In this “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) episode, Peter answers a wide range of questions from subscribers. Bob Kaplan, Peter’s head of research, asks the questions. If you’re not a subscriber and listening on a podcast player, you’ll only be able to hear a preview of the AMA. If you’re a subscriber, you can now listen to this full episode on your private RSS feed. You can also watch (or listen) to this full episode on our website at the AMA #9 show notes page. If you are not a subscriber, you can learn more about the subscriber benefits here.
AMA #9 Sneak Peak:
We discuss:
- The story of how Peter almost worked for Theranos [2:00];
- The trend of lower testosterone and higher estrogen in men: Why is it happening and what to do about it? [10:00];
- Takeaways from Peter’s recent hunting trip in Hawaii [14:45];
- What books are you currently reading/listening to? [21:30];
- What advice would you give to the 25 year-old Peter? [24:00];
- What is your emergency protocol if you start getting sick? [27:45];
- How have your thoughts changed on NAD precursors, and also on metformin, in the past year or so? [30:30];
- What are your thoughts on “fat burning” zones for cardio workouts? — A lesson in relative vs. absolute fat combustion [34:15];
- What mental models do you use and how do you go about solving problems and approaching difficult questions? [49:00];
- Creatine supplementation—Yay or nay? Why? [49:30]; and
- More.
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The story of how Peter almost worked for Theranos [2:00]
⇒ For a primer on Theranos and why this is even interesting…
- Give the wiki page a quick read
- Also, check out this HBO documentary
- Or the best selling book by John Carreyrou
An offer from Theranos
- In 2006, Peter was working at McKinsey & Company in Palo Alto
- Theranos contacted him and he was offered their Chief Medical Officer position
- He met with Elizabeth Holmes
- They looked at the black box machine together and discussed business and technology
Decided not to take the job for several reasons
- First, someone Peter trusts did not say anything good about one of the investors in Theranos
- Secondly, loved his job at McKinsey
- Third, wasn’t convinced that what you could test in a box that size was interesting
- “I knew enough about diagnostics and…chemistry that I knew that there was…not going to be anything you could do on a drop of blood, in a box that size, that was clinically interesting.”
8 years later
- In 2014, 8 years after declining the job, Forbes valued Theranos at $9 billion
- Calculated the money he would be worth if he had taken the job, “life changing money”
In 2015
- Peter was at a fundraising event where Elizabeth was the top speaker (ahead of Mark Zuckerberg)
- Elizabeth saw Peter and remembered him from 9 years prior
- They exchanged contact info and kept in touch for a while
- 2 days after this event, John Carreyrou put on an article in the WSJ exposing some of the fraud going on at Theranos
Cognitive dissonance
- Here is Elizabeth as the headliner at this “who’s who” event
- Simultaneously, she knows her world is about to get super messy was the WSJ article releases
- From a psychology standpoint, Peter says he doesn’t believe that Elizabeth ever thought she was doing anything wrong
- Which is not for a moment to say, she shouldn’t be held accountable for what happened
- She should be absolved of the responsibility of what she’s done
- But it’s a very important distinction… you can be so delusional that you really believe that the lies you’re telling are for the better good
Did Peter ever suspect fraud from Elizabeth and/or Theranos?
- “I never suspected [fraud]. . .I just thought it was the world’s most uninteresting business in the history of civilization. Like point of care testing in a drug store for Chem-7, and CBC? I would have more interest in a business that specialized in removing hangnails and nose hairs.”
The trend of lower testosterone and higher estrogen in men: Why is it happening and what to do about it? [10:00]
Lower T, Higher E
- If you took blood samples from a group of men in the 1950s, and did the same for a similar group of men today…
- You would notice that, in today’s men, testosterone is lower, and their estrogen is higher
The question is, WHY?
{end of show notes preview}
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