-
I see many founders focusing on the wrong things when building their startup. I briefly mentioned this observation in my other post. Here’s a more expanded list of things which don’t matter. All of this is my personal opinion, of course – but I thought I’d share it because not many people state this publicly, yet…
-
I’m part of a few incubators where I mingle with future startup founders and pretend to have knowledge on how to build a startup. Generally speaking, I perceive myself as being relatively clueless, but then again, when the founders ask me some questions, I briefly think that I actually have something useful to share. One…
-
Don’t Take VC Funding – It Will Destroy Your Company
•
15 min read
Update (July 21st, 2025): It seems many people from Indonesia are reading this post (thanks!) as it was linked on Instagram. I don’t know who linked to it though, so if you could briefly let me know via email, I’d appreciate that a lot so that I can say thanks! 🙂 I’ve talked to quite…
-
Six Years of Back Pain, Episode 1: Mouse Shoulder
•
10 min read
This is episode 1 of my medical mystery. As all medical mysteries, it led me to physiotherapists and doctors – but, in contrast to most medical mysteries, it also led me to stuff my scrotum into a leather-lined pouch. And I also ended up shooting gut bacteria into various cavities of my body. But let’s…
-
From Two to Three
•
12 min read
In 2020, I founded a company called OpenRegulatory. At that time – the height of the pandemic, with low interest rates and near-unlimited funding – most startups were rocket ships – VC-funded, growth-oriented and, most notably, not profitable. I wanted OpenRegulatory to be different – bootstrapped by me, small, profitable – more like a tuk-tuk. Now, while you’re chuckling,…
-
From Clojure to Ruby
•
5 min read
Back in 2017, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I got my first coding job, I was super excited about Clojure. And what’s there not to be excited about? It’s super fast, it’s concise, and it’s a lisp. But now I’m coding in Ruby. Why? Superficially, Ruby and Clojure are similar (bear with me): They’re…
-
From One to Two
•
8 min read
In his book Zero to One, Peter Thiel writes: It’s easier to copy a model than to make something new: doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But every time we create something new, we go from 0 to 1. The act…
-
In the beginning of 2020, I left my job at Vara, where I worked as a Software Engineer, Soccer Mom and Regulatory Affairs Person. I didn’t really know what to do next. While I enjoyed the Coding and Soccer Mom Duties, one thing was for sure: No more regulatory work, ever. Fast-forward one year. I spent the year…
-
Regulation Is Killing Medical Software Innovation
•
11 min read
I’m back from cryosleep. After leaving Merantix Healthcare 7 months ago I haven’t been writing much. I took the summer off to finish my pilot’s license and to try out a few things on the side. One of them was doing regulatory consulting for medical software startups. Remember: At Merantix Healthcare (now: Vara), we managed to pass…
-
Pioneers vs. Process People
•
8 min read
Today is my last day at Merantix Healthcare. While I am very sad to leave behind a stellar team which I helped build, it’s the right thing for me to do. Why? At any company, there are multiple projects going on: Developing a product, getting regulatory approval, recruiting for a team.. you get it. Whatever…