Ever worked at a Venture Capital - backed startup? Having investors is great, but it often distorts your company goals. Suddenly it's all about growing and selling the company - who cares about building a product which delivers value to humans?
OpenRegulatory is different. It's 100% bootstrapped. Ironically, having no investors (and less money) opens up interesting opportunities: We can serve customers who don't have a lot of money, like, Healthcare startups. And we can build software which only solves a tiny problem, and solves it well.
Now you might say, that doesn't scale. True, that's the whole point! Someone needs to solve the small problems, and we have lots of those in Healthcare.
Being profitable means more than not having to deal with investors: It means shipping products that matter, because they deliver value to customers. And we know they deliver value to customers because our customers pay us. As some dude at Apple put it, customers vote with their wallets.
This establishes an essential feedback loop for product development - building the right thing. Have you ever built something which never made it to the customer? Not here.
Tired of 60-hour work weeks and constant pivots because your management doesn’t know who your customers are?
Things here are different. I consistently work less than 40 hours per week. Evenings and weekends are off-limits for business communication. I’m a big fan of DHH and Basecamp books like It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work.
I don't micromanage. I believe that if you’re micromanaging your people, you either hired the wrong people or you’re a crappy manager, or both.
Doing consulting in any industry means you'll meet lots of companies. Being specialized on startups means that those companies will be new up-and-rising technology startups, trying to bring innovation to Healthcare.
If you're new to Healthtech, it's a perfect way to get your feet wet and see what's out there for you. And if you're already in Healthtech, it's a great way to build your network.
You're not directly treating patients, but you're enabling other companies to save thousands of patients in the long run.
We don't micro-manage. We hardly manage at all. We discuss which projects you'll be working on and the rest is up to you. If you need help, we'll be there any time! But besides that, you'll be setting your own goals, work hours, and working at your own pace.
Slack shows an indicator whether someone is online. We don't like that. People should work whenever they want to work.
Also, using Slack often creates an implicit expectation that someone should reply to messages in a timely manner - a false sense of urgency. We only expect you to reply within 24 hours on work days - no online indicator needed. For what it's worth, you could be going to the gym or flying airplanes during the day and working during the night. We simply don't care. We trust you to get your work done.
We share 25 % of our profits among all team members. So, if everyone does great work and the company is profitable (as it should be), you’ll get a bonus on top of your salary.
That’s a freelancer-like compensation while still enjoying the job safety of being employed!
We only have one meeting per week — Monday morning — to agree on what everyone will be working on.
Everything else is communicated asynchronously in Basecamp. Strictly speaking we don’t even need that Monday call, but we found it’s nice to hear each other’s voices once a week.
No one expects an immediate reply. Turn notifications off. If you’re in the mood for work, log in to Basecamp or open your inbox; otherwise, stay focused on life.
There’s no need to get interrupted — especially when you’re in the middle of non-work activities.
Because everyone sees the company bank account and revenue per person, we have a crystal-clear picture of productivity (or, really, profitability).
If you can be profitable working two hours a day — awesome! Spend the other 22 hours however you like.
Regulatory consulting can be exhausting.
We switched to a four-day week before it was cool. Fridays are off.
Everyone gets read-only access so you always know whether the company is profitable.
You can see salaries, bonuses, and expenses — transparency keeps us all accountable.
No purchasing process. If you need something, just buy it.
You’ll also get an Amazon Business login to order whatever you need for work.
I describe two types of people who join startups at different stages.
In our age of ever-increasing specialization, being a generalist may actually be beneficial.
Just having studied business at a University doesn't mean you're qualified to run a company. It depends on your knowledge of the market you're going in.
We recently launched a dedicated job board for Digital Health roles.
(Yes, we like side projects.)
Browse all current openings there.