Lisett Luik (2014 Graduate)

Tell us about yourself! What did you study during your time with us, and what are you currently doing?

I studied Philosophy and Economics, graduating in 2014. I got into startups when I was still at LSE, and have continued to work in this space. Today, I am one of the two founders of VC-backed climate tech company Arbonics, which has raised €8M+ in capital from investors like Plural and Nordic Ninja, has a team of 20+ and operates in 5 countries. Before founding my company, I worked in several startups, in strategy at American Express, got an MBA from Yale, and worked in tech investments at a VC fund.

In what ways has studying Philosophy influenced your professional life or shaped your career path?

The ability to break an argument down into its premises and address them one by one has helped me tackle many challenging professional problems, from product launches at American Express to launching my own company. My degree probably made me more analytical; it also definitely made me a better reader, which has helped as deep research has been a consistent need in all my roles.

How has your Philosophy background set you apart in your field or helped you approach challenges differently?

I am probably horrible to debate with because I am pretty ruthless about dismantling arguments! This has helped me bring clarity to disagreements and win others over to my side of the argument. But more broadly, philosophy taught me to question everything, even (and especially) my own deeply-held beliefs and intuitions, so I believe it has also made me more open-minded and willing to change my mind when provided with evidence.

What advice would you give to current or prospective students who are passionate about Philosophy but unsure how it might support their future career?

Focus on the skills you are learning: reading and critical analysis, formal logic, a balanced assessment of opposing perspectives, clear and nuanced writing. These will serve you well in pretty much any job! Emphasising these as you look for your next challenge (job, degree, etc) will help you get out of the mindset of “there are no jobs in philosophy”. In the era of AI, I believe the skill of critical reading is of top importance - many people are losing their ability to investigate sources and question assumptions when delivered in the confident tones of an LLM. As a philosophy student, you are unlikely to fall into this trap.

What’s one of your fondest memories from your time studying with us?

I particularly enjoyed the “applied philosophy” courses, such as a course on philosophy and neuroscience, which was my first introduction to John Searle and Kahneman & Tversky. I wrote essays on topics like "Does the Chinese Room argument show that the general project of artificial intelligence is misguided, or worse, doomed to failure?” and a lot of the detail we studied then is very helpful to me now in understanding the AI revolution.

I also have fond memories of being the “Quing” of the Philosophy society, and organising a variety of events, including bringing Taavet Hinrikus, the co-founder of now-public Wise to talk to about ~30 students; 2 years before he would go on to be on big stages like TechCrunch Disrupt in front of 15k people, and ~10 years before his company had one of the most successful direct listings on the LSE (the stock exchange) ever.