Is an MBA good for entrepreneurs? Read on to discover how Booth alumna, Tina Djenge, leveraged her Booth MBA to propel her entrepreneurial career in high-tech.
- By
- May 15, 2024
- Part-Time MBA Stories
Catching up with Tina Djenge, '21
Tina is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Alpha Trend, a technology platform empowering organizations to create new revenue streams through the use of blockchain and AI technology.
Tina has been building startups for over six years. She came to Chicago Booth in hopes of learning the right skill set to run, and more importantly, scale new ventures. Before Booth, Tina spent time within Fortune 100 companies across roles in product management, engineering, and technical advisory.
Tina’s career started out as a chemical engineering advisor, where she worked on refinery start-up operations across the globe. While living in these new places, she was conceptualizing a product that would make it easier for professionals to travel and integrate in new environments. To build this product, Tina underwent training in coding and product management through boot camps. She eventually took roles in product management, managing digital AI-enabled solutions, first on a small scale and then through a product-portfolio.
The decision to start at Booth was driven by Tina’s clear intention of scaling her product idea, which by the time Tina matriculated, turned into a prototype model refined through iterative customer feedback. Right before Booth, Tina met her business partner, Dip Majumder, (also a Booth alumnus, ‘21), who had a different enterprise-level product concept for the fashion industry. After joining Dip for the first venture, the duo now have a second venture together that they are currently scaling through the tools and frameworks they learned while at Booth.
Tell us more about Alpha Trend. What is it and what inspired you to go into the AI and blockchain industry?
At Alpha Trend, our core mission is to empower organizations to streamline and enhance operational efficiencies through the strategic integration of blockchain and AI technologies. We use blockchain as an information storage ledger that elevates security of the data through encryption and also allows exponential data creation through a permanent ledger log of each activity. Furthermore, our AI models are built to visualize patterns of behavior that can be built on top of this data or already existing data. Our AI dashboards allow users to detect where inefficiencies lie, and our generative AI chatbots improve and automate those parts of operation.
Our technology can be utilized for new revenue creation by introducing digital products - think digital collectibles that elevate fanbase experience around a brand, or tokenized media assets for perpetual royalty streams. Clients also leverage our solutions to drive operational cost savings through AI automation and the adoption of digital currencies, reducing wire transfer fees. What sets us apart is that our technology is no-code, modular, and bespoke, in other words “user-friendly,” allowing customers to build the most efficient solution for themselves with no technical expertise needed.
I’ve been in the space of analytics for most of my career, and I’ve seen it evolve from simple data trends to generative bots. In our daily lives, every action generates data, offering insights into trends and behaviors that can inform meaningful changes. This principle holds true for businesses as well. Now, transitioning into the blockchain industry felt like a natural progression, as I see blockchain as yet another avenue for data creation and storage.
Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs:
In any business, you normally have builders who build the tech, and then those who sell it. Sometimes they can be the same person, but most often they are not. I would suggest to anyone aspiring to be an entrepreneur to learn how to sell first, and to learn fast. People used to operate on the model that if you build it customers will come. But this doesn’t work anymore. Entrepreneurial Selling class with Michael Alter is a phenomenal way to build the sales muscle.
— Tina Djenge, '21
How can a Booth MBA help you break through in entrepreneurship?
For me, the Booth MBA has been instrumental in building our company. We leveraged a lot of Booth classes and labs to take a strategic approach at building our product and our market approach. The New Venture Challenge accelerator, in particular, gave us a really formative structure to fast iterations. Now that we are at a scaling point of our company, I feel like my Booth MBA is becoming even more important. Classes gave me the framework to think about the right board governance and also the approach to merger & acquisition opportunities, valuations, etc. So for me, a Booth MBA has been the best career move I could have made.
How did you leverage Booth’s resources and network throughout your entrepreneurial and professional journey?
Finding customers and getting them to say yes to your product is not easy. Booth’s network has been incredibly instrumental in getting to the right customers, and we also had some of our Booth peers become our early investors. We continue to tap into the Booth network to engage in new conversations, learn about industries we are looking to expand into, or to get referrals. There’s a trust factor within the Booth network that’s been truly priceless at opening doors and creating opportunities.
You are a complete powerhouse. Do you have any specific advice to help advance women in business?
Thank you for the kind words. The entrepreneurial journey has indeed been a wild ride, as it is for many. Entrepreneurship inherently involves risk, and while women may be perceived as risk-averse, successful entrepreneurship is about calculated risks—something women excel at.
Society teaches women to be perfect, so I would suggest to any women in business to normalize failures. Fear of failing paralyzes people to take action. If we shift our focus to ‘collecting failures’ we will get to wins quicker, as every success story has millions of failures.
I found the road to success to be through building networks and advocates. Relationships that you build and nurture can carry you through distances. The quality of your relationships can lead you to your first or next customer, to your next job, and so on.
And lastly, recognize and own your worth. Celebrating wins, no matter how small, fosters self-confidence. Anita Brick, our wonderful Booth career advisor, gave me a great tip a while ago to keep a list of my wins that I could refer to whenever in doubt.
For individuals interested in entrepreneurship, an MBA from Chicago Booth equips you with the necessary tools and experience to lead with confidence. From the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation to the thought-provoking courses and specialized resources available within our entrepreneurship concentration – there are so many opportunities to explore entrepreneurship at Booth. We encourage you to learn more about our MBA Programs to see how you can join Tina and our community of entrepreneurs at Booth.