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Web design and development
Custom company websites, designed around your buyers and built to load fast in both languages.
Websites and first products for new companies
Startup website design in Dubai: launch small, keep what you build
A new company has little time, a fixed budget and a great deal still undecided. Startup website design in Dubai should respect all three. We help founders launch a first site, or a first version of a product, quickly and on foundations that can carry the company as it grows. We also say plainly what can wait.
01What makes this sector different
- 01
Everything is urgent and the budget is fixed
A founder's list has a website, a product, a pitch deck, a brand and a launch date on it. There is rarely money to do all of it well at once. Someone has to say what comes first.
- 02
The quick site that gets thrown away
A template site put together in a weekend gets you online. Six months later it cannot take a second language, a customer login or a new product line. The company pays to build again from the start.
- 03
Investors and partners look you up
Before a meeting, an investor, a bank or a prospective partner will open your site. Placeholder text, a free email address and no company details raise questions. You then spend the meeting answering them.
- 04
Company set-up runs in parallel
Founders in the UAE are often arranging a free zone or mainland licence, a bank account and a payment provider while the website is being built. Each has its own timeline. Some features, such as taking payment, depend on them.
02What we build
A launch site of a few pages
Home, what you offer, about and contact, written clearly and designed properly. The first screen states what the company does. The site is fast, works on a phone, and has room in the footer for the legal name and licence details.
A design system from the first day
A design system is the agreed set of colours, type styles, buttons and page sections that everything is built from. Yours is small at launch. New pages and product screens are assembled from the same parts, so later work adds to the site and does not replace it.
A first version of the product
This is often called an MVP, or minimum viable product: the smallest version that real customers can use, released to learn whether they want it. We help you cut the feature list to that core, build it and release it to a first group of users. Product builds are described under custom web applications.
Investor-ready presentation
A clear statement of the problem, the product and the team, with real screenshots and no mock-ups of features that do not exist. A private page can hold the deck and supporting documents behind a password. Nothing on the site claims traction you cannot show.
Room to grow
A second language, a blog, a customer login or online payment can be added without starting again. We tell you at the start which of these the foundations allow for. Domain, hosting and analytics accounts are opened in the company's name, so nothing depends on someone else's login.
A written list of what waits
Every proposal has two columns: what is built now and what is deferred, with the reason. Deferred items have a rough size beside them. You can plan the next round of funding or revenue around that list.
03Points to plan for
- Two financial free zones have data protection rules of their own: the DIFC Data Protection Law (DIFC Law No. 5 of 2020) and the ADGM Data Protection Regulations 2021. Elsewhere the federal law, Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021, is the starting point, so ask your legal adviser which applies to your company.
- Payment providers carry out their own checks on a new company and ask for documents such as the trade licence. Apply as soon as the licence is issued, and confirm with your licensing authority that it covers what you plan to sell.
- If your product is in a regulated field such as finance or health, the claims on your site and the product itself may need approval. Speak to the relevant regulator before launch.
- Register the domain name and every account in the company's name once the licence is issued. A domain held personally by a co-founder or a freelancer is hard to recover if that person leaves.
04Related services
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Custom web applications
Portals, dashboards and booking tools built around your process, scoped in writing before development starts.
03
Next.js and React development
Server-rendered websites and web front ends built with Next.js and React, with a content system your editors can use.
Updated
Questions
Questions, answered
What does a website cost for a new business in Dubai?
It depends on the number of page designs, the languages, and whether the site has to do anything beyond presenting information. A focused launch site costs far less than a product build.
The pricing page gives the starting point for each package. For a fuller picture, read our guide to website costs in Dubai. Tell us your budget at the start. We will say what it can do well.
What is an MVP, and does my startup need one?
MVP stands for minimum viable product. It is the smallest version of your product that real customers can use, released in order to learn whether they want it before you spend more.
You need one if the business is the product, such as a booking platform or a marketplace. If you sell a service, you probably need a good website and a way to be contacted, not an MVP.
How quickly can a startup website be launched?
A small launch site moves quickly when decisions are made quickly and the content is ready. The usual delays are text, photographs and sign-off, not design or code.
Our guide to website timelines walks through each stage. If you have a fixed date, such as a funding round or an event, tell us at the start and we will plan the scope to fit it.
Should a startup use a template or a custom website?
A template is a reasonable choice when you need to be online this month and the budget is very small. We would rather tell you that than sell you something you cannot afford.
A custom site built on a small design system costs more at the start. The difference shows when the company adds pages, languages or a product. Those are built from the same parts, and the first site is not discarded.
Can you build a website before my trade licence is issued?
Design and development can begin, yes. Work on structure, copy and design does not depend on the licence.
Some steps do wait for it. Payment providers ask for company documents before they approve an account, and the legal name in your footer should match the licence. We plan those steps last. Company formation is outside our work, so take licensing questions to your free zone or a business set-up adviser.
Let's build somethingDubai remembers.
Tell us what you are planning. We will reply with next steps, or a straight answer if we are not the right fit.