Event Details
In this panel, we will explore the journeys of several Los Angeles-based Booth alumni who went on to start their own companies.
Each of the start-up founders have a unique story to share. We'll be sure to cover the typical start-up topics such as vision, product-market fit, financing, team. This will also be a chance to hear directly from the founders to get their thinking and advice based on their experiences.
Panelists include:
Sarah Jahnke '16 - co-founder and CEO at a stealth consumer start-up
Tina Djenge '21 - founder at Neural Trend
Carlos Ganoza '10 - co-founder and CEO at Quantum Talent
Rita Ravindra '04 - SVP Operations at FitLab
We'll leave plenty of time for Q&A so please submit your questions in advance and we'll also take questions live during the panel.
Speaker Profiles
Sarah Jahnke (Speaker) '16
co-founder and CEO, Stealth Consumer Start-Up
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjahnke/
Sarah is an experienced executive and brand manager in the beauty industry with entrepreneurial hustle and experience. She is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of a new consumer start-up in stealth mode.
Sarah spent the past 5 years at L'Oréal, most recently as the Head of Marketing for Viktor&Rolf and Proenza Schouler Fragrances, an $82M luxury fragrance business in the US. Prior to this role, she spearheaded direct-to-consumer retail pop-up shops and experiential events for a variety of L'Oreal LUXE cosmetics and fragrance brands including Giorgio Armani Beauty, Yves Saint Laurent Beauty, and Maison Margiela.
While at University of Chicago Booth pursuing an MBA, Sarah was a Venture Capital Associate at Hyde Park Angels, a group of the Midwest's most active early-stage investors, building relationships and sourcing deals with consumer-focused start-ups and entrepreneurs. She also participated in the New Venture Challenge, a top-ranked accelerator program, for her personal care product idea, where she identified formulators/manufacturers and filed a provisional patent.
Sarah started her career as a former management consultant for PwC where she advised clients on customer loyalty, re-branding, international expansion, and post-merger integration projects. Outside of PwC, Sarah interned for a private equity firm and various consumer focused start-ups including Hint Water during their expansion into the NYC market.
Outside of work, Sarah's favorite wellness rituals include: training at Barry's, skiing in Jackson Hole, and flowing at Y7 Yoga. She chronicles her adventures and apertifs across 25 countries and counting on Instagram at @cocktailsandcarryons.
Sarah is an active mentor to early-stage consumer start-up companies through the University of Chicago and enjoys offering resume reviews and interview prep to students.
Tina Djenge (Speaker) '21
Founder and Co-CEO, Neural Trend
https://www.neuraltrend.com/
Tina is an experienced operator and a serial entrepreneur with experience across industries. She spent over 12 years building, commercializing, and scaling disruptive technology in the area of IOT, AI and ML. Her career involved work in consulting, product management, investing and most recently, founding and operating an early-stage retail tech startup, Neural Trend, as a Chief Operating Officer. Neural Trend was selected for the New Venture Challenge, a top-ranked accelerator program, and has been recognized as one of the top retail tech startups in Illinois. Tina was recognized as a Polsky Fellow, a prestigious award given to accomplished UChicago alumni founders. In parallel to Neural Trend, she is currently working on a stealth-mode fintech startup.
Tina began her career in chemical engineering. She received her MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign.
Carlos Ganoza (Speaker) '10
co-founder and CEO, Quantum Talent
https://www.quantum-talent.com/
I am working to hack the job market with science and technology. My vision is that hiring the right person should be as easy as hailing an Uber.
I was increasingly frustrated with the enormous waste of talent, value and opportunity created by obsolete recruiting processes. Inefficient job-person matching is THE major source of exclusion and loss of productivity in the modern economy.
So I started Quantum Talent, where we combined scientific insights from behavioral science and labor economics with state-of-the-art machine learning technology to build a unique AI solution that can predict job-person fit in minutes, more accurately than any other existing alternative and without bias.
Our solution automates top-of-funnel candidate screening for frontline and operative roles, and recommends candidates based on their probability of success. We save precious time from hiring managers and recruiters, and improve new hire tenure by 40%.
I am an economist and entrepreneur passionate about using tech to enhance access to opportunities and improve market efficiency. This has led me through a 20 year career as a private sector CEO, senior policy maker, public intellectual and entrepreneur. Through the years I have become obsessed with creating digital products that enhance access to opportunities.
Rita Ravindra (Speaker) '04
SVP Operations, FitLab
https://www.fitlab.com/
Rita Ravindra is a start-up business executive with expertise in business development, finance, fundraising, strategy and global business operations. She is currently the SVP, Operations at FitLab, Inc., which is a leading fitness tech start-up. Prior to FitLab, she was the Chief Operating Officer at FitPlan (a subscription-based fitness app), which she successfully sold to FitLab within 14 months of joining. Prior to FitPlan, Rita founded MiaMia Beauty, which is a data-driven social beauty platform for Millennials and Gen Z. Previously, she was the VP of Operations and Business Development at two other seed-stage start-ups in Los Angeles. At MySpace, Rita served as both VP of International Strategy and VP of Business Development. She began her career in investment banking. Rita received her MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and her undergraduate degree in Economics from UCLA.
Angela Blatteis (Moderator) '86
Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, TKB Critical Technologies
Angela Blatteis '86 serves as Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of TKB Critical Technologies 1. Angela has over 30 years of experience in private equity and investment banking. She has served as a Managing Partner of TKB Capital since 2019.
Prior to TKB Capital, Angela served as Co-Founder, CEO, and CFO of Soupure from 2014 to 2019, a startup food company that distributed soup to consumers and businesses.
From 1996 to 2015, Angela served as Managing Director (1996-2012) and Ambassador (2012-2015) of The Gores Group ("Gores"), a global investment firm. During her time at Gores, Angela led several high-profile acquisitions and divestitures, including the Verifone transaction in which Gores sold Verifone to GTCR LLC, a private equity firm, and then Gores and GTCR took Verifone public (NYSE: VFI). She was also actively involved in taking Anker Systems (AIM: ANK) public through the London Alternative Investment Market.
While at Gores, Angela also co-headed Global Equity Capital, a Gores-related entity, in which she completed highly successful transactions, including Sound Design Technologies, Scovill Fasteners, the take-private transaction of The Clark Group (AMEX: GLA), and the take-private transaction and subsequent merger of Halifax Corporation (OTPCK: HALX) with another enterprise logistics business that was purchased as a carve-out from Northrop Grumman.
Prior to Gores, Angela worked in investment banking focusing on mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, and risk arbitrage at First Boston and Cowen & Company from 1987 to 1991. She served on the board of directors at Interlink Electronics (NASDAQ:LINK) (2013-2020) and Hyperspace (2005-2006).
Angela has also served on the Advisory Council to the Dean for the University of Chicago — Booth School of Business since 2012, is currently a council member for GLG Associates, and was previously on the Advisory Board of First Foundation's Los Angeles based private bank. She earned an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Chicago — Booth School of Business and a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.