Startup Spotlight: Risely's agents drove 32-fold outreach productivity in Arizona pilot
After the University of Arizona reported a 32-fold rise in outreach productivity, Risely co-founders Shahryar Abbasi and Sadia Saifuddin are building agents for work across campus systems.
By Ryan Merket · Published
Primary source: Y Combinator
Why it matters
Risely's Arizona pilot offers an early, institution-documented measure of what campus AI agents can do: increase proactive outreach. Retention and re-enrollment results remain the more important test of whether that added capacity changes student outcomes.
Risely is building AI agents to carry administrative work across university systems, a bet led by founders who have seen the problem from opposite sides: Shahryar Abbasi has sold and scaled enterprise businesses, while Sadia Saifuddin (@sadiasaifuddin1) spent seven years building software for university records.…
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