Rumi

University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business

Industry: EdTech/Artificial Intelligence

MBA Founding Student Name(s): Ghazaleh Sadooghi, MBA 25 (with co-founders Mo Zadeh, MJ Oliaee)

Brief Description of Solution: Rumi addresses one of the most pressing challenges in education today: helping schools incorporate AI into the classroom without compromising the integrity of the learning process. Rumi offers a solution that enables schools to set custom AI policies for each assignment. Instead of relying on flawed AI detectors or taking a hands-off approach to AI, instructors can use Rumi to glean insights into students’ writing and thinking processes, rather than just evaluating final submissions.

Funding Dollars: $450K (SAFE + Grants)

What led you to launch this venture? As a student, I wanted to use AI for schoolwork without being labeled a cheater. I saw firsthand how schools and teachers were struggling to navigate this new landscape. Instead of waiting for someone else to address the issue, I decided to take it upon myself. Being part of the UC Berkeley Haas ecosystem, where questioning the status quo is encouraged, was a strong motivator for me.

With the recent surge in generative AI, we noticed that most schools lack a clear AI policy, and even those with policies struggle to implement them effectively. That’s where Rumi comes in: we help schools create AI policies tailored to their specific needs, enabling students to use AI responsibly within the guidelines set by their instructors.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture? Our most significant milestone was reaching 10 contracts with leading educational institutions in the United States.

What has been the most significant challenge you’ve faced in creating your company and how did you solve it? As an EdTech startup targeting institutions instead of individual instructors, our primary customers are directors of learning and provosts—highly sought-after professionals who rarely respond to cold emails. To capture their interest, we needed to build a strong brand and raise awareness within the EdTech community. We did this by delivering a compelling message, leveraging creative strategies, and utilizing diverse communication channels. While this approach is challenging, it also creates a significant barrier to entry for other startups in our space.

How has your MBA program helped you further this startup venture? The MBA program provided us access to one of the world’s most vibrant startup ecosystems. Through the Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Program, led by Rhonda Shrader, we built valuable connections, including with our first investor, Underdog Labs, who led our pre-seed round and have been great partners, fully sharing our vision and passion for the field.

The program also provided us access to the best experts in their respective fields. For instance, pricing is a common challenge for early-stage startups. When we faced difficulties in this area, I easily arranged a meeting with our marketing strategy professor, Bill Pearce. With experience as the former CMO of Del Monte and Taco Bell and marketing director at Procter & Gamble, his insights were invaluable, guiding us to think about pricing strategies in innovative ways beyond simply lowering prices.

What founder or entrepreneur inspired you to start your own entrepreneurial journey? How did he or she prove motivational to you? The founders of Costco have been a great source of inspiration for me. Costco is one of the rare companies that consistently creates value for all its stakeholders—customers, suppliers, and employees. While many companies today focus on pleasing customers, they often fall short of supporting their employees or suppliers. Costco, however, has remained true to its mission over the long term, demonstrating that it is possible to build a business model where everyone genuinely benefits.

Which MBA class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? The most valuable course for me was Audience-Focused Communication, taught by Adam Leipzig. Since we operate in a B2B environment selling to educational institutions, we engage with hundreds of stakeholders, which requires us to understand their needs and influence their decisions. This course emphasized the power of storytelling in crafting our narrative and provided constructive feedback on my presentation skills.

What professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? When we first started, we had only a rough prototype to showcase. We presented it to five professors for feedback. The only person who immediately understood our big vision and was genuinely excited about it was my Data & Decisions professor, Maximilian Auffhammer. He provided valuable feedback and became a significant source of motivation for our team.

How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success? The Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Program and the UC Launch program were crucial for our startup’s progress. They connected us with top mentors, provided valuable exposure, helped us secure grants and small angel funding, and introduced us to our very first outside investors. The team at UC Launch, especially Shrader, Jed Katz, and Mohammad Naqvi, were incredibly helpful and supportive of our efforts.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? Our goal is to build the world’s leading Academic Integrity & Artificial Intelligence platform for educational institutions. We already have interest from schools in the Philippines, Thailand, and Australia. Beyond EdTech, we see great opportunities in other industries, such as workforce development and Legal Tech.

Looking back, what is the biggest lesson you wished you’d known before launching and scaling your venture? One of the key things I would have done differently is to better qualify potential customers and understand who the key decision-makers are in the process. For example, when speaking with professors, only a few are part of an “AI steering committee.” Meanwhile, instructional designers within schools are valuable contacts who deeply understand this space and have decision-making authority. Looking back, we could have focused our outreach efforts on a much smaller group of stakeholders.

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