AI Product Due Diligence · Bay Area · MENA
I help AI startup founders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia identify and resolve the product quality gaps that stall fundraising — before investors find them first.
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Also available to PE/VC firms conducting design due diligence on AI acquisitions.
Read my newsletter: Sarah's Newsletter ↗
Your model works. Your technology is sound. But sophisticated investors — especially in Dubai and Riyadh — are now scrutinizing product experience as a leading indicator of team quality. One friction-filled demo can undo six months of traction.
The demo feels impressive but confusing
Investors can't clearly understand what the AI is doing or why. Confidence erodes where clarity should build.
Trust breaks when the AI makes an error
The product has no recovery design. One visible mistake shifts the room from curiosity to skepticism — with no path back.
The onboarding contradicts the sales pitch
What you promise in the deck and what a user experiences in the first five minutes tell two different stories.
Growth signals are missing from the design
Investors want to see monetization architecture, retention hooks, and expansion paths embedded in the product — not bolted on later.
Service 01
A structured audit of your product's UX quality, AI transparency, trust architecture, and onboarding experience — evaluated through the lens of what sophisticated investors and enterprise buyers expect to see. I identify the specific friction points, trust failures, and design gaps most likely to raise red flags in your Series A or B process.
Deliverable — Written assessment report + prioritized fix list + one working session
Service 02
Before your next fundraising round, I review your product end-to-end with the eye of an investor's technical advisor. I assess whether your product communicates quality, defensibility, and growth potential — and deliver a concrete remediation plan with design-level specificity. Ideal for founders preparing for Gulf-based institutional investors and sovereign wealth-adjacent funds.
Deliverable — Investor-facing product quality memo + annotated screens + 30-day improvement roadmap
Service 03
Ongoing advisory for AI founders who want a senior product design voice in the room without a full-time hire. I work across product strategy, AI UX quality, monetization design, and team capability-building — serving as a thinking partner on the decisions that compound.
Deliverable — Monthly retainer · Defined review cadence · Direct access
Most design consultants can identify UX problems. Very few can connect those problems directly to revenue, retention, and investor confidence — and even fewer hold financial credentials alongside a design track record.
Case study — Fivetran
Turning a 15-day onboarding into a 3-day one.
Fivetran's collaborative connector setup was causing teams to drop off mid-process. I redesigned the entire onboarding flow around coordination — surfacing the right information to the right person at the right moment.
"Most AI products fail investors not because the technology is weak — but because the experience doesn't communicate that it works. That gap between technical reality and perceived quality is exactly where I operate."
— Sarah Khan, AI Product Due DiligenceShare your product and where you are in the fundraising cycle. I'll respond within 48 hours with whether I can help and how.
"Thank you — I'll be in touch within 48 hours."
In the meantime, read Sarah's Newsletter at substack.com/@sarahkhan9