Anna’s Blog

As a Russian who moved to Berlin and spent the last six years working in tech, I’ve been watching which cultural archetypes get considered “leadership material” – who gets promoted and who gets benched, independently of hard skills. And the archetype to be considered the “perfect” founder and a perfect leader is… calibrated for Silicon Valley. So here it…

I remember when Russia invaded Ukraine – I couldn’t sleep, I didn’t know what to do, but life was moving on. I was changing jobs (super stressful), work was moving on, I’d been used as a news source (“You are Russian, what the hell are you doing?!”) and a make-a-wish genie (“You are Russian, can you make it stop?”).…

Let’s take YouTube videos as an example. The human in the video is real. The voice is not cloned. The recording is all human. The idea came from a human. The script was based on their thoughts, but written by a LLM. Does that count as “human made”? Where would you draw the line – when is the amount…

I went to another AI video generator tool presentation in Berlin. Left with mixed feelings, as expected. The baseline was: “90% of people just consume. We empower them to create now by prompting our tool and creating high-quality content.” Wut? You are not creating when you do that. And remember I said I want a filter to turn off…

We don’t quite talk about how layoffs work from the inside. So I’ve created a Layoff in Germany 🇩🇪 survival guide & calculator. This is the de facto must-read for anyone about to get laid off or in the process of negotiating terms with their soon-to-be-former employer.It is based on my extensive research, conversations with German lawyers and the…

After ding some strategy work, publishing on LinkedIn and seeing some of the followers go, again, I found myself in the moment of clarity. I help immigrants and expats transform their careers when they move to Western countries. It is broad enough for me to figure this out further, but narrow enough for me to have a direction. I…

Transition from employee to founder is surprisingly not about the tech, incorporation, how to find the right partners or revenue streams. (Not that I’ve solved them yet lol)  I would say that having complicated conversations with people who want to build with you is the hardest challenge where I see myself grow. Another one, talking to real people, understanding…

Since I began my “free flight”, I’ve been very transparent here. My follower list is growing, I’m getting better at writing and understanding publishing and creating. Networking is insane. Starting off like crazy with a startup to pull the brakes on it when things started going out of hand and against my own values and interests. While doing all…

Being active on LinkedIn and sharing my path publicly attracts many people – most of it leads to collaboration or meaningful one-time exchanges. Some connections I struggle to nourish because the timing is bad. And some I have to say No to. Such as: What these have in common: they’re asking for my time, expertise, and network without offering…

I was writing for external validation. Writing can however do so much more.  As a fearless oversharer (meaning I’ll post my content fearlessly and hope no one will bully me)…  I’ve kept it pretty public, all of it.  My deepfake content, me building a startup content, my writing and freelance gig content, my emotional intelligence content. All the struggles,…