<story><title>Theranos didn’t work with the huge drug company it supposedly made money from</title><url>http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/26/9618390/Theranos-glaxosmithkline-denies-partnership-pfizer-blood-test</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>BiologyRules</author><text>I interviewed at Theranos a year ago, and found the employees to be smart and dedicated.&lt;p&gt;However, the company was the most secretive I&amp;#x27;ve interviewed at and the employees complained about being overworked.  The fact the founder sold C++ compilers to Chinese universities when g++ is open-source sounded odd.&lt;p&gt;But I still had hope in them even after they passed on me -- a Silicon Valley company actually making a difference in the people&amp;#x27;s health.  I WANT TO BELIEVE.&lt;p&gt;If this turns out to be smokes and mirrors, I&amp;#x27;d be very saddened.  Theranos&amp;#x27; failure would confirm what everyone interested in biotech knows but wishes wasn&amp;#x27;t true: that advancements in this field do not move at the speed of the digital economy.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tptacek</author><text>Holmes ran that business in high school. She was born in 1984, so that would put the date around 2000. There were good reasons not to use G++ in 2000. When Alexandrescu&amp;#x27;s book was published, in 2001, it was somewhat notorious on my team (shipping code on G++) for how much of it didn&amp;#x27;t work well, or at all, in G++.</text></comment>
<story><title>Theranos didn’t work with the huge drug company it supposedly made money from</title><url>http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/26/9618390/Theranos-glaxosmithkline-denies-partnership-pfizer-blood-test</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>BiologyRules</author><text>I interviewed at Theranos a year ago, and found the employees to be smart and dedicated.&lt;p&gt;However, the company was the most secretive I&amp;#x27;ve interviewed at and the employees complained about being overworked.  The fact the founder sold C++ compilers to Chinese universities when g++ is open-source sounded odd.&lt;p&gt;But I still had hope in them even after they passed on me -- a Silicon Valley company actually making a difference in the people&amp;#x27;s health.  I WANT TO BELIEVE.&lt;p&gt;If this turns out to be smokes and mirrors, I&amp;#x27;d be very saddened.  Theranos&amp;#x27; failure would confirm what everyone interested in biotech knows but wishes wasn&amp;#x27;t true: that advancements in this field do not move at the speed of the digital economy.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>plonh</author><text>The compilers thing sounds like a made up story to give her am interesting bio. None of the news stories about it have any details.&lt;p&gt;She obviously didn&amp;#x27;t write a C++ compiler worth selling at that age in that time period , so at most it was likely some sort of off-the-shelf reselling sales gig.</text></comment>