How on Earth did they manage to fuck this up?
They were the leading firm in a field where having the most data makes yours the most accurate tests. Their product sold for hundreds of dollars a pop, with practically zero marginal costs to run the tests. And they were really popular, selling like hotcakes.
It’s insane just how astoundingly incompetent upper management can be sometimes.
They were being sued in the past for privacy breaches, they probably are in more trouble financially n than what’s being reported?
Apparently they were just there to sell your genome data once you submit it, also there’s no repeat customers since once you get your results you aren’t going to get another one.
This article explains it better"https://www.standard.co.uk/news/science/23-and-me-dna-test-collapse-b1213426.html"
Good article. It was fundamentally not a good business model. You have to acquire new customers constantly just to keep the lights on, it’s unsustainable. Adding on top of that the expectations from investors to grow every year, and the collapse we see now is guatanteed.
I see they tried to diversify, that could have helped, but without a recurring revenue stream at the core of your business, you cannot become the big company they wanted to be.
Yes, just terrible management. They could have just made good money, but no, there has to be more. So excessive greed at any price - now it’s just bankruptcy. But I’m sure that won’t bother the senior management: they’ve already put their millions in a safe place and will simply move on. The next company that needs their outstanding leadership is bound to come along…
No returning customers, due to the nature of the business. It’s dead from the start.
It can’t be just that, right? There are loads of successful products that any given person only ever buys once.
Right, but the data you get from that test is pretty broad. One test will create a background for an entire family. You only need to do one for one child. Or if both parents have one, or a sibling of both parents have done one, the children of that pair also no longer needs a test to see their background.
