Help PhDs to kick-start careers in industry | Co-Founder and CEO @Alma.me | Building a bridge between academia and industry | Speaker | Scientist

Welcome to my profile!

I'm Elena, passionate about helping PhDs kickstart fulfilling careers outside of academia, and connect them with industry relevant positions. 

During my PhD journey, I realized that many PhDs face challenges transitioning from academia to industry. This difficulty often arises due to a lack of knowledge about potential positions, how to craft a resume for the industry, and prepare effectively for a job in that sector.

I've experienced this struggle firsthand. While pursuing my PhD, I felt lost. I knew that I no longer wanted to work in the lab; instead, I wanted to work with people, as that's where my passion lies. I went on my own discovery journey on "what is next".  I focused on the things I loved doing and thought of possible career options- after I identified what is next- I started working toward it by building a network in that area. 

Who am I, and how did I get here?

I recently graduated with a PhD in Medical Sciences from the Karolinska Institutet in beautiful Stockholm. 
As a Co-Founder and CEO of Alma.me my vision is to bridge the gap between academia and industry by providing information to help PhDs understand the array of opportunities after completing their studies and recognise the value of their skills beyond academia. 

If you are a PhD-student, Postdoc or tenure and you want to make the transition into industry follow me for more career advice.


Elena Hoffer, PhD

64% of scientists in industry feel good about their careers. Only 42% in academia do

A 2021 Nature survey put a number on something many of us already felt - and the findings are still just as relevant today (Link to full article in the comments)

In a survey of over 3,200 working scientists:
📊 64% of researchers in industry feel positive about their careers.
📊 Only 42% of those in academia say the same.

That's not a small gap.

And it gets more stark:
30% of academics reported experiencing discrimination, harassment or bullying at work.

In industry? 
That number drops to 15%.

This isn't anti-academia. It's pro-PhD and Postdocs.

The PhD journey is genuinely tough - and the structure around it doesn't always make it easier.

But I share this data because I talk to PhDs every single week who feel guilty for wanting to leave.

Who think wanting better pay, more stability, or a healthier work environment makes them somehow less serious about science.

It doesn't!
Wanting those things makes you human.

And the data shows - most people who make the move don't regret it.

Your curiosity, your skills, your love of solving hard problems - none of that disappears when you leave the lab.

It just finds a new place to live.

Want to hear real stories from PhDs who made the move?

🎙️ Listen to my podcast PostPhDirections - on YouTube or Spotify. 
Link in the comments 👇

♻️  Share to help a friend 

Happy Thursday  💙

Help PhDs to kick-start careers outside of academia | CEO @Alma.me | Complementing universities services for PhDs & Postdocs to secure jobs outside academia | Speaker I Podcast Host @PostPhDirections

Nobody talked about money during my PhD.

Wanting a good salary and a stable life felt like something you weren't supposed to admit.

As if wanting financial stability somehow made you less committed to science.

I've met senior academics who had never negotiated a salary in their entire career. And I've met researchers who couldn't afford to live near their own lab.
This is a problem - and it's one that follows PhDs into their industry job search.

Most PhDs I work with significantly underestimate their market value.
So here's a reality check, based on Glassdoor data (US market):

📊  Median PhD salaries by sector:
Information Technology: $193K
Transportation & Logistics: $183K
Pharma / Biotech: $139K
Consulting: $138K

These are not outliers. 
These are medians.

A few things worth knowing before you walk into a salary conversation:

1. Your PhD counts as work experience. 3–5 years of independent research, project management, and communication. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

2. The first number you say anchors the negotiation. Research your market range on Glassdoor and LinkedIn Salary before any conversation.

3. Asking for more is expected. Most companies build negotiation into their offers. Not negotiating is often leaving money on the table.

4. If they ask what you want - let them go first. Try: "I'd love to understand the budgeted range for this role first." You'll either confirm your number is in range - or avoid anchoring too low before you even know what's on the table.

5. If you don't know the salary range - ask. It's completely professional to say: "Could you share the salary range for this position?" Most companies know it. And it saves both sides a lot of time.

Your PhD is worth more than you think.

♻️ Repost to help a PhD friend

Happy Friday 💛

Salary data source: Glassdoor, June 2024, based on 13,327 submitted salaries (US market)

Dear PhDs,
You're allowed to change your mind.

About your field.
 About academia. 
About what success looks like for you.

The path you chose at 22 doesn't have to be the path you walk at 32. Or 42.

Look at me - I built my entire career towards being a scientist. 
A girl from a village of 500 people who worked her way to a PhD at Karolinska Institutet. That was the dream.

And then at 33, I started a company to help other PhDs find their next step.
Nobody saw that coming. 
Least of all me.

Changing direction isn't giving up. 
It's growing up.
It's evolving.

And it takes more courage than staying put.

Happy Sunday 💙

Most PhDs have a LinkedIn profile.
Almost none of them know how to use the platform.

I know - because I was one of them.
I had a profile and a photo. 

And I thought that was enough.
It wasn't.

LinkedIn helped me build my entire career beyond academia. 

My company. 
My community. 
A following of 140K people.

All of it started with learning how to actually use this platform.

An during the career's week by Proteintech Group in collaboration with Alma.Me I'm sharing some of my best tips - for free.

As part of Proteintech's Careers Week 2026 I'll be covering: 
🟣 How to build a profile that makes recruiters come to you 
🟣 How to network on LinkedIn without it feeling awkward or transactional 
🟣 How to use it actively in your job search - not just passively

And there's a full week of other sessions too - resume and interviewing in industry (by Angela Priest) grant writing and more.

Free. 
Daily. 
One week.

📅 March 23–27 - I'm on Wednesday March 25 
🕘 9 am CST / 2 pm GMT / 3 pm CEST

Register your free spot at ptglab.com - link in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost to help a PhD friend who needs this

Happy Tuesday 💛

It was a Monday evening during my PhD. Late in the lab. I was taking skin biopsies.

And I thought to myself:
I don't want to do this anymore. Lab work felt so isolating to me.

And I was at my best when I could be creative and brainstorm with others in meetings.

And immediately after that thought came another one, even scarier:
But what can I do?

I didn't wait for the answer to come to me.
I went looking for it.

I started reaching out to PhDs who did their PhD at Karolinska Institutet - just like me - and who had moved into all kinds of different directions.

Research equity analysis. 
Management consulting. 
Marketing. 
Sales.

And what struck me wasn't just that they had made it work -it was how many different paths were out there.

That's the thing nobody tells you when you're still inside the lab:
The world outside academia is not a narrow corridor.
It's more like a city you've never explored.

And the best way to navigate it is to find the people who already know the streets.

I wish someone had told me this earlier.
So here's what I'd go back and say to myself:
🟣 Your PhD is not a job title. It's a toolkit. 
🟣 "Leaving bench work" does not mean leaving science. It means finding a different way to use it. 
🟣 The skills you built matter far more than the specific techniques you used. 🟣 You are not starting over. You are redirecting. 
🟣 The confusion you feel right now is not a sign you're lost - it's a sign you're growing.

If you're in that in-between place right now - where you know you want something different but can't quite see what yet just know that feeling is valid.

And it won't last forever. 

Happy Monday 🩷

One of the most powerful tools for landing your first industry job after your PhD is completely free.

It takes 30 minutes a week or every second week.

And most PhDs either don't use it - or they use it wrong.
I'm talking about coffee chats aka informational interviews.

Not cold emails asking for a job. Not transactional networking that makes your skin crawl. 
Just… a real conversation with someone who has already made the jump.

Here's what I learned from doing many of them myself (and watching PhDs use them to completely change their job search):

- They show you what's actually out there — beyond R&D 
- They give you information no job description ever will 
- They build your network before you desperately need one 
- And sometimes? They lead to things you never expected

One PhD we worked with came back to me after a coffee chat and said:
"Elena, you won't believe it. They offered to refer me."

Was that the goal? No. 
But it's what happens when you show up with genuine curiosity instead of an agenda.

I just dropped a full YouTube video on this 
- how to find people to talk to
- how to reach out (without getting ignored)
- what questions to ask
- and how to stay connected after.

If you're during your PhD or Postdoc and wondering what's next - this one's for you.

👉 Link in the comments 

Happy Saturday 🩷

undefined undefined

Dr. Elena Hoffer. Still figuring it out.

When I started my bachelor's - figuring it out. 
When I did my master's - still figuring it out. 
When I started my PhD - figuring it out. 
When I finished my PhD and became Dr. Elena Hoffer - still figuring it out. When I stepped into marketing, content, LinkedIn - figuring it all out in real time. 
When I started my own company Alma.Me at 33 - absolutely figuring it out. When we hired our first team members - figuring that out too.

And honestly? 
I'm still figuring it out every single day.

I'll never forget working in the pharmacy after finishing my degree.

We had customers with doctor titles. PhDs. 
And I would look at them with pure awe - "What must one accomplish to get that title?"

Growing up in Germany, titles carry real weight. Prestige. You've made it.
I looked up to those people.

15 years later I got my own degree - Dr. Elena Hoffer - I felt so proud. I felt so many things at once. But I also felt something I didn't expect.
I still felt like I was figuring it out.

And that's when something slowly clicked for me:
We spend our whole lives chasing the next thing - the degree, the title, the job, the promotion - telling ourselves that will be the moment we finally feel like we've arrived.

But the destination was never the point.
It's always been about the journey. 
About who you become along the way.

Titles don't change that inner feeling as much as we think they will.
What changes us is the growth, the people, the experiences we collect.

If you're in the middle of something hard right now - a PhD, a career transition, building something from scratch - you don't have to have it all figured out.

None of us do.

Happy Monday 🩷

Most PhDs don't talk openly about not wanting to stay in academia.

Not to their supervisor. 
Not to their colleagues. 
Sometimes not even to their closest friends in the lab.

Nature Magazine just released a podcast episode on exactly this - why leaving academia is still a taboo topic, even now.

And one thing from it resonated deeply with what I see every day working with PhDs.

Josh, a neuroscience director who left academia in 2020, said:
"I felt much more comfortable talking to people who had already left. I was more scared about having those conversations with my colleagues than I was about the transition itself."

I hear this often in my work with PhDs.

Some are just starting to explore opportunities beyond academia. 
Some have already made up their mind.

But both carry that decision quietly - alone, for months - because saying it out loud in the lab still feels like admitting failure.

This is a culture problem. 
Not a personal one.

I didn't leave academia because I stopped loving science. 
I left because the system no longer aligned with my values. 
I wanted a different lifestyle. 
A different working environment.

And those are good enough reasons to leave - even if you love science deeply.
And wanting that - wanting stability, wanting a life that fits you - is not something you should ever feel ashamed of.

♻️  Share to help a friend 

Happy Wednesday 💙

Two women. 
Different continents. 
One shared belief:
PhDs and Postdocs deserve better career support than what currently exists.

That's how Alma.Me started.

Angela brings 20+ years of hiring experience - she's sat in the rooms where the decisions are made. 
I bring the PhD journey - the uncertainty, the identity shift, the figuring-it-out-as-you-go.
Together, we built something neither of us could have built alone.

But here's what I want to share today - When we first started building Alma.Me, imposter syndrome hit me hard.

Who am I to do this? 
I thought I needed to know everything before I could build anything.

Then Angela said something that changed how I saw it all.
She's sat in rooms with CEOs and senior executives most of her career - and she told me: nobody has it fully figured out. Everyone is trying their best with what they have. Everyone is winging it a little.

That was the moment something clicked.
Being in a role - whether it's a job, a business, or a new career - doesn't mean knowing everything.

It means:
Being open to learning. 
Willing to fail. 
Humble enough to let the data guide you. 
And resilient enough to keep going anyway.

Honestly? 
It's not that different from science.

In research, you don't know the answer before you run the experiment. 
You follow the data. 
You adjust. 
You try again.

Business is the same. 
Life is the same. 

Nobody truly knows. 
Most of the time, we're all figuring it out as we go.
And that's not a weakness. That's how growth works.

And an important thing I've learned - Sometimes it's the naive ones who bring the freshest perspective.

Not knowing "how things are supposed to be done" means you're not limited by how they've always been done.

Some of the boldest moves come from people who didn't know they "couldn't" do it.

So to every woman reading this today - If you're waiting until you feel ready: you won't. Start anyway. Start now!

If imposter syndrome is telling you "who are you to do this?": everyone in that room is asking the same question. 
You belong there.

If you feel like you don't know enough yet: that's not a gap. 
That's your edge. 
Fresh eyes see what experience sometimes misses.

You don't need to have it all figured out.
You need to be open. 
Curious. 
Willing to learn, fail, and keep going.

That's not just what building a business taught me.

That's what I see in every single woman who dares to take the next step - in her career, her job search, her life.

You are more ready than you think. 💜

Angela has been my biggest supporter - and my biggest challenger when I needed it most. She accepts me for exactly who I am. And pushes me to grow beyond who I thought I could be.

Today I celebrate her. 💜

Who is a woman that has inspired you to keep going? Who is your Angela?

Drop her name in the comments - let's celebrate them today. 👇

Happy International Women's Day to every woman daring to build something - a career, a company, a life - on her own terms. 💜

3 PhDs. All of them had sent over 200 applications.
All of them had heard back from almost no one.

And all three came to us at Alma.Me saying the same thing.
"I don't know what I am doing wrong."

Here's what was going on - and what changed for each of them:

PhD #1 was an Economics PhD who got feedback during an interview that her communication style wasn't landing with the hiring team.

That stung.
But instead of ignoring it, she reached out to us.

We worked on how she told her story - how she interacted and enageed in the interview conversation.

She landed her next offer with what the hiring manager called a "sweetheart deal." And she was specifically complimented on her communication.

PhD #2 too academia and did not receive any interview invitation after +200 applications.
We revamped the resume and taught her how to reach out to hiring managers directly.

Her response rate went from basically 0% to over 10%.

PhD #3 was getting interviews. But losing them.
He knew his research inside out.

What he hadn't learned was how to talk about it in a language that made a hiring manager lean forward.

We worked on how he framed his story.

He landed his role within 33 days of joining our program.

Here's the thing:
The problem was never the PhD.
The missing link was learning how to market themselves to an industry audience.

If you're stuck in the same loop - we take two PhDs a week into our program.

Link in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost to help a PhD friend

Happy Tuesday 💛

Everyone who thinks LinkedIn is a waste of time hasn't used it to its fullest.

I say this as someone who once during my PhD scrolled past it thinking - what's the point?

And then LinkedIn gave me:
A co-founder (thankful everyday for Angela Priest) 
A team. 
A podcast full of incredible humans. 
And friendships I didn't see coming.

One of those is Philipp Baaske.
Fellow PhD. 
Fellow founder. 
And honestly - my kind of people.

Successful, kind, and humble. 
That combination is rarer than it should be.
I read his book - The Honorable Entrepreneur - and I really loved it.
Not the kind of book that makes you feel like everyone else has it figured out except you.
Raw, honest, real. 

He writes about building a business the way it actually feels - the highs, the 
lows, the moments where you genuinely don't know if it's going to work out.

If you're a founder, a PhD, or just someone looking for an inspiring story told without the filter - read it.

Yesterday, I finally got to meet Philipp in Munich for dinner.

Great conversation. 
And yes - I finally got my signed copy. 

None of this happens without LinkedIn.
Was it uncomfortable in the beginning and a ton of work (and still is ;))? 
Absolutely.

Would I do it again every single day? 
Yes - without question. 

Philipp has been on my podcast PostPhDirections sharing his journey from PhD to founder. If you haven't listened yet, go find it.

And if you're ready to start your own LinkedIn journey -I'm sharing my best tips on LinkedIn networking and job searching at Proteintech Group's Career Week, in collaboration with Alma.Me.

It's free. Join us. 🎉

Registration link in the comments 👇 

You genuinely don't know who is one connection away. 

Happy Wednesday 🩷

Most PhDs I talk to have the same reaction when I mention networking:
"I'm not good at that." 
"It feels fake." 
"I wouldn't even know where to start."

Academia does not necessarily train you on this. 
You're trained to let your work speak for itself. 
To publish. 
To present data. 
To be rigorous.

Not to send a message to a stranger on LinkedIn and start a conversation.

But here's the truth:

The job market doesn't work the way academia does.

Many roles are filled through networks. Through people who know people. Through a conversation that happened months before a job was even posted.

Networking isn't about being loud or salesy.
It's about being visible, being human, and building real  relationships.

One of the PhDs in our program landed 3 interviews in a single day.

Not from applying to 3 jobs.
From 1 referral from a friend. 
From 1 referral from a new connection he'd met online. 
From 1 cold application - followed up with a direct message to the hiring manager.

That's what increasing your "luck surface area" actually looks like.
And the crazy part of my own story (most don't know) ?

Alma.Me only exists because I networked on LinkedIn.

Angela Priest - my co-founder, with 20+ years of hiring experience - I met her here. One conversation that literally changed the trajectory of my entire professional life.

If you're a PhD who thinks networking isn't for you (btw, it's outside most peoples  comfort zone - you are not alone) -  I'd invite you to reconsider.

Not because it's easy.
But because it works.

🎙️ I talked about this in the very first episode of my podcast PostPhDirections - with Angela herself. How we met, why networking matters, and what it really looks like in practice.

Listen here: https://lnkd.in/dPHrxGVv

Happy Thursday  🩷

This photo was taken at the networking session I organised as part of the PhD course I ran at Karolinska Institutet. By the way, we are running it again - registration opens tomorrow. 
Best part? 
You get ECTS points and it counts towards your PhD degree 😉
Stay tuned if you are a PhD student at KI, or another Swedish or European university (open to all -but limited slots).

I used to think leaving academia meant starting over from zero.
That's what it felt like.

Years of training. Papers. A PhD thesis I was genuinely proud of. 
And then the thought of leaving felt like throwing it all in the bin. 

Like: "If I leave, was it even worth it?"

I've spoken with so many PhDs who feel exactly this. The sunk cost. The guilt. 

But here's what I've learned since leaving:
You don't start over. 
You start differently.

Everything you built in academia – the rigor, the resilience, the ability to sit with uncertainty for years and still push forward – that goes with you.

It doesn't disappear when you leave the lab.
It shows up in how you approach problems. 
In how you learn fast in new environments. 
In the way you think.

I didn't start over when I left.
I started Alma.Me.

And I built it from exactly the skills I thought were "only academic."

If you're in that place right now – wondering if leaving means losing everything you worked for – I promise you. It doesn't.

If you're at a point where you're questioning whether your path is still yours - listen to my podcast episode with Armando Cázares-Körner.

He left academia with a Science paper. Science! He had every credential to build a successful academic career - and he still chose something different.

It's one of the most inspiring conversations I've had. 

🎙️ Listen to the full episode: Link in the comments 👇 

Happy Monday 🩷

Dear PhDs 

Every conversation you have is building your network.

Every application teaches you something about what you want.

Every interview makes you better at the next one.

Even when it feels like nothing is happening, you're moving forward.

Trust the process.

Happy Sunday 💙

Most PhDs spend months sending applications into the void.

No feedback. No idea what's going wrong. And they often experience just silence or rejection.

Here's is the things the resume is often the first thing that kills your chances.
Not your skills. 
Not your experience. 
Your resume.

And the frustrating part?
You don't know what a hiring manager actually sees when they open it.
That's exactly why Angela Priest and I created the Resume Review - Live session.

Angela has 20+ years of hiring experience.
She has been on the other side of the table - literally deciding who moves forward and who doesn't.

On March 12th at 6PM CET / 10AM MST, she's going to show you:

🔍 What hiring managers look for in the first 10 seconds 
❌ The most common mistakes PhDs make (and don't even realize) 
✅ How to fix them - live, in real time

This is part of our PhD-to-Industry Ready Series - free live events designed to give you the information you actually need to make your transition work.

No fluff. No "just believe in yourself" advice. Real feedback. Real fixes.

👉 Sign up link in the comments or scan the QR code 

♻️  Share to help a friend 

Happy Friday 🩷

Your academic CV is costing you interviews.

Most PhDs don't realise this until they've sent 100+ applications and heard almost nothing back.

And the frustrating part?

It's not your skills. 
It's not your experience. 
It's how you're presenting them.

A 4-page academic CV that leads with publications and conference talks tells a recruiter almost nothing about what you can actually do for them.

Here's what I see again and again: 
🟣 PhDs describing what they studied - not the outcomes they created 
🟣 Resumes written for an academic audience - not a hiring manager 
🟣 Brilliant candidates getting filtered out before anyone even reads their story

That's why I'm so glad my co-founder of Alma.Me -  Angela Priest is speaking at Proteintech Group's Careers Week 2026.

Angela has 20+ years of hiring experience. She has sat on the other side of the table hundreds of times. She knows exactly what makes a resume get read - and what makes it get ignored.

On Tuesday she's running a live Industry Resume Writing Workshop - for free.
🟣 What hiring managers actually look for 
🟣 How to translate your research into business language 
🟣 How to go from academic CV to industry resume that gets responses

📅 Tuesday March 24 
🕘 9 am CST / 2 pm GMT / 3 pm CEST

Register your free spot: https://lnkd.in/d5-DaDnN

♻️ Repost to help a PhD friend in need

Happy Saturday 💛

Dear PhDs,

Rest is not the enemy of progress.

It just feels that way when you’ve been trained to measure your worth in output.

More papers. 
More experiments. 

But some of the best ideas - the clearest thinking, the boldest decisions -  don’t come from pushing harder.

They come from stepping back.

Give yourself permission to rest this Sunday.

It’s not time wasted.
It’s time invested.

Happy Sunday 🩷

The job market in 2026 is shifting. Here's why that might actually be good news for PhDs --> learn here how to position yourself best

Angela Priest has 25+ years of industry experience (20 in hiring )- she's seen market shifts come and go.

And she sat down with me to break down exactly what's happening right now.
Because there are real shifts - and some of them are actually working in your favour as a PhD.

In our latest episode of PostPhDirections we talked about:
🟣 What's actually happening in hiring right now (and why uncertainty is becoming "the new normal" for companies)
🟣 Why entry-level jobs aren't disappearing - they're just changing shape
🟣 The roles with the highest demand for PhDs right now (hint: data fluency is your secret weapon)
🟣 The one skill listed in 85% of all job ads - and what companies actually mean by it (it's not what most PhDs think)
🟣 The one unspoken hiring criteria that almost no article will tell you about

And my personal favourite part of the conversation?
Angela said something that I think every PhD needs to hear:
"PhDs assume that the people they're competing against have the same level of skill. They don't."

You have more than you think.
You just have to learn how to say it.

🎙️ New episode is out now - link in the comments 👇

Happy Sunday 💛

59 - Learning German and getting a driver's licence.

I love this so much.

Because we spend so much time thinking we've missed our window. 
Too late to switch. 
Too senior to start over. 
Too established to take a risk.

But this post is proof that there is no such thing as too late.
I left academia at 33 and built a company from scratch. 
First in my family to do it. 
No roadmap. 
No guarantee.
Just a decision.

If you're a PhD sitting on the fence about making your move into industry - let this be your sign.

The window is open. 
It always is.

Dare to take the step. 

Happy Monday 🩷

Academic leadership training I Professor of NeuroImmunotherapy l Dean of Doctoral Education l Empowering professional leadership and shaping PhD education l Have trained 8000+ PhD supervisors l #MADBob

At age:
18 - I left home for University
21 - I finished my B.Sc
24 - I finished my PhD
27 - I moved to Sweden
28 - I learnt to speak Swedish
31 - I became an Associate Professor
33 - I became a research group leader
39 - I became Study Director in my department
42 - I became Central Study Director at the university
47 - I became a Professor
48 - I won the KI prize for pedagogy
53 - I became Dean of Doctoral Education
58 - I won the FEBS Education award
59 - I learnt to speak German
59 - I got my driver’s licence
 
What is my view on all this?
 
·     LIFELONG learning means learning throughout your life – there is always something new to learn.
·     Some things you wait longer for than you think you should.
·     Some things happen when you think they should, or even faster.
·     Some things surprise you.
·     Each step is a step forward, a new experience.
 
Don’t spend time looking back with regret – your history is already written forever.

Don’t only focus on where you are today – it won’t get you anywhere long-term.

Don’t look to the future with fear of the unknown, but rather with peaceful anticipation.
 
Follow this discussion of doctoral education via #MADBob
If you are interested in personal or group leadership training for academic supervisors/leaders, check out my website. I have taught over 8000 supervisors to date.

#MADBob #PhDsupervision #AcademicLeadership #DoctoralEducation #ResearchLeadership

A Psychology Postdoc we worked with expected $70-80K for her first industry job and she landed one for $150K.

She had two years of postdoc experience. She came to us knowing she wanted industry.

She just had no idea what she was actually worth.

Her number in her head?
$70–80K 

That felt "realistic" to her.

That felt like what a postdoc jumping into industry could ask for. 
We see this so often. During a Postdoc you often make around 60K, and 80K feels like a realistic increase in salary. 

PhDs who have spent years in an environment where salaries are fixed, low, and non-negotiable:

They  carry that ceiling into their industry job search.
They don't know what the market actually pays.
They  don't know how to negotiate.
They don't know that their skills are genuinely scarce and genuinely valuable.

So they undersell themselves before they've even started.
What changed for her:
- We showed her what roles at her level were actually paying 
- We worked on how she positioned her experience in interviews 
- We helped her to get confident that her skillset is worth more than 80K

She landed a Senior Data Scientist offer for $150K (US salary).
Nearly double what she thought she could ask for.

This is what happens when you finally operate with the right information.

We take two PhDs a week into the Alma.Me Job Accelerator Program.
If you're ready, apply here: https://lnkd.in/dwhAW8xQ

♻️ Repost to help a postdoc know their worth

Happy Friday 💙

CEO of Mywebtechcare │ Social media trainer and premium ghostwriter for life sciences founders │ I help them become remarkable and generate more opportunities 💶

If you're a CEO or founder in the life sciences, here's a question worth asking: Is LinkedIn working for you, or are you still trying to make it work?

You're not alone.
Even brilliant biotech founders struggle to make LinkedIn a growth lever.
World-class science, but lacking visibility, positioning, and clear messaging?
That’s where I come in.

I’m Sébastien Simoncelli.
I’ve spent the last 3+ years helping life science leaders (CEOs, scientists, marketers) turn LinkedIn into a source of visibility, positioning, and opportunity.
Over 250 professionals have participated in my programs, coaching, training, and ghostwriting. I help them get results.
Let me show you how 👇

1️⃣ BiologIn is your launchpad for building a credible, magnetic LinkedIn presence.
It’s more than just theory. It’s a complete system.
Here’s what you get:
✅ Strategic training tailored for life science companies
✅ 3 to 6 months of personalised follow-up
✅ Time-saving tools and resources
✅ Access to a growing, supportive community
✅ One-on-one guidance from someone who lives and breathes LinkedIn for biotech

2️⃣ Coaching
Don’t want a complete program?
Need precision help on a specific issue?
That’s where coaching comes in.
I work directly with CEOs, marketers, and scientists to tackle concrete problems like:
➡ Optimising your LinkedIn profile
➡ Building a content machine
➡ Finding your editorial voice
➡ Structuring a smart networking strategy

3️⃣ Ghostwriting
Too busy to post?
Let me do it for you without losing your voice.
I write LinkedIn posts for CEOs in life sciences who want:
🧠 To build personal credibility
🔬 To explain complex science with clarity
🚀 To create opportunities without spending hours writing
Each post sounds like you because I capture how you speak, think, and lead.

👇 𝐅𝐀𝐐
1️⃣ Do I need a big following for this to work?
No. My methods work even if you're starting from scratch. What matters is clarity and consistency.

2️⃣ How much time do I need to invest?
It depends on the service. Training takes a few hours weekly, coaching is tailored, and ghostwriting saves you time.

3️⃣ Will the content sound like me?
Yes. My speciality is capturing your voice so the posts feel 100% authentic.

4️⃣ Is this for sales or visibility?
Both. Visibility is step one. But everything I do is geared toward creating real-world business opportunities.

If you’re ready to turn your LinkedIn presence into a strategic asset:
↳ Let's connect.
↳ Send me a message at ssimoncelli@mywebtechcare.com
↳ Call me on WhatsApp: +337.67.23.26.78

Sébastien Simoncelli

8,000 of you showed up. That still feels unreal.
Here's 8,000 lessons ... No.
This post is a thank-you. 🩶

1. To every single one of you who read, like, comment, and share. You are the reason for my success.
2. To my close network, who picked me up during the moments of doubt.
3. To every client and founder who trusts me and works with me.
4. To everyone who sent me a message to tell me how my content helped them.
5. To everyone who abandoned me last year.

I always tell my customers, "Give first, receive later."
Today, I'm the one receiving.

I'm so blessed to have built a career where simple interactions turn into relationships.
Grateful.

I hope this kind of career finds you too.

Four years ago, I almost quit LinkedIn. No clients. No traction. Posts that disappeared into the feed.
I persisted anyway.
That was the difference.

So if you're in the middle of that doubt right now, dear friends, keep going.

Sébastien Simoncelli

Founder of Mywebtechcare │ Helping biotech founders build credibility and generate opportunities online through clear and compelling content

Four years ago, I almost quit LinkedIn.

No clients.
No traction.
My posts disappeared into the feed.

At the time, I was helping life science companies. 
Complex science. 
Long sales cycles. 
Niche audience. 

It felt easier to blame the platform.

“This doesn’t work for biotech.”
“My audience isn’t here.”
“Founders don’t buy this way.”

I was wrong.
It was:
❌ No clear positioning.
❌ Messaging that sounded like everyone else.
❌ Content that informed, but didn’t move anyone.

In life sciences, results take time.
Clinical trials take years.
Regulatory approvals take patience.

But somehow, we expect visibility within 30 days.

Then I changed my strategy.
I stopped chasing engagement.

I focused on clarity:
→ Who exactly do I help?
→ What painful problem do they have?
→ What outcome do they care about?

One year later, the customers were there:
✅ 50+ in 2023.
✅ 70+ in 2024.
✅ 100+ in 2025.
All from LinkedIn only.

If you're a life science founder thinking LinkedIn "doesn't work":
Posting more won't help.
The solution? Clarity and relevance.

I persisted.
That was the key difference.

→ What's something in your founder journey you almost quit?

I wasted my 20s being invisible
I had energy but no direction.

At school:
→ Quiet in class.
→ Alone during breaks.
→ Teachers favoured louder students.

At work:
→ Performed tasks like a robot.
→ Did the work no one wanted.
→ Forgotten for every promotion.

In my personal life:
→ People ignored my feelings.
→ Remembered me only when they needed something.

I had time. I had energy.
But I was invisible.

The problem wasn't age.
It was clarity.

I had thoughts, but no words.
Experience, but no platform.
Something to say, but no one listening.

Then I started writing online.

Not because I suddenly became confident.

Because I finally had:
✅ A clear message to share.
✅ A system to show up regularly.
✅ A way to turn experience into visibility.

Writing gave me what youth never did:
→ Attention from the right people.
→ Recognition for my thinking.
→ Opportunities I never had to chase.
→ Connections that changed my path.

Clarity + consistency > raw energy.
Every time.

If you've spent years feeling invisible, writing online can change that.

→ What's keeping you invisible right now?

Nobody cares about my English level.
It took me years to realise this.

English is not my first language.
It was a struggle when I started my business.

I hesitated a long time.
I thought I needed to get more fluent before posting.

Then I started anyway, in January 2022.
My level wasn't great.

But my mentor pushed me.
How could I help people on LinkedIn if I wasn't willing to do it myself?

When I started, nobody cared about my English.

What people actually care about:
✅ How I help them solve their problem on LinkedIn.
✅ How I make them feel about their struggles.
✅ The clarity of what I share.

And it works. I get customers, and I speak English with all of them.

If you struggle to write your posts in English, here are my tips:
1️⃣ Don't try to look smart, just be clear.
2️⃣ Think about your audience and how to help them, not how to look good.
3️⃣ Use tools to correct you, but don't let them replace you. Your imperfection is what makes you remarkable.
4️⃣ You will make mistakes. Laugh about it. Nobody died. 😉

→ What is stopping you from posting in English right now?

Life sciences founders
Writing great content is not enough.
The signals you send to investors make the difference.

I learned that from one of my customers.
Her content was amazing and generated significant engagement.
But after a few months ... zero investor discussions.

Why?
❌ She wasn't showing decision-making.
❌ She avoided positioning.
❌ She didn't tie insights to business impact.
❌ She had no narratives over time.
❌ She wasn't visible in the right rooms.

I gave her 6 tips:
1️⃣ Stop explaining, start taking a stance.
2️⃣ Show decisions, not just insights.
3️⃣ Translate everything into risk.
4️⃣ Build a visible narrative over time.
5️⃣ Write for one specific reader: the investor you want.
6️⃣ Make your thinking legible in 10 seconds.

Her shift: "Explain the science clearly" → "Signal how I think, decide, and build."

The results?
✅ Two investors reached out within 3 months.
✅ In their first calls, they referenced specific posts.
✅ Their questions were sharper because they already understood her thinking.

She didn't just write more content or better content.
She started sending better signals.

→ Which of these 6 tips is hardest for you to implement?

The founder needs strategic signals to get investor attention. But instead of grabbing that lifeline, they high-five their engagement metrics and keep drowning.

“I don't have time to study other content creators."
I hear this from life sciences founders every week.
So I do it for them.

Every week, I spend an afternoon looking for content that generated high engagement and try to learn from it. Because of that:
✅ I learned more than I could in books about copywriting.
✅ I use these techniques in my posts and improve them.
✅ I can teach my customers these techniques.

In this week's newsletter edition, I shared 3 great examples I saw last month:
1️⃣ Kambis Kohansal Vajargah shared a personal example.
2️⃣ Hanna Larsson explained an issue she observed.
3️⃣ Hristo Butchvarov highlighted lessons from an experience.

All of them will teach you:
→ Why the most-shared posts aren't the most polished.
→ How specific details build more trust than broad claims.
→ Simple structures you can copy for your next post.
→ Why advice only lands when you've earned the right to give it.
→ How to write endings that invite real comments.

If you want to learn more about these lessons and see how you can use them, read the full edition here: https://lnkd.in/eC5hW5nm

→ Which of these 3 approaches will you try first?

Apparently, I spend my days scrolling LinkedIn and making memes.
If only.

💻 My family: "He is always on his computer."
🧑🏻‍🔬 My friends: "You just post memes for scientists."
📝 My customers: "You just write posts, right?"
💶 Reality: I help life sciences founders stop being invisible.

Sound familiar? My customers get the same looks.

From the outside, their LinkedIn looks active and inspiring.
But when we dig deeper, we realise they're missing opportunities because their message doesn't align with their goals and audience.

That's the gap I help close.
Not content production.
We build familiarity, credibility and trust through LinkedIn.

It’s what generates opportunities.

→ What's the funniest misconception about your work?

A CFO told me he needed to post more.
I told him he was wrong.

He thought posting was the only solution to his problem.
I get it. But there's more to the picture.

Imagine you regularly get headaches.
The simplest solution: take medication to stop the effects.

But doing only that won't solve the problem.
You need to look at other aspects of your life:
- Are you getting enough sleep?
- Do you exercise?
- Do you eat healthily?
- Do you spend too much time in front of screens?

You need to analyse different factors to prevent headaches and adjust your lifestyle.

It’s the same for LinkedIn:
Posting alone won't generate opportunities if you ignore the rest:
- Is your profile optimised?
- Are your comments noteworthy?
- Is your network qualified?
- How do you collaborate with others?
- Do you use AI?

In the last edition of my newsletter, I broke down all 6 factors with specific actions you can take this week.
To find out more, read them here: https://lnkd.in/euvsSBjT

→ Which one have you been ignoring the longest?

Most life science founders I met underestimate LinkedIn.
When they realise it, their competitors have already won the platform.

Six mistakes that will hurt in five years:

1️⃣ Waiting until you "have time"

"I'll start after the next round."
"I'll post once the program launches."

Visibility compounds.

Founders who start early build years of credibility.
Those who wait realise their competitors already own the conversation.

2️⃣ Thinking the company page is enough

It isn't.
People follow people.

When a CEO posts:
↳ investors read the perspective
↳ partners notice the thinking
↳ candidates evaluate the leader

3️⃣ Using LinkedIn like a press release

You know the posts.

❌ "We are pleased to announce…"
❌ "Excited to share our latest milestone…"

Those posts rarely travel.

What works better:
↳ lessons from development
↳ decisions behind partnerships
↳ challenges in scaling science

4️⃣ Letting others shape the industry conversation

Every field has public debates.

Delivery.
Manufacturing.
Clinical trials.
Regulation.

If founders stay silent, others shape the narrative.

5️⃣ Relying only on conferences

Today, many relationships start earlier.

Someone reads your post.
Follows you for a few weeks.
Then, sends a message before the conference.

6️⃣ Posting without a system

Random posts lead to random results.

No capture process for insights from meetings.
No way to turn decisions into stories.
No rhythm to stay consistent.

Six months later, the founder wonders why nothing happened.

LinkedIn becomes extra work instead of a by-product of running the company.

→ Which one did you fall into? Or are you still postponing?

She hadn't posted in months.
Three weeks later, she had 3 leads.

She is a founder of a service provider working mainly with medtech companies.
She has strong expertise and many great ideas.
But no time to post.
She was inactive for months because of her work.

Our action plan:
→ We define an editorial line of 3 pillars (One of them: the mistakes she sees medtech companies make. Founders love that kind of honesty.)
→ We use voice notes to share ideas (5 minutes of her talking gives me more gold than an hour of writing ever could).
→ I mapped and defined her voice tone and writing style (Her natural voice was direct, confident, with a lot of humour, exactly what her audience needed.)
→ 1 post per week.

She saw the impact quickly after 3 posts:
- 1k+ impressions per post
- 200+ reactions
- 20 comments
- 3 leads
And it’s just the beginning.
I didn’t believe it would be so quick.
But the results are there.

Many founders have the same challenge:
❌ No time for writing.
❌ Low engagement.
❌ Missed opportunities.

Hiring a ghostwriter is:
✅ Saving time.
✅ Becoming visible to your target audience.
✅ Translating your expertise for them.
✅ Generating opportunities.

→ What's one thing you kept doing yourself for too long?

My mentor gave me the best advice ever:
"Build something useful you can scale with your customer."
I ignored it.
And wasted 3 years.

During 3 years, I was chasing every:
- customer,
- opportunity,
- short win.

The outcome?
→ a lot of small jobs,
→ small incomes,
→ exhaustion.

I was building a business on the wrong basis.
In the long-term game, it was a disaster.

The shift came when I stopped chasing and started building.
I spoke with my customers and prospects.
I asked for a lot of feedback about what I should improve.

That’s when things changed:
✅ 2 clear offers: BiologIn & ghostwriting.
✅ Better customers.
✅ Less noise, more focus.

→ It saved my business and my mental health.

My feedback for life sciences founders:
1️⃣ Exhaustion is a signal, not a badge of honour.
2️⃣ One focused offer beats ten scattered ones.
3️⃣ Feedback ﹥assumptions

If you are running after every shiny thing right now, pause.
Ask your customers what they really need.

These conversations are worth more than any trend.

→ What advice did you ignore that you wish you'd listened to?

57,500 impressions in February 2026. → Only 2 new clients.
Here's why that's a win.

My monthly routine was:
- 28 posts,
- 7 hours for writing them,
- 28 hours for commenting,
- 28 hours for connecting and messaging.

My performances on LinkedIn:
- 57,500 impressions (-5.7% vs. January).
- 21,598 members reached (+12.9%).
- 1,800 engagements (+6,6%).
- 210 new followers (1,8%).
These aren't viral numbers.
But they're business numbers:
✅ 23 leads,
✅ 21 calls with potential customers,
✅ 5 DMs about my services,
✅ 2 new customers (1 for BiologIn & 1 for ghostwriting)

What did I learn?
1) The case studies and their results generated the best leads (30% of them).
2) Personal stories bring me more followers and open around 20% of leads.
3) Time to connect and discuss is worth it (40% of leads)

For virality, things get harder.
But for business, things get better.
→ Less reach, but better quality of leads.

My feedback for life sciences founders:
1️⃣ You don’t need to post a lot to generate opportunities.
2️⃣ Focus on relevance and value, not virality.
3️⃣ Take time to connect and discuss, because just posting is not enough.
4️⃣ Be personal and build trust.

→ What matters more to you right now: reach or leads?

Too many life sciences founders track the wrong metrics.
They misread LinkedIn because of the wrong mental model.
And they miss so many opportunities.

Here is what many of them think:
❌ High impressions = success.
❌ Viral post = strong positioning.
❌ More followers = influence.
❌ Activity = outcomes.

But here's the problem: none of these tells you if you're actually building trust.

Six months later, they wonder why their content isn't opening doors.

I once had a post hit 140K impressions.
0 conversations came from it.
Another post got 800 views and led to 2 calls with biotech founders.

That's when I stopped chasing vanity metrics.
Now I treat metrics as diagnostic tools, not success indicators.

Metrics are here to answer these questions:
✅ Is my positioning clear?
✅ Am I attracting the right people?
✅ Is this turning into real opportunities?

If you can’t answer these questions, you are focusing on the wrong metrics.

What should you track?
In the PDF below, you’ll find the 8 metrics I track weekly and what each of them teaches me.

→ Which of these 4 myths have you fallen for?

LinkedIn performance

A biotech CEO was posting about his science. No one was responding.

He was trying to compress science into content.
That's the mistake.

The real approach: extract one useful idea from the science.

I taught him 5 ways to do it:

1️⃣ Start with the problem, not the experiment.
Nobody cares about the setup first.
Lead with the industry pain point.

2️⃣ Extract one insight from the dataset.
A dataset can produce ten conclusions.
A LinkedIn post needs one.
Ask: what surprised us?

3️⃣ Translate the insight into a real-world implication.
Scientists state the result.
Industry readers want the consequence.

4️⃣ Show a moment from the lab.
The moment a 1-micron shift changed the dose. 
The dataset contradicted assumptions. 
That makes science feel real.

5️⃣ End with a question that invites peers.
Not a conclusion. An open door.
That's where real conversations start.

This doesn't dilute the science.

It forces you to ask: what part of this experiment actually matters to the industry?

Once that's clear, the post almost writes itself.

→ When was the last time your science got polite likes but no conversations?

Last month, I analysed 754 posts from 103 life science founders.

Here's what I found:
→ 302 company announcements
→ 211 conference announcements or summaries
→ 108 generic industry commentaries
→ 44 press releases
→ 89 about actual science

The 89 science posts came from only 13 founders.

That's 12% of founders producing 100% of the science content.

The other 88%?
They look active.
They don't build authority.

Announcements show you exist.
Science content shows you think.

One gets polite likes.
The other gets conversations, partnerships, and trust.

So how do you start writing posts that actually build authority?

In today's newsletter, I share 7 ways to turn your scientific expertise into compelling LinkedIn posts.

Inside: the templates I use with customers to build their authority on LinkedIn.

Five of them already see the difference:
✅ More inbound leads from content.
✅ More events and podcast invitations.
✅ More DMs from industry leaders.

Let’s make you the next one.

→ What does your content mix look like right now?

PS: You can read today’s edition here: https://lnkd.in/e7zjxJmw

A life science founder learned this the hard way.

He thought "science content" had to sound like a research paper.
So he wrote posts like abstracts.

The result?
→ Scientists skimmed and said "accurate."
→ Everyone else left after a few seconds.
→ No one messaged him to continue the conversation.

Being correct ≠ being clear.

3 things were wrong:

1️⃣ He was translating words, not meaning.
He replaced jargon with slightly simpler jargon.
The posts were still dense. Still hard work to read.

2️⃣ He was hiding behind complexity.
Sounding technical felt safer.
If people didn't engage, he blamed the audience, not the post.

3️⃣ He forgot the real goal.
The goal wasn't to teach mechanisms to strangers.
It was to attract partners, clients, and talent who recognise a real problem worth solving.

That requires clarity, not density.

At first, it was frustrating and humiliating.
45 minutes writing a post. Polite likes. No conversations. No "let's talk."

Then doubt crept in.
Maybe he wasn't made for this.
Maybe LinkedIn was just noise.
Maybe he should stick to conferences and private discussions.

Sound familiar?

→ Have you ever felt like your expertise was working against you online?

She had great science. A strong team. A solid pipeline.
But online? Invisible.

A biotech CEO came to me last year.
Her competitors were louder.
Not better. Just louder.

So we focused on one thing:
→ Her unique point of view.

Not copying what others did.
Not chasing trends.
Not posting generic company updates.

Instead:
✅ She shared why she rejected a licensing deal others would take.
✅ She explained her unconventional hiring criteria.
✅ She talked about a regulatory setback and what it taught her.

Within 6 months:
→ 3 investor conversations started from her posts.
→ 2 partnership inquiries from people who read her content.
→ Her team started receiving inbound talent applications.

For the first time, she felt like the company's story was in her hands, not defined by silence.

The crowded field didn't change.
Her visibility did.

Louder < Clearer about what makes you different.

→ What's one thing that makes your approach different that you're not sharing publicly?

5 LinkedIn mistakes that cost me biotech clients.
I learned these the hard way.

1️⃣ Not optimising my profile first.
My message was confusing, and my positioning unclear.
When people visited my profile, they had no idea what I did or whom I helped.
Between my post and my profile, things didn't connect.
Your first impression matters. Make it clear.

2️⃣ Spending hours posting but not talking to anyone.
I thought content alone would bring clients, but I was so wrong.
LinkedIn is a conversation, not a broadcast.
When I started building relationships with comments and DMs, I generated more business opportunities than any post.

3️⃣ Using AI to comment on other posts just to look smart.
I’m not a scientist, and there are many topics I’m ignorant about.
I thought using AI would help me impress people with my knowledge and insights.
But people can tell, they are not stupid.
When I started asking questions and showing curiosity, everything changed.
People were happy to answer and help, and my honesty built trust and authenticity.

4️⃣ Not expanding my network every day.
I waited for people to find me because of my content.
That's not how it works, especially when you start.
5-10 connection requests per day to relevant people changed everything.
They saw my content more often, generating more discussions and opportunities.

5️⃣ Selling my services too quickly.
I pitched before I earned trust, and it annoyed a lot of people.
Nobody wants a sales message from a stranger.
I changed my strategy after one year:
Value → Relationships → Business opportunities.

These mistakes cost me months of progress and real opportunities.

→ Which of these mistakes have you made?

I made this mistake during my customer’s raise.
It cost us months.

While preparing for the round, I spoke with CEOs who had just closed strong financings.

They all said the same thing:
"Investors didn't discover us during the raise. They had been watching us for months."

That changed how I saw LinkedIn.

Most biotech founders go quiet for months.
Focused on data, deck, and investor list.

Then suddenly:
→ "We're raising…"
→ "Excited to announce…"

It's too late because you're asking for attention from people who don't know you or how you think.

What works is the opposite.

You document your thinking long before you need capital.
Not confidential data, but how you think about a therapeutic area.
Trade-offs you're making in development.
Lessons from failed experiments.

Over time, investors build familiarity.
They see how you think, which is what they really evaluate.

When you finally open the round, some already follow you, read your posts, have context.

The first call isn't an introduction. 
It's a continuation.

LinkedIn doesn't close your round. 
But it reduces the distance to the right investors.

→ Are you building visibility now, or waiting until you need it?

3 life sciences founders were posting on LinkedIn.
0 conversations, leads and opportunities.
6 months later, they're generating 10-18 leads per month.

This is why I created BiologIn: to empower them to implement an effective strategy and generate more opportunities.

Before BiologIn (monthly average):
→ 3 posts (events, hiring, publications)
→ 5% network growth
→ 5k impressions
→ 0 leads

6 months after BiologIn:
→ 8-10 posts
→ 47% network growth
→ 15k-40k impressions
→ 10-18 new leads
→ 1-3 new customers
→ 1 partnership

Why did it work?
They stopped writing for everyone and started writing for decision-makers.

✅ A better understanding of their audiences.
✅ Optimisation of their personal and company profile.
✅ A comment strategy to attract the right audience.
✅ An editorial line to generate more leads.
✅ Resources and processes to save time.
✅ A networking strategy adapted to their goals.

Do you post but don't generate enough opportunities?

→ What's the biggest obstacle stopping you from turning LinkedIn into a lead source?
👉 Send me a DM to see if BiologIn is for you.

6 months. 3 founders. Real results.

Before BiologIn:
- 0 leads	
- 5% network growth	
- 5k impressions	

After BiologIn:
- 10-18 leads
- 47% network growth
- 15k-40k impressions

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The Battle

Elena Hoffer, PhD

Sébastien Simoncelli

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The Battle

Elena Hoffer, PhD

Sébastien Simoncelli

Followers

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Engagements

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Elena Hoffer, PhD's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreElena Hoffer, PhD's LinkedIn Performance