11/15/2025
A few weeks ago I ran a poll asking inexperienced med lab scientists whether they’d want to work in a startup lab. Almost everyone said yes — all but six voters.
If you’re considering it, here’s what it really takes:
- Curiosity: you’ll need to learn fast and keep asking questions. Startups don’t have playbooks yet — you build them.
Engage in contuing education - Fisher Scientific and Cardinal offer free webinars with CE credits. Be a mber of at least obe professional organization (AMT, ASCLS etc). Be interestedin broadening your knowledge in medical laboratory science.
- Humility: prioritize competence over ego. Ask clarifying questions, accept feedback, and focus on growing expertise (not proving you’re right).
- Emotional intelligence: you’ll work with a mix of people — highly technical colleagues, politically savvy ones, and everything in between. Observe dynamics, respond instead of react, and learn to manage conflicts constructively.
- Resilience and self-forgiveness: mistakes will happen as part of learning. Own them, fix them, and move on.
- Flexibility and stamina: small teams mean extra shifts and trade-offs; you get to choose how long to make those sacrifices.
- Broad technical skills: beyond running assays, expect tasks like validation calculations (Excel), LIS accuracy checks, instrument troubleshooting, and designing workflows that meet client expectations. You’ll wear many hats.
Yes, it’s overwhelming — but it’s also one of the fastest ways to develop technical depth, operational judgment, and leadership skills.
If you’ve worked in a startup lab, what trait helped you most?
Please leave your responses in the comments box .
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