Elizabeth Holmes, 30 year old self-made billionaire woman

[Anonymous]

i think holmes is precisely the role model lots of little girls need in stem.

sure there are lots of female doctors, scientists, marie curie, and even a number of ceo's/execs of tech firms that are women, but someone who has combined stem innovation + entrepreneurial chops as a woman is really really rare.

I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about business and financial happenings and i'm shocked i haven't heard about this firm or her until about a week ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you know what, stfu debbie downer. I'm having a hard time picturing you hand wringing about this over a male CEO.

Not DD but I always roll my eyes at self-made men too, even more so. Rich and male, you have NO roadblocks.

If OP had simply said how innovative and the good mission she was using her talents for, no one would have batted an eye.

she's a female stem entrepreneur - do you realize how rare that is? especially one that has the kind of valuation she's getting?

for all of the whitman's, fiorina's, sandberg's, meyer's - none of them are founders.

And her reward is lots of money, and flattering articles written about her, and threads about her. We don't need to pretend that she is "self made."

So unless you were raised in abject poverty, slang crack in the pj's, and became worth 500 million+ you aren't self-made?

This is the definition of self-made. She studied hard, had an idea, developed new techonology, and made a viable business out of it while also providing a great service society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i think holmes is precisely the role model lots of little girls need in stem.

sure there are lots of female doctors, scientists, marie curie, and even a number of ceo's/execs of tech firms that are women, but someone who has combined stem innovation + entrepreneurial chops as a woman is really really rare.

I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about business and financial happenings and i'm shocked i haven't heard about this firm or her until about a week ago.

Why does it seem like there are more female STEM workers in the bio and chem areas than mechanical or electrical areas?

[Anonymous]

I especially admire her for keeping trying and turning down investors who wanted quick returns.

DH has been working on a patent for the last 2 years. He's lucky that he knows a very reputable patent lawyer/firm to draw all documents, contracts, business plans, etc with minimal cost to begin with, but seeking funds and investors has been the hard part. While investor are always highly interested and want to be part of it, they also always want to cut deals largely in their favor. I mean of course they do! But I must admit that sometimes it gets tiresome we sometime just think, fine deal, let's just get it over with.

I always admire people who see bigger pictures. Instead of selling something for instant 5-10 millions, they know it's potential of becoming many times more in the long term. It's not about daydreaming of becoming super rich if waiting longer, but it's about having faith in something and it's potential.

[Anonymous]

Why do women always want to undercut each other?

Instead of applauding a woman of accomplishment, many of you are attributing her success to parental money, influence, connections.

Celebrate the fact that she is an intelligent woman -- person if you like -- who is doing important work that will benefit most of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do women always want to undercut each other?

Instead of applauding a woman of accomplishment, many of you are attributing her success to parental money, influence, connections.

Celebrate the fact that she is an intelligent woman -- person if you like -- who is doing important work that will benefit most of you.

No, we're not.

We're pointing out an obvious problem: that brilliant young women without access to resources may not be able to make the contributions to society that they can, because our country's inequality is hindering our productivity. YOU are the one reading it as undercutting another woman. Successful people don't whine and interpret everything as "undercutting" them.

[Anonymous]

PP. what are you doing to change that?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Hey Debbie Downer, her father is a fed and her mother is a congressional staffer! Not exactly uber-rich, especially by DCUM standards.

"Her father, Christian Holmes IV, has devoted most of his life to public-minded government service–disaster relief in Africa, international development projects in China, environmental work in this country–and is currently the global water coordinator for the U.S. Agency for International Development. He met Elizabeth’s mother, Noel, on Capitol Hill, where she worked as a congressional committee staffer."

He went on to work in the private sector when they moved to Texas. He didn't remain a Fed.

So none of you actually read the article? Her family are descendants of the Fleishmann yeast fortune. Educated parents working in civil device and likely an affluent family going way back. She is doing great meaningful work, but not self made in I sorry. On top of the great great grandfather who was a surgeon and World War I hero. She is the latest on a long line of a successful family, but her accomplishments are mostly a result of upbringing and likely resources few of us can match.

I'm the OP and a guy who is very passionate about issues of opportunity, but I can't agree with the last sentence. Even for her pedigree, her accomplishments are ridiculous. 80 patents, 100+ co-patents, her business maturity at such a young age (there are videos of her at age 25 talking to stanford students regarding importance of cash flow in building a business....very different from what most young tech founders think about or say) - I know lots who went to HYPS that aspired/gunned to just make a lot of money while minimizing risk via finance or consulting or law.

Then again, I'm around my age so maybe i just want to get in her pants (though a number of her youtube videos kind of give off the vibe that she bats for the other team) but no I think her accomplishments are a lot to do with her with 20% to do with her background.

Debbie Downer here. 20% is... a lot. That 20%, at the least, is the difference between a Stanford grad at an investment bank and a Stanford grad with extraordinary accomplishments.

I don't want to minimize her or her accomplishments. But I'm wondering, as a society, are all of our extraordinary children given at least some of the opportunities to go as far as they can? And how much are we losing if they aren't?

Hey someone's gotta pick the coal out of the mountains and drive the trash truck. Nothing wrong with that.

Many affluent kids squander their oppprrunity. She's simply genetically superior. Her true advantage and blessing was her genetics.

[Anonymous]

There is only one rule to getting rich

- Already being rich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do women always want to undercut each other?

Instead of applauding a woman of accomplishment, many of you are attributing her success to parental money, influence, connections.

Celebrate the fact that she is an intelligent woman -- person if you like -- who is doing important work that will benefit most of you.

Because they are jealous...and especially infuriated that she's a college drop out.

Women on this board are bat shit crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is only one rule to getting rich

- Already being rich

Guess I broke the rules.

[Anonymous]

80 patents in 10 years. I call BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:80 patents in 10 years. I call BS.

I came in to say this.... The whole platform is suspect and they haven't released any data to be publically scrutinized. They are running LDTs which do not have to go through FDA clearance. You can have all the patents you want but let's see if the have a viable product.

The idea that one can do 30 assays from 25 uL of whole blood is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do women always want to undercut each other?

Instead of applauding a woman of accomplishment, many of you are attributing her success to parental money, influence, connections.

Celebrate the fact that she is an intelligent woman -- person if you like -- who is doing important work that will benefit most of you.

Because they are jealous...and especially infuriated that she's a college drop out.

Women on this board are bat shit crazy.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:80 patents in 10 years. I call BS.

I came in to say this.... The whole platform is suspect and they haven't released any data to be publically scrutinized. They are running LDTs which do not have to go through FDA clearance. You can have all the patents you want but let's see if the have a viable product.

The idea that one can do 30 assays from 25 uL of whole blood is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

In which NIH lab do you work?