Why I joined Lindus Health? Nik Haldimann, CTO

A worthy mission

What resonated immediately with me when I first connected with my co-founders was Lindus Health’s mission. Clinical trials are broken in some very unsubtle ways. As much as 86% of clinical trials are delayed due to poor recruitment (source). The average cost per trial participant remains stubbornly high ($41k per participant in one recent study), contributing to Eroom’s Law, the observation that new medicines are getting exponentially more expensive to develop. We take on the monumental task of fixing these problems.

It’s the rare kind of business that can be a real force for good in the world. We can bring new treatments to patients faster, increase the diversity of participants in trials, and be at the forefront of life sciences innovation by working with a broad range of biotech startups. It’s these big ambitions that get me out of bed in the morning.

Personal challenge & growth

An early-stage startup stretches the boundaries of what I think I’m capable of. I have to decide the best way I can move the company forward at any given moment, and that may not always involve my core strengths. For example, beyond the bread and butter of supporting my team in technical decisions, I get to influence the product direction, contribute to business strategy and figure out how to make creative collaboration happen across the company. Sounds like a lot? It is at times, which is why it’s so crucial to pair that with an impactful mission which sustains me when I have to step outside of my comfort zone.

Creating a dream environment for engineers

Let me get technical for just one moment. There are some practices which in my mind unleash engineering productivity but are not widely adopted in organizations I’ve seen. I’m thinking for example of continuous deployment (not only continuous integration) and observability as a first-class concern for every engineer, enabling rapid iteration. I want to see what happens when we bake these practices into the culture from the start. I think we can create an environment that’s not only productive but also has engineers learning and leveling up all the time. I believe most people who engage in the highly creative craft of software engineering love getting better at it, and I want to support them in this.

At Lindus Health, we’re always looking for people to join our team and help fix clinical trials - and not only engineers. Check out our open positions.

Nik is Lindus Health’s CTO and a co-founder. A software engineer and engineering leader by training, he's built products at Google as well as at startups such as BenevolentAI.