THE FOUNDING DAYS
T/F: There was no CEO for the first 9 months of Helix’s existence.
True
T/F: The Florida Department of Health falsely blamed a massive COVID tracking error on Helix.
True :(
Which of the following ‘San’ cities has NOT been the location of a Helix office?
A. San Francisco
B. San Jose
C. San Mateo
D. San Diego
B. San Jose
T/F: Helix’s initial website crashed immediately after it was launched.
True (TechCrunch also broke the news 3 hours early)
T/F: James Lu was recently featured on the podcast “The Pulse by Wharton Digital Health.”
True
T/F: The first all-company meeting started on Helix’s first birthday.
False, there were all-company meetings every day until the company had 30-40 people
T/F: The original Helix sample type was blood.
False, Saliva
Which role title has Sarah Bobulsky NOT held?
A. Director, Finance
B. VP, Commercial
C. CFO
D. COO
A. Director, Finance
T/F: Helix’s logo has remained the same throughout its history.
False (there was once a double helix in it!)
Which Helix C-suite member recently became the office ping pong champion in the inaugural Helix Office Move Tournament series?
Hylton Kalvaria
Where did cofounders James Lu and Justin Kao meet?
A. Warburg Pincus
B. Boston Consulting Group
C. Duke
D. Stanford
D. Stanford (undergrad)
Which of the following was one of the original Helix consumer marketplace partners?
A. National Geographic
B. Google
C. 23andMe
D. Weight Watchers
A. National Geographic
Which HLT member was one of the first 5 Helix employees?
A. Craig Newman
B. Will Lee
C. Jim Chou
D. Sarah Bobulsky
B. Will Lee
What was the original code name used to describe the company before it was called Helix?
A. Project ATGC
B. Project Jaguar
C. Genomia
D. 24andMe
B. Project Jaguar
This Helix board member has been called “one of the fathers of the modern internet.”
A. Frank Williams
B. Mark Colodny
C. Barry Schuler
D. Jeff Bird
C. Barry Schuler
On what date did the original Helix website go live?
A. June 15, 2014
B. January 26, 2015
C. August 18, 2015
D. October 4, 2015
C. August 18, 2015
Which original Helix marketplace partner was a Shark Tank winner?
A. Lose It!
B. Everlywell
C. Human Code
D. Intelliseq
Everlywell (Julia Cheek)
Which 2 Helix values were included in the original values?
A. Integrity, integrity, integrity
B. Embrace the turns
C. Bridge the gap
D. Test, measure, learn, repeat
A. Integrity, integrity, integrity and
C. Bridge the gap
(Others were Know your impact and Be resilient)
When the Helix team moved into their old San Francisco office, who did they take over the lease from?
A. Duolingo
B. Nike finance team
C. Groupon
D. McDonald’s digital team
D. McDonald’s digital team
Which former NBA player recorded a promotional video for Helix?
A. Shaquille O’Neal
B. Larry Bird
C. Michael Jordan
D. Wilt Chamberlain
A. Shaquille O’Neal
Where was the first Helix office (location + city)?
Illumina’s office space in SF
What was Helix’s peak headcount around the COVID testing days? (+/- 15)
338, Oct 2022
Range 323-353
Which of the following phrases is NOT a Helix-owned trademark?
A. CRACK YOUR CODE
B. EVERY LIFE HAS A CODE
C. FOLLOW YOUR DNA
D. LEARN YOUR DNA STORY
D. LEARN YOUR DNA STORY
Helix was mentioned on the front page of the New York Times on April 8, 2021. What was the context?
Helix provided COVID-19 data and visualizations on the surge of a new variant
Robin Thurston was Helix’s first CEO. What company in the health and wellness space did he cofound before joining Helix?
MapMyFitness (also Chief Digital Officer at Under Armour)