Hannah Looks

I was born and raised in East Berlin, a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Looking back, I think growing up in a society that effectively was transformed overnight contributed to a lot of my experiences when I was younger. Those experiences gave me perspective on both the opportunities and risks of societal change, and I’ve moved between these two worlds ever since, trying to achieve the right balance.

I would love to pretend and say I always knew what I wanted to do but to be honest I only knew what I did not want to be; neither a cut-throat capitalist nor a “Traumtänzer” do-gooder. And in line with the principle “be part of the system you want to change” I finished degrees in Economics, Philosophy, and International Political Economy and Economic Psychology from the Humboldt University of Berlin, King’s College London, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

In my first semester at my undergraduate university I joined a VC-funded EdTech start-up and was immediately captivated by the energy of the ecosystem. In between, I’ve also learned about how large corporations think and execute innovation. I also led a public policy project at Germany’s national parliament with a focus on VC regulation before joining Ananda.