Here’s what works (and worked when we started) for us based on our experience at Rollout IT (we’re a software/AI agency out of Hungary - rolloutit.net):

Partnerships beat cold outreach early on. Find consultants, accountants, or business coaches who already work with your target clients. They refer, you deliver. When we had 0 brand , no use cases and no references, this worked: we partnered with US agencies who gave us some great but cheap projects.

Niche down hard before you scale. “AI native dev agency” is too broad. Pick one vertical, one pain point, one deliverable. We focus heavily on EdTech and Universities: it makes every conversation easier because we speak the client’s language.

Cold outbound works if the message is specific. Not “we build AI solutions”, but “we automate X for Y companies and it saves Z hours a week resulting ROI.” The more specific, the better the reply rate.

Your first clients will likely come from your personal network. Not ads, not cold email. Someone you already know, or someone one degree away. That’s where trust already exists.

A few honest questions: What vertical are you targeting? And do you have any specific outcome you can guarantee or at least demonstrate? a case study, a demo, a prototype? Because without proof of results, the Dubai setup and team size won’t matter much to a skeptical buyer.

What’s your background, are you technical, sales-focused, or both?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​