
when all you talk about and think about is work?

See, what gets me about that attitude is, that kind of closed-off attitude is
what I took into my first few startups. It's a tunnel-vision kinda thing,
where I was pushing my ideas out into the world, but not engaging as a person
with people (who, I assure you, are not all so focused on work). It never
worked well, because people all want a lot of different things, and rarely
does that all just line up with what I want.

But talking to people about their interests, listening and engaging with them
on the human level? There's gold there, both in the friendships and the
business that comes out of it.

~~~
CamperBob2
_How do you actually know you 're making the world a better place for others,
when all you talk about and think about is work?_

How do _you_ know s/he's not?

And who asked you? These attitudes toward work-life balance are something we
must decide for ourselves, and then live with.

~~~
Frondo
Who asked me? This is a web forum, the whole point is to say stuff, respond to
stuff, and so on.

As for whether the original poster is or isn't making the world a better place
for others, you're right, I don't know. After how they described their work in
the sibling post to yours (something about making decision-making better), I'm
still not sure how what they're doing is any good.

As for why I'm skeptical that they're getting it right (i.e. solving a problem
people have) without going out and talking to people about it, my experience
tells me that that's pretty tough to get right.

Customer feedback is gold, and putting on your "I only talk about work"
blinders is a good way to get _something_ done, but whether it's the _right
thing_ , well, how do you know?

Look, I get it, it's fun to geek out and try and "solve problems" and treat
life as an engineering exercise, but if you want to do it right, don't just
sit at home and think "this is the problem," meet people where they are, and
see how your vision and ideas fit with that, and on and on and on.

~~~
Retra
How does anyone know they're getting something right? Going out and talking to
people is largely not the way to do it. Most people don't know anything about
how to solve important problems.

You think you can cure cancer by going around making friends with people? Or
discover a new algorithm? Or understand how to structure an organization?

I mean, if you just want to make money and be popular, then fine. Go talk to
everybody. But if you want to solve an actual problem, that isn't going to
help you find a solution unless you're always talking about the problem.

Which _is_ work. I'm 100% ok with talking to people about problems. It's just
the other pointless stuff that I don't do. Like talk about music, sports,
beer, tv, family, or sex.

~~~
Frondo
Yes, I do think you can cure cancer by going around making friends with people
--especially smart people who are doing other interesting things. I don't
think a single-mindedness about problem solving ever works as well as staying
focused, but having a broader perspective.

As for not talking about music, sports, beer, tv, family, or sex, hey, if that
works for you, that's great. When you spell out all the things you're missing
out on (especially family and sex), I'm doubly glad we have different
approaches to life.

------
Jun8
I don't know if I would call this a flattering portrait of a founder. The
article makes it sound like Holmes's Ahab-like focus borders on monomania,
fitting into the well-known model of obsessed founder.

On a different note, though, one thing that jumped to me was this:

"Her parents let her use the money they'd saved for her education as her first
seed round of funding."

I applaud this decision and wish more parents would consider this option. Note
that based on her academic history this not a wild gamble by her parents but a
good bet, well within acceptable risk levels. More parents need to ask their
children: "Do you want me to spend ~$60k per year for an Ivy League undergrad
(e.g. Stanford [http://college-tuition.startclass.com/l/4518/Stanford-
Univer...](http://college-tuition.startclass.com/l/4518/Stanford-University))
or do you want me to invest part of that $240k in your company? Admittedly not
for everyone, but when it works the payoff is _huge_.

The question becomes, I think, rhetorical for MS and PhD.

~~~
anigbrowl
On the other hand, if you don't have rich parents then good luck trying to use
your college loans/grants as seed capital, or to attract VC funding if you
don't come from a socially privileged background. It's not impossible
(obviously as quite a few HNers have done just that) but it's much more
difficult than it sounds.

~~~
erobbins
Indeed. I don't think my $0.00 in college money would have gotten me very far.

~~~
Nicholas_C
Then why not just dig into your trust fund and leverage your parents' business
connections for funding? Stop making excuses.

------
icc97
Seriously chaps - we can do better than this.

\- All credit to Holmes' accomplishments in business and technology, but...

\- As amazing as her accomplishment is, ...

\- I take it she is taking the supplements to make up for a vegan diet? ...

\- I always wonder why articles like this don't make any mention of how Ms.
Holmes is a billionaire, on paper ...

My daughter is only alive because someone in Belgium ticked a box in a blood
test form in Belgium that the people in the UK missed. This shit is important.

What Holmes is doing is awesome, life changing work. Good on her.

~~~
luxstyle
I don't think anyone is necessarily saying what she has done isn't amazing,
profound and admirable.

My comment was to the fact that she pretty much gave up everything to
accomplish that. Was it necessary? Could she still have achieved what she did
if she had friends or took even one day off a week? Maybe, maybe not.

My point was that it shouldn't be all or nothing to create a successful
company. Many entrepreneurs, myself included have given up all of these things
(at least temporarily) in the single minded pursuit of business success. I
still work way more than I probably need to but also make time for other
things.

Just because she is doing something lifesaving doesn't mean I shouldn't want
her to also enjoy her own life. I would have said the same comment if she made
the next WhatsApp instead. Good on her that she's saving lives. Also good on
her if she wasn't and just accomplished something big.

To clarify (at least my own point), if you love what you do and don't need
friends etc then that's great and I wish you all the best. Whatever makes you
happy. If instead you like having friends, dating, a day off etc then don't
feel you absolutely need to remove all of that to make a successful business.

~~~
icc97
I agree with you to the extent that I hope she doesn't burn out too soon.

> I don't think anyone is necessarily saying what she has done isn't amazing,
> profound and admirable.

Perhaps not but, (it seems to me) they're not showing anywhere near enough
respect before coming up with some criticism.

Bare in mind Holmes is the most extreme case (i.e. the first female self made
billionaire), and she knows this. In her words she's on a mission (see the
youtube video). History is full of people e.g. monks, missionaries and leaders
who devoted their lives to their work. They were no less happy for it. It's
interesting in the article how much she relies on faith.

She's not just an entrepreneur. What she is doing is arguably more important
than any of the self made billionaires (who are themselves extreme cases of
entrepreneurs). Only Gates is doing something similar and he waited until he
had billions in the bank first. Even Musk who I similar respect for made his
millions first.

Further the point is she's not making the next WhatsApp. WhatsApp is a blip of
nothingness compared to what Holmes is doing. She's going to improve the
fundamentals of detecting life threatening illnesses which will continue an
impact basically for the entire human existence. It will probably eventually
impact every human (and any animal that is treated by a human) on earth.

------
TheBiv
I always wonder why articles like this don't make any mention of how Ms.
Holmes is a billionaire, on paper. She obviously is set up to be an actual
billionaire, however we all know there is a huge difference between private
valuations and what someone is willing to pay for the entire company (or on
the public markets).

Is this me being too critical?

~~~
aliston
These days, founders are taking massive amounts off the table in the large
funding rounds you read about. I know of several cases where it has been
upwards of 50% of the round (series D/E 100M+ deals). While she doesn't have a
billion dollars of liquidity, I wouldn't be surprised if she had 50 million+
in the bank.

~~~
AndrewKemendo
That's not how you keep 50% of a company. It's usually cash off the table or
keeping your equity.

------
thrownaway2424
All credit to Holmes' accomplishments in business and technology, but this
story should be read alongside another recent one:

[http://qz.com/455109/entrepreneurs-dont-have-a-special-
gene-...](http://qz.com/455109/entrepreneurs-dont-have-a-special-gene-for-
risk-they-come-from-families-with-money/)

~~~
kawera
Although not poor, it seems her parents aren't really rich:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Holmes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Holmes)

~~~
justathrow2k
What precisely in the Wikipedia article you linked to made you suspect that
her parents aren't rich? I saw, 'One of her ancestors was a founder of the
Fleischmann's Yeast company', and immediately thought old money.

------
driverdan
Theranos has some pretty big red flags. No peer reviewed studies showing
accuracy levels, stacking the board people known politicians to give it an air
of legitimacy (and get legislation passed), ridiculous levels of secrecy.

I really hope they are what they say they are but if I were investing I
wouldn't give them money without a serious 3rd party audit.

~~~
skadamat
They're a CLIA certified lab so they don't need to publish public peer
reviewed studies. They're also slowly submitting their tests to FDA, which
isn't required for their kinda lab (something Quest & others actively are
fighting).

Quest and others don't really have peer-reviewed studies for their tests.

------
Mz
_How the Sexes Fundraise

15 Percent of U.S. venture funding goes to startup teams that include a woman,
and only 2.7 percent of venture funding goes to female CEOs.

3x Male founders are that much more likely to find equity financing through
angels than their female counterparts.

14 Percent of men tap business acquaintances, versus 5 percent of women.

2 Percent of women are likely to leverage networks of close friends, as
opposed to 9 percent of men._

I like seeing these stats included, but I wish there was more context than
just gender. I was one of the top three students of my graduating HS class and
some people expected me to be a millionaire by age 30, but I did the full time
wife and mom thing instead. I have done a fair bit of reading over the years
to try to understand why I never got the two career couple lifestyle I had
been "told" by society/media was my due. The exact mechanics of how and why
women do this differently is far more interesting and useful information than
dry stats.

------
AndrewKemendo
>"You hear a lot about young entrepreneurs who come in with a certain
confidence," Fonstad says. "Holmes had 10 times that."

I hear this kind of thing a lot and wonder what _specifically_ they are
describing. Is it swagger? Is it how she responded to questions? Is it the
traction they had that they could point to? Some combination of all of these?

Seems like a critical thing and never really described what people mean by
"confidence." After all one person's confidence is another persons arrogance,
so I'd be interested to see how she had 10x confidence without crossing that
line.

------
lexcorvus
_Holmes is a vegan because avoiding animal products allows her to function on
less sleep._

Just gonna drop that one in there? I'd love to see evidence of this. (As a
happy non-vegan, I kind of hope it's not true.)

~~~
icc97
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10943644](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10943644)

\- via ([http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anjali-sareen/vegan-
benefits_b...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anjali-sareen/vegan-
benefits_b_2919946.html))

\- via
([https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vegans+require+less+sl...](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vegans+require+less+sleep))

~~~
lexcorvus
Thanks for the reference. Hard to tell if veganism is the cause, though. For
example, lots of paleo people consume "living foods," including fermented
vegetables. Do they see similar benefits? I'd wager yes. Plus, the study
doesn't substantiate the claim of vegans needing less sleep. It points to a
better "quality of sleep," with no indication of quantity, and even then only
in fibromyalgic subjects. So it appears that my initial skepticism was
justified.

------
gmarx
Does anyone here agree with me that it's weird that every article about
Theranos is actually an article about Elizabeth Holmes? It seems most other
high profile startups inspire a mix of articles, some about the founder, some
not.

------
kawera
Stanford did a "View From The Top" with her:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLTAFbKbC8w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLTAFbKbC8w)

------
TheMagicHorsey
I don't know anything about the technology in this space, but I sat in on a
conversation recently where a bunch of people that work at diagnostic start-
ups expressed skepticism about the claims that Theranos makes.

There are two possibilities: 1) these start-up people just don't understand
what Theranos is doing, and they can only judge Theranos from their own
perspective, which isn't up to the task; 2) Theranos is overhyped, and these
scientists know something investors don't know.

------
hardwaresofton
Fantastic read, very inspiring. Being able to devote yourself to that sort of
goal, and then actually achieve it is impressive, and humbling (to me).

------
Dramatize
This line doesn't really make sense:

"You'd have to look really hard not to see Steve Jobs in Elizabeth Holmes."

How can you look hard to not see something?

------
hawleyal
> self-made billionaire

lolwut

