By Roxanne Chen, Student in the M.S. in Technology Management Program, Columbia University School of Professional Studies
Before I came to Columbia’s M.S. in Technology Management program, I spent years working in sales and marketing across Taiwan’s software as a service (SaaS) and semiconductor industries. I knew how to sell products, but I had never tried to build one from scratch. Joining the Almaworks Accelerator changed that. This is the story of how I went from someone who understood going to market to someone learning, sometimes the hard way, what it means to be a first-time tech company founder.
My startup is an EdTech platform tackling a problem I noticed in professional environments: Workplace communication often fails not because people lack information, but because they lack engagement. Our solution brings an immersive, story-driven approach to learning through dynamic plots, memorable characters, and scenarios that reflect the messiness of real workplace communication. The goal is to make learning feel less like training and more like something you actually want to do.
What stood out about the accelerator was the quality of the feedback we received. Each week, mentors asked tough questions about our assumptions and pushed us to think more carefully about our direction. What made the experience especially valuable was the diversity of those mentors: Some came from technical backgrounds, while others brought expertise in go-to-market strategy, product, or investment. Each conversation peeled back a different layer of our thinking. I started to see that being challenged wasn’t a sign that our idea was broken. It was a sign that it was being taken seriously.
We also had the chance to attend demo days alongside more mature startups, including teams that had already raised significant funding and were scaling quickly. Watching them present made our own gaps clearer, but it also made the path ahead feel more real. These weren’t abstract success stories. They were people who had once been exactly where we were, and they had figured out how to move forward.
The moment that stands out most was my first pitch at a competition hosted by Columbia Business School. Standing on that stage and presenting our idea to a panel of judges, I felt the full weight of what we were building and all the parts that still needed work. In the end, we didn’t win, but walking off that stage, I felt the experience had pressure-tested our concept in a way that no whiteboard session ever could. More importantly, it gave us the feedback we needed to pivot: to refine our focus, sharpen our value proposition, and build something tighter.
If you’re considering applying to the Columbia Almaworks Accelerator, my advice is simple: Be ready to be wrong. The mentors won’t just validate your idea; they’ll stress-test it, and that is the point. The most valuable thing I’ve taken away isn’t a polished deck or a refined pitch. It’s the habit of listening to hard feedback, sitting with it, and letting it improve the work.
About the Program
The Master of Science in Technology Management at Columbia University prepares graduates to lead digital transformation, and align technology and business strategy with an ethical lens. Through experiential learning, industry partnerships, and Columbia-supported research, students gain fluency in digital platforms and emerging technologies, and learn to design human-centered solutions that drive innovation and sustainable impact.
The program is available for part-time or full-time enrollment online or on campus in NYC. Learn more about the program here.
