Developers are easy to replace if you can afford to pay them. Vision is pretty much worthless. Everyone has ideas. Execution matters. Leadership is valuable, but many people are pretty shit leaders, despite what they might think.

As an early stage/pre-revenue startup, every time I talk about money my technical cofounder is like “eh, I dont really want to give up any equity” or “I think we are good, I can do X,Y, and Z so I dont see any need for immediate help.” I respect that attitude, and I definitely agree with it to an extent! But the biggest killer of startups is running out of money. Making sure we have money, have a steady flow of money, and have easy access to money is hugely important.

That being said, its always good to have someone to keep you in check. Just because its on the table doesnt mean you have to take it.

Her story is actually so much more interesting, because she actually made progress towards the blood test after she had lied to investors to get the money (so she could hire actual engineers and work them to the bone). While they worked towards the blood test, they processed the tests manually, incurring huge costs. The concept, given enough research, is probably feasible (on a small scale it already was), but the well was tainted when they lied and faked and lied some more.