While both attending USC in 2024, brothers Raihan — currently an alum and a senior majoring in political science — and Azam Dadabhoy were applying to countless internships and jobs, but found little luck. They said they were unable to get through the artificial intelligence readers on job sites.

In March 2025, they launched create Sensiply, a play on words combining “apply” and “sensibly,” where job seekers can interact with potential employers through a video pitch.

Although neither has a background in coding or development, they were able to integrate their understandings of policy and finance into the tool.

“[W]e’re able to take our skills that we earn from USC, whether that be through literature reviews or public speaking or analytical critical thinking skills, and utilize our resources in terms of understanding and our complements in that end, and bring it towards what we’re doing now,” Azam Dadabhoy said.

The tool is constantly adapting and learning from each user, building a more personalized process, Raihan said. When users create their profiles, they input basic personal information and their industry. Next, they enter their education, extracurriculars, work history, and then a “Sensipitch,” where users can present themselves in a personable manner.

“[W]e’d rather put a face to a resume, let them see how your personality is, how you articulate yourself, and let them get you hired there,” Raihan Dadabhoy said.

The AI analyzes the candidate based on their video, predicting their speech to find and curate the best industry match.

“[I]f you say that ‘I’m ready to change the game in this industry,’ the system is going to understand and pick up on your notion of you’re ambitious, you’re motivated, you’re driven by things of those qualities in that nature,” Azam Dadabhoy said. “That builds [a] parameter metric in terms of understanding, ‘hey, maybe investment banking, those are pretty ambitious kinds.’”

Their goal was to develop a marketplace that centered on a human connection between employers and job seekers.

“You’re able to explain the intangibles that you really can’t put on a paper, but you’re able to explain while involved, articulating yourself in the video,” Raihan Dadabhoy said.

The software tool does interviewing and messaging all within the website, and by being a “one-stop shop,” employers can connect with potential employees immediately.

“Candidates let them know, ‘Hey, I’m available this day and time,’ they can hypothetically show up the very next day ready to work as well,” Azam Dadabhoy said.

After conducting over 100 research calls with various organizations and nonprofits, one of the main concerns about their product was the potential for bias in the AI technology, given that people already face prejudice in the marketplace.

The Dadabhoys said they aimed to reduce discrimination by only matching based on skills, qualifications, personality traits and the video where users are given the opportunity to defend the metrics on their resumes. The voluntary self-identification questionnaire would be provided to employers only after a match is made.

“We’re not going to [be able to] completely eliminate biases and discrimination, but if we can do a small part in trying to reduce it and mitigate it to a certain extent, we’re all for it,” Azam Dadabhoy said.

The software will remain free for all job seekers, but eventually, they plan to transition to a subscription model for employers.

Garret Brown, an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship who teaches one of Raihan Adabhoy’s classes at USC, said their business requires a dual network of hiring companies and potential employees. His advice to them was to find their niche by getting some “real, unfiltered advice” from customers in an already crowded space to create something new.

“I was most impressed with just how much they had accomplished in terms of building it and getting a complete product out before having too many customers,” Brown said.

Every day, there are new challenges, but Raihan Dadabhoy said it was part of what he enjoyed figuring out.

“[T]hat’s the beauty of entrepreneurship, is that you’re able to find these creative solutions, and you just keep on grinding,” Raihan Dadabhoy said.