>Richman was even named an "innovator" winner in Goop's "The Greater goop Awards" and at its peak, uBiome was valued at $600 million.
Considering how questionable Goop is that the fraud seems about right.
In the meantime the whole medical start up where they suddenly can test, for cheaper, better, etc seems to regularly come up short on the actual testing, results, or even just valid use cases.
Much like Theranos nobody ever seems to explain how these kind of companies can just suddenly test for more so easily where the existing medical industry just hasn't been able to.
Of all the things that the start up ... "system" can do well I kinda question their ability to suddenly become amazing complex medical device inventors / scientists. I recall some folks who work in that industry and they noted that creating new tests and diagnostics and equipment is often incredibly slow and iterative. That doesn't seem very start up-ish. The magical breakthroughs are rare.
Fraud in the startup world is a lot more prevalent than might be well known. NS8, Communiclique, Lordstown Motors, Trustify, and so many have come to light in the last year.
Investors don't do enough due diligence and trust their own gut too much.
[0] https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-162
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidjeans/2020/10/29/fraud-sof...
[2] https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/california-business-man...
[3] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/lordstown-motors-a...
[4] https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdal/pr/founder-lee-county-base...
[5] https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sentencing-set-alabama-m...
I met Zach when he first started uBiome and moved to Chile. He was pationate about what he was building, and about the opportunity and impact it could have on the world. This was 2011, so he was in the very early stages. If I recall correctly, he was calling uBiome the 23&Me of your gut biome instead of DNA.
He was absolutely the last person I would expect to be caught up in something like this, and when the news first broke a few years ago, I reached out as an act of support, not looking to find out what happened, or anything, just thinking to myself....how did this happen, this isn't the Zach I know, maybe he needs someone to talk to.
The lesson in this I think isn't to just pile on about how SV is full of frauds, and pile on with a bunch of hate, but rather to understand that there is a slippery slope, and people get caught on the wrong side of it. Make sure that doesn't happen to you.
It further strikes close to home because I'm the founder of a sleep-tech company (https://soundmind.co), an industry full of snake-oil and BS. We're extremely conscious of this view of the industry, and call it out where we can.
I've also seen many start-up pitches where the numbers thrown around are absolute BS, companies that I know aren't doing well, and the founders yell about the million dollar deals they have.
It's the one thing I hate about this industry, but the gong continues to bang on about growth, growth, growth and the numbers you need to hit.
Many, many founders take the easy way out, but, to quote Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is The Way.
Any suggestions on how we fight this general rah-rah-BS attitude in the industry?
I completed the uBiome test in 2017. My insurance was billed $2535.02 and I subsequently owed $434.98, in addition to the uBiome test fee (I forget what that was). When I received the results I saw that there was no trace of the type of bacteria that was contained in my probiotic that I had been taking religiously for a long time.
Total scam from start to finish. Throw the book at them.
> received funding from Silicon Valley investors like 8VC in San Francisco and Andreessen Horowitz in Menlo Park, which hold 22% and 10% stakes in uBiome, respectively
Shouldn't we expect long-established and well-respected VCs to do a very heavy due diligence, both initially and perhaps even more importantly continously to ensure something like this doesn't happen? Especially in the health field. I mean, the VC brands are used as a stamp of approval.
I bought one of these and sent in the kit. I never got the results, they said there was a technical glitch IIRC and I needed to do it again, but everything up until that point was really well done. This was probably 2016-2017.
I have no other details, other than I don’t think the alleged crimes committed by them or Theranos are nearly as bad as the ones committed by big pharma and uspto and the rest of the healthcare industry. The whole thing is an f’ing sad joke. So I guess my $200 for the ubiome went down the tube, but what about the $1,800 that HMSA just tried to bill me for going to the doctor for a COVID test last February? How about the 500,000 lives lost to the opioid epidemic? Are any feds investigating USPTO, who was Purdue’s partner in crime? Nah, don’t think so. Let’s go after some small fish in the pond instead.
I blame the 30 something entrepreneurs who grew up in this toxic space a lot less than the 60 year old healthcare execs and government officials who created our f’d up system that we are all suffering from.
If you want to avoid the mistakes of both Theranos, uBiome, and big pharma here's the key strategy: avoid secrecy and #imaginaryProperty at all costs. It puts the patients last and is bad for the world.
Adult Swim had the best take on Silicon Valley poop tech: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DJklHwoYgBQ
The Theranos lady is yet to face consequences for her fraud and since this is financial fraud, there is every chance she might plead guilty and evade any jail time. In such a scenario there is every possible incentive for copy cats to emerge. She is not the first fraudster but feels like the first one to cheat startup investors at such a large scale.
This is why I don't trust my feces with anybody but Smart Pipe [0].
YC Backed!
Back in 2013, the biomedical community was very concerned about how blithely uBiome had decided they didn't need an IRB, despite doing things that were pretty clearly research.
Turns out that was just a herald of things to come.
»SF poop-testing startup, once compared to Theranos, compared to Theranos again«
Still compared to Theranos!
>Apte and Richman married in 2019
so Theranos. Having a couple in the leadership is among the worst things for the business. Any chance for even minimum reality check is gone, and instead there is synergetic self-misleadings-amplification and mutually reinforced bubble detached from reality. We had at some point an SVP and a chief architect couple - it was just a twilight, there was completely no way to subject business decisions to technical reality cross-check and vice-verse, and it was a hilarious show how the managers/PMs/directors/etc. were bowing down to that chief architect ...
I though wonder - how and why would one do a scam in poop testing. I mean - why not just collect the poop and test it. Profit! Sprinkle some social on top and you have a fat unicorn.
This is interesting because uBiome was at the time described (NYT, blogs, etc.) as a way for citizen-scientists to contribute to the scientific process, submit your poop, contribute to science. Pre-emptively, yes there are (very) many problems with the scientific process as it currently happens, but this is a relativley new class of things "citizen science + private industry" that is definitely going to take some time to smooth out. In part the scientific community is likely somewhat ignorant as to the promises of the startup culture, and I suspect they will definitely become more cautious promoting these types of collaborations as time goes on.
Early employee, AMA!
I know it’s the title of the article, but if you’re going to work in poop, startup and Theranos, at least give me the name of the company...
I'm almost that age and I haven't committed a single act of serious fraud or white collar crime. What - am- I doing with my life.
> ... and received funding from Silicon Valley investors like 8VC in San Francisco and Andreessen Horowitz in Menlo Park, which hold 22% and 10% stakes in uBiome
I have nothing against these two VC firms in particular, but I'm wondering if sitting on the board of a fast growing company should also be seen as a responsibility, in this case to realize that uBiome was a fraud.
I'm pretty sure that there was a Tim & Eric sketch about a poop-testing startup... sometimes reality surpasses parody
When I read this headline I thought it was something to do with the amount of human poop on the streets of SF
I saw their 500 startup demoday presntation and thought what a cool idea. Unfortunately, I think a lot of newer startups today have good ideas that don't pan out or convert into sucessfull business -but since they raised money feel obligated to deliver by hook or crook.
Now twice compared to Theranos.
Where are the indictments for the investors on the board that had oversight?
I mean, it seems like we should STILL be comparing them to Theranos, right?
SF fart-sniffing startups must be hopping on some anxious calls right now.
“SF poop-testing startup, once compared to Theranos, continues to be compared to Theranos”
Biome testing seems like it could be a real thing, but after this news, I'm honestly not sure. Are there any trusted service providers in this space? (must... refrain... poop joke :-)
Theranos’ story is unbelievably bizarre and I encourage everyone here to read about it.
The fact that Kissinger was on Theranos’ board blows my mind every time I remember it.
“SF poop-testing startup, once compared to Theranos, here again compared to Theranos”
YC was one of initial investor, either they were part of the scam or not, who knows.
Their mistake was scamming people richer than them, not poorer than them
Even if it all worked out, it would still be a shitty job.
Makes sense if it was compared to Theranos.
It was all good until the shit hit the fan.
The company is kinda s*t anyway. They couldn't even tell that my lunch had corn in it
Apt comparison I guess.
So it's comparable to Theranos in more ways than one.
Here's a hint: if you are starting up ANY company involving any type of biotech or medical application and there are no people with STEM degrees running it or on the board, 90% chance it's fraudulent. STEM smarts is not something you get out of a crackerjack box. And especially NOT with biotech or medical.
Exactly like with Theranos, ANYONE who invested in this and didn't see this coming or do enough due diligence to, simply deserves to be fleeced!! No sympathy.
They should've claimed to be AI-powered, then nobody would've called their shit. Things get especially murky with AI, as no one understands it, and it's hard to prove outright fraud. I've seen this firsthand: a YC-backed startup I worked for which advertised an "AI-powered" background check literally was a bunch of if-statements and pseudo-random guesses which didn't even provide the same results for identical inputs.
What happened to this page?
https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/718
Archived version: https://archive.is/cbIIT
Sounds like a shitty place to work.
I feel like naming your child Sunshine is just setting them up for some kind of delusional life choices like fraud.
Investors cannot hear a more shitty news. Must be a really crappy product. Companies like these are a real shit stain in Silicon Valley. I heard the founder was a piece of shit too. Only an asshole can push a half assed product to investors.
>SF poop-testing startup, once compared to Theranos, charged in $60M fraud scheme
Hmmm...
I believe there's a joke in all of this...
Something having to do with that old expression about when "something" hits the fan...
Before it was announced that uBiome was committing insurance fraud a few years back, my friend and I compared our test results and found that our very detailed, 10-page personalized biome reports were completely identical except for our names. So I believe they were also just completely fabricating their test results from the beginning, and some of the employees at the company must have known this.