miércoles, 27 de noviembre de 2019

Faking your way to unicorndom might be as simple as lying a lot

The Readout
Damian Garde

Faking your way to unicorndom might be as simple as lying a lot

That’s the lesson of Outcome Health, the disgraced tech startup, which, according to federal prosecutors, rose to a $5.6 billion by just outright inventing stuff and repeating to investors and clients.

As STAT’s Matthew Herper writes, Outcome built its business on the claim that by putting flat screens on the walls of doctors’ offices and tablets in environments like the infusion centers where cancer patients are given treatments, it could provide drug companies a captive and interested audience for their marketing. That story came apart in 2017 after a story in The Wall Street Journal revealed Outcome’s deception.

Now the federal government is involved, which means we got to see the unsealed indictment. And while Outcome's internal communications stop short of saying “hey, let’s do a fraud,” they're not far off.

For instance, here's an email, allegedly written by an Outcome founder, about how it’s easier for salespeople to woo clients when they don’t know what they're selling is a lie: “Guys any time we’re having a back and forth discussion on what data to use, let’s take the [sales] person off the chain. I’ve noticed their confidence level in our data change dramatically when presenting to clients if they believe it’s accurate vs. made-up.”

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