VCs Jumping On The Fat Bubble Bandwagon

from the obesity-is-a-trend dept

VCs like to look for big trends that they can use to project out a few years in order to try to back the companies that will be huge — rather than just decent businesses (or, worse but more likely, failures). And, right now, one gigantic trend in the US is the fact that we are all, well, gigantic. It seems that the latest lemming-like move in VC investing is to pump money into ventures looking to trim the fat, literally. VCs of all kinds are investing in a variety of companies that have different strategies for fighting the “obesity epidemic.” Of course, it wasn’t that long ago that we heard stories about VCs being interested in food franchises as well — so maybe this is yet another opportunity for VC hedging.


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “VCs Jumping On The Fat Bubble Bandwagon”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
11 Comments
dorpus says:

Heh

There haven’t been any basic science advances shown to improve human obesity. As experiments have shown, lab rats have much simpler fat metabolism than humans — just give them leptin, and they will stay skinny forever. Human biochemistry isn’t so easily fooled; leptin only works for a short time, after which humans develop a resistance to it.

We cannot just give experimental drugs to humans without testing them on lab animals first; on the other hand, lab animals do not adequately resemble humans.

The only real solution to the fat problem is to treat it the same way we dealt with tobacco, through extensive public health interventions, limiting advertisement and access to fatty foods. But in today’s world, people have a greater phobia of such government interventions.

travis says:

Technological changes can wreak havoc on industries. In many industries, a firm’s competitiveness is significantly influenced by its ability to respond to new product or process technologies. Technological advances have a profound impact on the destinies of firms. So understanding technological change is very important.

Technological change is normally characterised by a high degree of uncertainty. Even if the technical feasibility of an innovation has been established, there may be considerable uncertainty about its commercial viability. Indeed, new problems often crop up after a new technology is commercially launched. So, early commitment to a new technology is not an easy decision to make. Not surprisingly, many companies fail altogether to make the transition to a new technology.

In making decisions regarding technological changes, companies err in two ways. In the first case, they commit themselves to a new technology too fast and burn their fingers. Iridium, the global satellite telecommunication project is a good example. In the second, they wait and watch while another company comes up with a new technology that puts them out of business. The computer disk drive industry comes in this category. The issue of when and how to react to the emergence of a new technology is a matter of judgment. However, this judgement need not be based purely on a seat-of-the-pants approach. By doing a systematic structured analysis of developments in the technological environment and putting in place the necessary organizational mechanisms, technology risk can be considerably reduced
————————————————————

travis

Drug Intervention Minnesota

Roberto.c says:

Good news

Alcoholism frequently generates this illusion that nothing is unethical in the life of the one affected by it. But the fact that they don’t observe it does not mean the situation is not dangerously wrong. The people in the dependent persons’ environment should react.
______________________________________________________________
Roberto.c
Drug Intervention Mississippi

Roberto.c says:

Good news

Alcoholism frequently generates this illusion that nothing is unethical in the life of the one affected by it. But the fact that they don’t observe it does not mean the situation is not dangerously wrong. The people in the dependent persons’ environment should react.
______________________________________________________________
Roberto.c
Drug Intervention Mississippi

Roberto.c says:

Good news

Alcoholism frequently generates this illusion that nothing is unethical in the life of the one affected by it. But the fact that they don’t observe it does not mean the situation is not dangerously wrong. The people in the dependent persons’ environment should react.
______________________________________________________________
Roberto.c
Drug Intervention Mississippi

Leave a Reply to Roberto.c Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...