Moonshot thinking—a buzzword beloved by tech moguls and governments alike—has long dominated discussions in fields like AI and space. The idea is straightforward: set an audacious goal, throw money at it, and let innovation take care of the rest. But in biotech, moonshots often feel less like the

By the last man in the office There are two types of people in the world: those who take holidays, and those who pretend they don’t need them. Guess which one runs the startup? Yes, it’s me—the one-man conga line of capitalism, waving to the cleaning

Ask most founders to list their favourite films and you’ll get a mix of productivity porn (The Social Network), tortured genius mythology (Steve Jobs), or the occasional Tarantino flick if they want to signal “creative but dangerous.” But if I’m being honest, my favourite films are all about

For an industry so obsessed with metrics, dashboards, and KPIs, business is surprisingly full of art. Not just metaphorically—though there is, of course, a “craft” to negotiation or a “composition” to strategy decks—but literally. Go to any private bank in Zurich or London, and you’ll find walls

There’s a particular kind of founder bravado—equal parts necessity and ego—that leads you to believe you can do everything yourself. You’ll write the pitch deck. You’ll tweak the logo. You’ll manage the website backend, negotiate the venue for your next event, and fix the

There comes a point in many startups where the founder stops being the force that propels the company forward—and starts becoming the gravitational center that holds it back. It’s not always dramatic. No botched product launch, no term sheet collapse. Just a growing awareness that the skills required

Founders are trained—sometimes explicitly, sometimes by osmosis—to believe that product comes first. Build something useful. Validate it. Ship it. Then, if you’re lucky, people will come. But what if that’s backwards? In 2025, with attention more fragmented than ever and distribution now the primary bottleneck, the

For all its lofty promises of curing diseases and saving lives, biotech has a people problem. The industry that brought us CRISPR and mRNA vaccines can’t seem to hold onto the very talent that drives its breakthroughs. Academic inertia, the lure of fat tech paychecks, and an outdated work

The Acquihire: Congratulations, You’re Employed Again Startups, we are told, end in one of two ways: triumphant IPO or cautionary tale. But in the murky middle lies a quieter, more frequent outcome: the acquihire. It sounds like a win—your company got acquired! But read the term again. You

There’s a certain thrill when you land your first big client. A marquee name. Seven figures. Real validation. You tell the team. You update the pitch deck. You slap their logo on your homepage as if it's your own. For a moment, you believe: this changes everything.