In a market dominated by LinkedIn’s traditional resume-and-apply model, three Nigerian founders—Oluwapelumi Dada, David Alade, and Daniel Ajayi—are shaking up professional recruitment with Sorce, a mobile-first job search platform that’s making applying for positions as simple as swiping right.
The app, which has been described as “Tinder for jobs,” tackles one of the most frustrating aspects of modern job hunting: the tedious process of repeatedly entering the same information across multiple applications. Instead, Sorce allows users to create a profile once and apply to positions with a simple swipe, fundamentally reimagining how job seekers and employers connect.
From Lagos to Silicon Valley: The Founders’ Journey
The Sorce story begins not in Silicon Valley, but in Lagos, Nigeria, where the founders first developed their passion for technology before making their way to the United States for university.
Oluwapelumi Dada, the CEO, moved to the United States for university two years ago. His journey into tech started early in Lagos. His mother, Temitayo Dada, brought home a computer when he was young, sparking his natural aptitude. His father, Kehinde Dada, was a graphic designer from whom he learned design skills. Dada learned Java at age 11, though he stopped coding during secondary school. In 11th grade, he resumed, making websites with Wix and learning HTML.
Daniel Ajayi serves as CTO and is MIT-trained, bringing rigorous technical expertise to the team. Ajayi built the AI agent infrastructure that powers Sorce and, like Dada, has interned at major tech companies including Nvidia.
David Alade, the third co-founder, is described as a whiz at developing iOS apps. He and Dada met on X, formerly known as Twitter, and decided to meet in person.
All three founders share the experience of being young Nigerian immigrants navigating American universities while building a startup that would eventually compete with some of the biggest names in tech.
The Bold Move That Changed Everything
The story that put Dada on the map has become Silicon Valley legend. Last year, when Nigerian student Oluwapelumi Dada spotted Sam Parr, an entrepreneur and My First Million podcast host, jogging through San Francisco, he jumped on his bike, chased Parr down, and pitched him his idea for an app that allows students to apply for multiple jobs at once.
That audacious move paid off. Parr made a post on X about his meeting with Dada that garnered 1.7 million views. He described how Dada, who had just completed an internship at Tesla, landed another at Dell, and still made time to race to meet him.
Parr wrote about Dada’s attributes—his willingness to chase him down to show him his product, and the fact that he was already making cool products—calling them characteristics of what future successful entrepreneurs look like when young. He called on people to work with and fund Dada.
Founders Inc. was the first to write a check to help Dada chase his dream.
Building the MVP: A Seven-Week Sprint
But Dada knew he couldn’t build Sorce alone. He needed a team that matched his drive and ambition.
Dada built the first iteration of Sorce, but he needed a team to turn it into a product that could compete with the biggest job platforms in the world, such as Indeed and LinkedIn. He didn’t just want a team—he wanted people with the same drive and motivation he had.
His first catch was Ajayi, who built the AI agent infrastructure that Sorce uses. Dada recalled that he just knew he wanted to work with Ajayi. That was two years ago. Today, they are not just co-founders but also good friends.
Alade, the third co-founder, is also a close friend of Dada and Ajayi. The pair met on X and decided to meet in person. Seven weeks later, Sorce was ready to launch.
That seven-week development sprint speaks volumes about the team’s execution capability and focus. Rather than spending months perfecting every feature, they built a minimum viable product that solved one problem exceptionally well: eliminating the need to repeatedly fill out job applications.
Viral Launch and Explosive Growth
Their post on X announcing the launch in August 2024 got 1.5 million views. The viral attention translated into real users, and Sorce began experiencing the kind of growth trajectory that most startups only dream about.
Sorce, which started as Swype in August 2024, had already gone viral online, gaining users in nearly every country in the world except North Korea and three others.
The numbers tell a compelling story of product-market fit. Beyond the 20 million swipes—which Dada said are mostly left swipes, meaning users are selective—and almost half a million users, he is especially proud of the caliber of companies that have hired through the platform.
Dada has shared a list of over 150 companies where people have gotten interview offers through Sorce, including OpenAI, Mitsubishi, Nvidia, Coca-Cola, Visa, and Samsung.
For a young startup built by college-age founders to attract such prestigious clients represents a powerful validation of both their product and their vision.
The Y Combinator Moment
Despite their impressive traction, the Sorce founders initially had no expectation of getting into Y Combinator’s Fall 2025 batch. They had missed the official deadline—a detail that would have discouraged many entrepreneurs.
But the team decided to apply anyway. After missing Y Combinator’s application deadline, the team decided to apply anyway—a decision that would change their lives.
What happened next surprised even them.
One night, Oluwapelumi Dada, David Alade, and Daniel Ajayi got an email from David Lieb, the man behind Google Photos and a General Partner at Y Combinator. Lieb requested a call with Dada and his co-founders.
On a quick call, Lieb told them they’d just been accepted into the accelerator even though they had applied after the deadline. It was the kind of moment every founder dreams of.
Weeks later, Dada received the official confirmation from YC’s David Lieb that Sorce had been accepted. Dada wrote on X: “We got a call that we got in. Dreams do come true.”
This acceptance spoke volumes about what the Sorce founders had built. Y Combinator doesn’t make exceptions lightly. The combination of exceptional traction—500,000 users, 20 million swipes, major corporate clients—a clear value proposition, and founders who had demonstrated execution capability was simply too compelling to pass up, deadline or not.
The Immigrant Founder Advantage
The Sorce founders’ story is part of a larger narrative about Nigerian and African immigrant entrepreneurs making their mark in Silicon Valley. The founders’ backgrounds—with internships and early stints spanning MIT, Northeastern, Citadel Securities, Nvidia, Tesla, Dell, and JPMorgan—explain the product’s bent: rigorous engineering for a mass-market workflow problem.
Their journey wasn’t easy. Dada turned down internship offers from Tesla and Dell—two of the world’s top tech firms—to focus full-time on developing his idea, then called One Click Apply.
That decision to bet on himself, to turn down prestigious internships for an uncertain startup journey, exemplifies the kind of conviction that defines successful founders. Many would have taken the safe path—accept the Tesla or Dell offer, gain experience, build a resume. Dada chose to build a company instead.
Dada received financial support through GBHEM Scholarships, which offers financial aid to United Methodist students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees. Reflecting on the support, Dada said he was deeply honored to receive the scholarship, noting that the generous support lightened his financial burden and allowed him to focus more on his studies and professional development.
The AI Advantage: More Than Just Swiping
While the swipe-based interface is Sorce’s most visible innovation, the real magic happens under the hood with the AI agent technology that Ajayi built.
Sorce’s AI agent handles repetitive application steps, generates cover letters, and tracks progress, so users focus on picking the right roles instead of wrestling with forms.
When you swipe right, Sorce’s AI agent applies on your behalf on the company’s website. It writes cover letters too.
This automation solves a problem that every job seeker knows intimately. A computer science student looking for an internship typically applies to 100-200 openings. In the current job climate, people are applying to even more. Imagine filling out your name and explaining why you want to work at a particular company 100 times.
The founders aren’t just building a more convenient job board; they’re reimagining the entire relationship between job seekers and employers. In traditional hiring systems, candidates submit applications into what often feels like a black hole. Employers are overwhelmed with applications from people who may not be genuinely interested but are simply casting a wide net.
Sorce’s model creates a more intentional matching process where both sides signal genuine interest.
The Mobile-First Advantage
The Sorce founders understood something that many established players in the recruitment space have been slow to grasp: the future of work is mobile, and the tools we use to find work must be mobile-native as well.
The App Store listing highlights “instant apply” and real-time tracking, signaling the team’s consumer-grade polish and obsession with speed.
This mobile-first approach has proven particularly powerful for their target demographic of young job seekers who expect the same intuitive, gesture-based interactions they’ve grown accustomed to across all their apps.
Growing Pains and Future Challenges
The team has since grown to six people, including Matthew, a Canadian intern who joined through the platform itself and rebuilt their AI search feature, doubling user engagement.
The fact that Sorce hired through its own platform demonstrates the founders’ commitment to using their product and understanding the user experience firsthand.
Sorce has crossed 20 million swipes and has helped over 1,000 people land jobs. Users have gotten interviews and offers through Sorce at companies like Figma, Ramp, Kleiner Perkins, OpenAI, Lucid Motors, Humane, Twitch, DoorDash, Instacart, Coinbase, Scale AI, Deel, Webflow, Amplitude, Postman, Anduril, and Flexport.
The founders face several challenges as they scale. Can Sorce’s AI agent keep pace with constantly changing employer portals? Beyond application volume, does the AI help candidates land interviews faster by emphasizing match quality and tailored narratives? Automating applications raises questions about terms of service, consent, and data security—areas where Y Combinator’s legal and security guidance will be crucial.
Representing African Innovation in Silicon Valley
With its acceptance into Y Combinator, Sorce joins the ranks of a growing number of African-founded startups making their mark in Silicon Valley.
The founders’ success is particularly meaningful for the African tech ecosystem. They’re proving that African founders can build globally competitive products, attract major corporate clients, and earn spots in the world’s most prestigious accelerator programs.
Dada has noted that his goal in the next five to 10 years is to completely reinvent what recruiting looks like.
What’s Next
Sorce now has five employees based in San Francisco, California, putting them at the heart of Silicon Valley’s startup ecosystem.
With Y Combinator backing, impressive early traction, and a clear vision for the future, the three young Nigerian founders are positioned to accelerate their growth and potentially expand their feature set. The startup’s ability to attract major corporate clients while maintaining rapid user growth suggests they’ve achieved the elusive product-market fit that many startups spend years chasing.
If the team continues to improve coverage and accuracy, Sorce could become the default starting point for job seekers looking to streamline their application process.
A New Chapter for Immigrant Founders
The Sorce story is about more than just a successful startup. It’s about young Nigerian immigrants who came to the United States for education and ended up building a company that’s challenging multi-billion dollar incumbents. It’s about founders who turned down prestigious internships to bet on themselves. It’s about the audacity to chase down a podcaster on a morning jog and pitch your idea. And it’s about applying to Y Combinator after the deadline because you believe in what you’ve built.
In widely shared posts, Dada describes hustling their way into the right rooms—literally chasing down creators and operators for feedback, and even turning down Tesla and Dell offers to keep building. That bias for action, paired with early traction, helped them earn Y Combinator’s acceptance.
For Oluwapelumi Dada, David Alade, and Daniel Ajayi, the journey from Lagos and Nigerian universities to American colleges to Y Combinator represents more than personal success. They’re opening doors for the next generation of African founders who dream of building globally competitive companies.
Their message is clear: you don’t need to be born in Silicon Valley to build a Silicon Valley-caliber company. You need a real problem to solve, the technical skills to build a solution, the audacity to put yourself out there—even chasing people down on their morning jog—and the conviction to keep building even when the conventional path seems safer.
Sometimes the best time to apply, whether for a job or a startup accelerator, is right now. Deadline or not.
