Every bio startup begins with the same three things: a big idea, a small team, and at least one computer running Linux that someone half-jokingly refers to as “the server.”
In the early days, that setup gets the job done. Code runs. Analyses complete. Data lives on Dropbox. Maybe you’ve even got a bash script called final_final_v2.sh that no one wants to touch, but hey – it works.
But then something happens. You grow.
Your datasets balloon from gigabytes to terabytes. Your scripts start failing for reasons no one has time to debug. The cloud bill arrives and it’s… eye-opening. And suddenly, the trusty Linux setup that powered your first breakthrough is groaning under the weight of your progress.
This is where things get interesting – and, occasionally, where things go wrong.
What Bio Startups Learn the Hard Way
As your bio startup scales, your team expands and your science gets more ambitious, infrastructure becomes more than just an afterthought. You’re dealing with high-performance workloads, multiple collaborators, security considerations, and a rising tide of expectations from investors and partners.
It’s not that Linux can’t handle it – it can. It’s the backbone of bioinformatics for a reason. But the way you manage it needs to evolve.
We’ve seen it all:
- One person with root access to everything (who then goes on holiday).
- No versioning or backups because “we’ll sort that later.”
- Automation scripts that no one dares to modify because they’re sacred now.
- A ‘temporary’ setup that’s still running two years later – and no one remembers how it works.
This isn’t a criticism. It’s just the reality of growing fast and prioritising research and results – as you should – while your systems try to keep up.
How to Keep Your Bio Startup on Track
You don’t need a huge IT department. But you do need a plan. Or at least someone who’s been through this before and can help you avoid the classic “wait, we deleted what?” moment.
If you’re a bio startup founder or technical lead, now’s the time to start thinking about:
- Whether your infrastructure is designed to scale with your team and data
- If your Linux environment is secure, stable and up to date
- How your researchers are managing (or wrestling with) software dependencies
- Whether your team could be more productive with the right support and guidance
Linux That Grows with Your Science
You don’t need to throw everything out and start again. Sometimes it’s as simple as putting a few safeguards in place – better permissions, smarter backups, sensible automation – and having a grown-up conversation about where you want to be in six months or a year.
At Tiger Computing, we work with bio startups at every stage of their journey. Whether you’re sequencing genomes or modelling proteins, we help you build and manage a Linux infrastructure that supports your science, not slows it down.
If any of this sounds familiar, we’d love to talk. No pitch, no pressure – just a conversation about where you’re heading, and whether we can help you get there.
