2010-2019

Just a little list inspired by a friend. 10 years of my life. A life of priviledge mixed with some pain. A lot of lessons learned, some of them more painful than they needed to be.

Lived in 4 countries (each of them multiple times), on 2 continents
– 5 cities
– 11 apartments
Extended research stays in 2 countries on a third continent
End of a long-term relationship
Homeless for five months
2x pneumonia
Learned German
Quit a PhD
Reported a PI for academic fraud
Obtained a PhD
Built a lab and ran it for 9 months
Supervised PhD students
Sat on a PhD defence committee
Failed in my postdoc goals
A lot of friendships
Cured my allergies
Built my own company
Shut it down
Became really good at working with VCs
Raised a €1.3m grant (nondilutative funding)
Hired 14 people
Directed research
Became a mentor to others
Built a product
Fired a person
Quit
Became an important member of a large European biotech community
Became really, really good at mathematical modelling
Got married

Summary: more things done than is normal, more variance than I would have liked.

I never really liked those ‘failure CVs’ posted by successful MIT professors. They grabbed my attention for 30secs before I realised that it was only from the top of the ladder that they were now willing to admit ‘some’ failings. Very few people who know me would call me average, but here’s my attempt at an honest summary from not the top of the ladder.

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