Nathan C. Frey, PhD - CTO at Coefficient Bio

Nathan C. Frey, PhD

CTO & Co-Founder at Coefficient Bio. Building for the future in AI-native biotech. Ex-Prescient Design • Genentech.

Ask Not Why More Talented People Don’t Work in Biotech

3 minute read

Published:

Executive Summary

Biotech should be the most prestigious industry in the world. It addresses humanity’s greatest challenges: curing disease, extending healthy lifespan, improving quality of life. Yet the industry systematically fails to attract and retain exceptional talent. The problem isn’t that talented people don’t understand biotech’s importance—it’s that biotech fails to create compelling work experiences.

Key Insights

  • The Personality Gap: Biotech professionals are “kind, humble, quiet, and passionate” while tech workers are “self-aggrandizing, boisterous, irreverent.” This personality mismatch means biotech doesn’t effectively market itself or create compelling narratives that attract ambitious people.

  • Why Talent Leaves: Despite addressing humanity’s greatest challenges, biotech feels “fundamentally broken, inefficient, and not fun.” The industry prioritizes extrinsic motivation (mission, patients) over the intrinsic rewards that actually engage exceptional people day-to-day.

  • Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation: Appealing to moral purpose (“we’re curing cancer”) isn’t enough. Exceptional people need engaging work experiences: clear goals, positive emotions, feedback and control, playful tools, and deep focus.

The Five Design Elements for Engaging Work

Drawing on game design principles, biotech needs to optimize five elements:

  1. Goals: Make objectives concrete and achievable. Biotech scores well here (4/5)—therapeutic targets, clinical endpoints, and program milestones provide clear direction.

  2. Emotions: Foster joy and enthusiasm instead of cynicism. Biotech struggles here (2/5)—negativity, cynicism, and “we’ve tried everything” attitudes dominate.

  3. Controls: Build systems providing clear feedback and intervention capability. Biotech falls short (2/5)—decisions often feel disconnected from outcomes, with long timescales obscuring cause-and-effect.

  4. Toys: Make day-to-day work engaging and playful. Biotech is improving (3/5)—AI tools and automation are creating more satisfying workflows.

  5. Flow: Enable focused concentration without constant worry. Biotech fails badly (1/5)—regulatory uncertainty, funding pressures, and organizational dysfunction create constant anxiety.

Who Should Read This

  • Biotech executives designing organizational culture and talent strategy
  • Startup founders building teams that can compete with tech for talent
  • Career switchers deciding whether biotech is right for them
  • HR and people operations leaders trying to improve retention
  • Investors evaluating team quality and cultural sustainability

Practical Takeaways

If You’re Building a Biotech:

  • Design for intrinsic motivation, not just mission statements
  • Create feedback loops that connect daily work to outcomes
  • Invest in tools and workflows that make work enjoyable
  • Foster psychological safety and enthusiasm over cynicism
  • Protect focus time and reduce organizational dysfunction

If You’re Joining a Biotech:

  • Evaluate culture and day-to-day experience, not just the science
  • Ask about feedback systems, autonomy, and work satisfaction
  • Watch for signs of cynicism or “we’ve tried everything” attitudes
  • Consider whether the company is designed for engaged work or just noble mission

If You’re Leading Biotech Transformation:

  • Recognize that talent problems are design problems, not marketing problems
  • Audit your organization against the five design elements
  • Prioritize emotional culture and flow state protection
  • Accept that meaningful work alone won’t retain exceptional people

The Bottom Line

Biotech’s talent problem isn’t a failure of communication—it’s a failure of design. Exceptional people understand that curing disease matters. They leave (or never join) because biotech work is often frustrating, chaotic, and unrewarding on a daily basis.

The question isn’t “why don’t more talented people work in biotech?” The question is: “what can we do to make biotech work compelling, engaging, and fun?”

Designing for intrinsic motivation—goals, emotions, controls, toys, and flow—is how biotech attracts and retains the talent it needs to achieve its mission.

Full article: Read on Substack

Last updated: December 2025

Keywords: biotech talent, biotech culture, intrinsic motivation, organizational design, biotech careers, talent retention, biotech transformation, work design, AI biotech careers, drug discovery culture, biotech vs tech

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