Passionate about tech, startups, science and music. Founded my first company Prolific in 2014 alongside my PhD with the goal of solving a problem I had — finding participants for research.
Raised investment and scaled the company to eight figures in revenue and a team of ~60, which empowered tens of thousands of researchers around the world to collect high quality behavioral data on demand.
Successfully exited & currently focused on mentoring founders and investing.
Timeline
work
Job
school
Education
Résumé
Jobs
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Advisor, Investor & Board Observer
Besample
May 2025 - Current(1 year 4 months)
Angel Investor
Angel Investor
Jan 2023 - Current(3 years 8 months)
I’m industry-agnostic and invest into companies that solve real problems. Reach out via ek.damer@gmail.com
Board Member
Jacobs University Foundation of America
Jul 2022 - Current(4 years 2 months)
President & CEO
Prolific
Jan 2019 - Jan 2022(3 years 1 month)
Visiting Researcher
Stanford University
Jan 2016 - Jun 2016(6 months)
Associate Lecturer
University of Sheffield
Mar 2015 - Jun 2015(4 months)
Taught social psychology to undergraduate students.
Lab manager
University of Sheffield
Oct 2014 - Sep 2015(1 year)
Lab manager in the Department of Psychology.
Founder & CEO
Prolific
Jan 2014 - Jan 2019(5 years 1 month)
Graduate Research Assistant
Cambridge Judge Business School
Jun 2013 - Oct 2013(5 months)
Prepared, conducted, analysed and presented experiments on charismatic leadership and unethical behaviour.
Teaching Assistant
Jacobs University Bremen
Mar 2011 - Apr 2011(2 months)
Course: Social Influence with Markus Denzler. Managed and supervised discussion groups during class, served as contact person & mentor for students.
Teaching Assistant
Jacobs University Bremen
Aug 2010 - Dec 2010(5 months)
Course: Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination with Özen Odag. Conducted exams, served as mentor for students, assisted in classroom teaching.
Intern
Columbia University
Jun 2010 - Aug 2010(3 months)
Worked in the Higgins Lab together with Baruch Eitam, Lauren Aguilar, and Tory Higgins. Did an extensive literature review and helped design a study on regulatory focus and emotions, coded data of a study on shared reality theory, wrote abstracts and study descriptions for the IRB (Institutional Review Board) and actively participated in lab discussions about research design.
Research Assistant
Jacobs University Bremen
Jun 2009 - Jan 2011(1 year 8 months)
Ran psychology experiments, recruited research participants, proofread a book publication. Worked as part of the research teams of Gerald Echterhoff, Ulrich Kühnen, and Arvid Kappas.
Education
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Summer batch
Y Combinator
Jun 2019 - Aug 2019(3 months)
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D, Social Psychology
the University of Sheffield
Jan 2013 - Jan 2018(5 years 1 month)
Master of Philosophy (MPhil, Social and Developmental Psychology
University of Cambridge
Jan 2012 - Jan 2013(1 year 1 month)
Bachelor of Arts (B.A, Integrated Social and Cognitive Psychology