Anders Hovmøller

Work  /  From 2000-2012

Azomian

Regulated software and pharmaceutical systems

Founder

A meeting room in an old Copenhagen building, with a wooden table, black pendant lamps, a radiator and a large whiteboard with notes
The meeting room at Azomian's office in central Copenhagen.

Azomian was where it started, and some of the best years I've had.

We built custom web and Windows software, primarily for pharmaceutical and life sciences companies. Much of it lived in regulated environments, where validation, auditability, access control, data integrity and FDA 21 CFR Part 11 weren't layers added at the end. They shaped the system from the beginning.

That's where I learned something I've carried with me ever since: constraints are part of the architecture.

The work ranged from crisis management systems for events nobody wanted to happen, to pharmacovigilance and clinical trial safety reporting, insider registers and access control integrated with SAP. And every now and then, something completely different: travel insurance flows, software for large outdoor advertising screens, and diving software with GPS tracking and voice communication.

View from the office over the railings and chestnut trees of Kongens Have in central Copenhagen, in autumn
The view from the office, over Kongens Have.

My role

We were six to eight software developers, working mainly as consultants for larger pharmaceutical companies. I was the architect and often the link between the customer's problem and the system we eventually delivered. I set the technical direction, helped shape the solution, and made sure projects reached the finish line with the customer satisfied.

Consulting taught me a very simple discipline: no delivery, no invoice. An elegant solution that never shipped was worth nothing.

At the same time, I was learning everything else that comes with building a company: finding customers, hiring people, setting direction, managing projects and creating enough structure for several teams and customers to move at once.

What I learned

Most of what I know about the foundations of building a company, I learned at Azomian. Understand the problem before designing the solution. Earn the customer's trust. Make decisions. Deliver what you promised. Take responsibility when something goes wrong. And build a team capable of carrying more than you can carry alone.

The pharmaceutical work added another discipline: when the consequences matter, traceability, documentation and controlled change are not bureaucracy around the product. They are part of the product.

Later companies added hardware and many more disciplines to hold together. But the foundations were laid here, in a company where almost everything was software.