Questions founders ask me about Saudi Arabia

I run a company in Al Khobar and study in Evanston, so founders from both sides bring me the same handful of questions. I've grouped the ones that repeat. No names, and these are my views from operating there, not legal advice.

Do I need to be in Saudi Arabia to sell there?

Not to start a conversation, but soon after. Buyers want someone they can meet and a local entity to contract with. For government work there's an extra reason: since January 2024 a regional headquarters rule links eligibility for many government contracts to a licensed regional office, with some exceptions. Check how it applies to your case with a local adviser before you plan a pipeline around it.

How long does a sale take?

Longer than your model says. Decisions pass through committees, and the person you meet may be a champion rather than the decider. I tell founders to plan the first twelve months around relationships and pilots, and to treat a signed contract as a bonus if it lands sooner.

Is the market big enough?

It's growing quickly. MAGNiTT's 2025 data shows $1.72 billion of venture funding across 257 deals in the Kingdom, up 145% and 45% on the year before. For enterprise and government sales the bigger driver is the national spending plan behind Vision 2030, which creates demand in sectors like logistics, health and industrial services.

Do I need Arabic?

For documents, yes. Tender packs and contracts are often in Arabic, sometimes as scanned pages, and a partner who reads them natively saves you from expensive misreads. For meetings, English works in most business settings, but a few words of Arabic and a willingness to meet in person count for a lot.

What is local content and should I care?

Yes, care early. The government prefers national products and providers in procurement. Saudipedia describes a 10% price preference and, on some contracts, a 40% weighting on local content in the financial evaluation. If you can hire locally, source locally or partner with a Saudi firm, say so in your first meeting.

How do I get a warm introduction?

Ask the people already around you: investors, customers, university contacts. In my own experience, cold approaches rarely worked, and one trusted introduction did more than dozens of applications. Offer something concrete to the person introducing you, so the favour is easy for them to give.

Should I bring in a local co-founder or partner?

It depends on what you're missing. If your gap is relationships and regulatory knowledge, a local partner helps a lot. If your gap is product, it doesn't. Whatever the structure, put roles and ownership in writing from the start. I've watched more partnerships strain over fuzzy expectations than over any outside force.

Is it safe to put AI into a Saudi workflow?

Many buyers ask where data is stored and who can see it. The national push for sovereign compute is partly an answer. Have a clear story on data location and access before the first security review, because it will come up.

What's the one thing you'd do differently?

I'd start sooner on the boring paperwork: registrations and bank accounts, mostly. Those take weeks that nobody budgets for. The product work is the part founders expect to be hard. The queue at the back office is what actually slows the first year down.

If your question isn't here, send it. The ones I can't answer, I'll find someone who can.