Setting up a new lab is one of the most exciting and daunting challenges I have faced. Friends and colleagues at a similar point in their careers are excellent resources, but they face the same time constraints and pressures in developing their own research programs. The broad experience that Damien and EDC provide proved invaluable for me as I first navigated the job search, then weighed the immensely complex options before me, and finally embarked on actually setting up my lab. It is tremendously exciting and a great privilege and responsibility to be given the freedom to explore new areas of science. Keeping this as the primary driver of one’s efforts is a challenge, and Damien’s insights on maintaining the focus on one’s scientific goals was hugely valuable. You need to pay the bills, but I think that becomes more manageable when the motivation remains advancing science and medicine. I would not hesitate to enlist Damien’s assistance again!