Many people have a profession, but far fewer succeed in finding and living a vocation. It takes courage to take the time to get to know yourself better, to discover your strengths and motivators, and to know what you want to get up for in the morning.
Our interview partner of the month couldn't answer this question of meaning after school. So he first completed a banking apprenticeship. While he explored various career options and learned to act economically, his true vision crystallized: He wanted to solve the big problems of our time with innovations. So Lukas Langenegger studied chemical and bioengineering at ETH and MIT, where a promising business idea emerged in the lab that has the potential to become the revolutionary solution to a global health problem.
In 2017, he co-founded the MedTech start-up hemotune as CEO, which is developing an innovative blood purification process based on magnetic nanoparticles. These nanoparticles bind toxins in the blood, which are then magnetically removed in a dialysis-like external circuit. The first therapy using this breakthrough method is being developed for sepsis, also known as blood poisoning. Forty-nine million people suffer sepsis each year, a life-threatening complication of a wide variety of infectious diseases, such as pneumonia. The eleven million sepsis deaths each year represent about 20 % of all deaths worldwide.
The team, led by co-founders Lukas Langenegger and CTO Carlos Mora, has grown considerably in the last five years: an interdisciplinary team of 23 employees carries on the original idea of the co-founders. They work daily on their shared vision of making precision blood purification an indispensable treatment that ultimately saves lives. Before the technology reaches patients, there is still a lot of work to be done: manufacturing medical products is a rocky road, paved with countless regulatory and formal requirements. The day-to-day work in a start-up may not always be easy, but the deep conviction of working together on something big and meaningful motivates everyone to overcome hurdles and challenges in turn. This year, the final pre-clinical trials will be carried out, testing not only technical function and safety, but also user-friendliness in everyday use in intensive care units. The first patients are to be treated with it as early as next year.
We talked to the CEO of hemotune about his morning routine, his professional and private beliefs and views. Learn more about Lukas Langenegger in our interview.
Mr. Langenegger, if you had taken a different path when you were younger, what would you have become?
"I have always been very interested in business as well as in science and technology. That's why I started my career with an apprenticeship at the bank, with the ulterior motive of studying something technical at the ETH afterwards. However, I didn't necessarily have to work in the medical field. I wrote my master's thesis at MIT on renewable energies. In general, I'm very interested in sustainable chemistry and energy economics."
What is your favorite way to start your day?
"I start every morning with 10min of yoga after I get up and treat myself to a good cappuccino made from fresh coffee beans and read some newspaper. Then, weather permitting, I ride my bike to work."
What does success mean to you personally?
"To do something meaningful that makes the world a better place. My Purpose goes beyond pure financial success."
What would you work for free for a week?
"As a startup CEO, I've invested many a week "for free" in hemotune. When you want to drive your company forward, the work never really stops. But I took a long-term view because we're addressing a very important problem and can have a big positive impact."
What was the best professional advice you ever received?
"Steve Jobs gave a very inspiring speech to Harvard graduates in 2005. The core message here is that you should find a job that you love. On the one hand, life is too short to be stuck with a job you hate, and on the other hand, you'll only be really good at something you really like."
We would like to thank Mr. Langenegger for his contribution to this article.
This interview was conducted by telephone.
Batterman Consulting Basel AG
Executive Search,
Byfangweg 1a, CH-4051 Basel
T +41 58 680 55 55
basel@batterman.ch
