Our experience, within reach
We started Wasel for a simple reason. Plenty of people building businesses here have a good idea and real customers, and then stop at a technical decision with nobody to ask who does not send an invoice. So we set aside four free seats a week, one to a person, for anybody in that position.
A first question should not arrive as an invoice
We have worked in the UAE for years, and every month somebody asks us something half an hour would settle, then hesitates because they assume the question needs a contract behind it. Wasel is the answer to that.
- Forty five minutes on your problem, not on what we sell
- Our full read, including when it is that you do not need us
- A written summary afterwards that you can act on
- We do not pitch in time we set aside for your problem
- We do not close by booking a second call
- We do not advise on a business we know nothing about, which is why we ask first
Three things in writing, within a day
Where to start
One step, not a list, and why it comes before the one that looks obvious.
What it costs
A range, and who should do it: a freelancer, a team, or nobody yet. Sometimes the answer is that you can do it yourself.
What to postpone
Usually the longer half. Most people we meet are being sold three things they need none of this year.
Three areas we know well
Digital transformation
Getting the work out of spreadsheets and WhatsApp and into something that holds. Where the system you already pay for can carry it, we will say so rather than propose a build.
Artificial intelligence
Where it saves real money in your operation and where it is an expensive way to do what a form already does. Most sessions on this end with a smaller answer than the founder arrived expecting.
Marketing and getting customers
Search, ads, and the store or site underneath them. Usually the constraint is the page the traffic lands on rather than the traffic, and that is cheaper to fix.
Forty five minutes, and how we spend them
On Google Meet, in Arabic or English, with one engineer from the team. No sales person attends.
Where you are
Confirming what you wrote in the form. Short, because the form did this part.
The questions
Mostly ours. We are looking for the constraint, not for a list of requirements.
The read
What we would do first, said out loud while you can push back on it.
The next step
Which may be a supplier, a tool, a hire, or nothing at all.
When it helps, and when it is not enough
- You are running something already, even if it is small
- You have one decision in front of you rather than twenty
- You can say what you have already tried
- You want somebody to validate an idea nobody has bought yet
- You are looking for free implementation rather than a direction
- You need a signed proposal this week
The initiative is open to every entrepreneur in the UAE. The list opposite is not a condition of joining; it is the limit of what forty five minutes holds.
Four seats a week, one to a person
Four seats in the whole week, shared by everybody who applies, and one of them is yours. We run these ourselves between client work, so we would rather commit to a small number than apologise for a large one. When the four are taken the calendar closes, and the next week opens on Sunday.
- 4
- seats in the week
- 1
- session per person
- 45
- minutes, with a senior engineer
- 0
- cost, and no invoice after
Asked by people who join
Can I book more than one?
One seat to a person, because there are four in the week and they are meant to reach four different people. If forty five minutes turns out not to be enough we say so on the call, and anything past it is ordinary paid work.
Is it really free?
Yes, and there is no invoice afterwards. We do it because a founder who knows their real constraint is a better client later, whether or not they ever become one.
Will you try to sell me something?
No, and it is worth saying plainly because every free consultation says this. What holds us to it: the session ends with a written summary, and you can read whether it recommends us or somebody else.
Do I have to be in the UAE?
The initiative is for people building in the UAE, and the hours are set for Gulf time. If you are elsewhere and the question is a good one, write to us anyway.
Arabic or English?
Either. Say which in the form and the engineer on the call will match it.
What if my question is not about technology?
Say so in the form. If it is outside what we do we will tell you before the session rather than take the slot, and we will point you at somebody where we can.
Can I bring my co-founder or a developer?
Yes, and it usually helps. Three people is the most a call this short can carry.
A few questions, then pick a time
The questions are the reason the session is useful. An engineer reads them before the call, so the forty five minutes start at your problem rather than at your introduction.
What happens next, and what does not
- A written summary within one working day
- Names of tools or suppliers where they are the right answer
- An offer to quote, only if you ask for one
- A follow up sequence, a nurture campaign, or a second call you did not ask for
- Your address added to our newsletter or anybody else's
- A proposal you did not request
Join, and come with one question
Four seats a week, one to a person. Next week is open now.