Startup Spotlight: Risely's agents drove 32-fold outreach productivity in Arizona pilot

The University of Arizona reported a 32-fold rise in outreach productivity during a pilot of AI agents built by Risely, the startup co-founded by Shahryar Abbasi and Sadia Saifuddin, according to Y Combinator's company listing. Risely builds agents intended to carry administrative work across university systems, and the founders say retention and re-enrollment results remain the more important test of whether the added outreach capacity changes student outcomes.

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 https://runtimewire.com/author/ryan-merket · Published Primary source: Y Combinator https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/risely-ai 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 https://www.risely.ai/?ref=runtimewire 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 https://www.ycombinator.com/founders/shahryar-abbasi?ref=runtimewire has sold and scaled enterprise businesses, while Sadia Saifuddin @sadiasaifuddin1 https://x.com/sadiasaifuddin1?ref=runtimewire spent seven years building software for university records.… When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission https://runtimewire.com/affiliate-monetization-standards . This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.