I Help Companies Enter New Markets Without Learning the Hard Way
A Business Development Partner Focused on Demand Validation, Risk Control, & Execution
I’m Wael Sasso, founder of SMRT Consulting.
I have spent over a decade working across corporate environments and early-stage ventures, including building and exiting my own startup. That experience taught me something most founders learn too late:
Great products don't fail in the market. Bad assumptions do.
How I Think About Growth
I don’t believe growth is about tactics, tools, or motivation.
It’s about sequencing decisions correctly, especially in unfamiliar or high-risk markets.
Before scaling teams, partners, or spend, demand needs to be proven.
Before trusting pipelines, buyer behavior needs to be understood.
And before committing capital, assumptions need to be challenged.
That’s the work I focus on.
Who I Work With
I work with B2B companies that already have an offer, some traction, and a real ambition to expand, often into markets like West Africa where mistakes are expensive.
I intentionally work with a small number of clients at a time. That’s not a marketing line, it’s how I stay close to execution, reality, and results.
Let’s make it happen.
Why Clients Work With Me?
Clients work with me because I’m not interested in selling optimism.
I have built products, chased growth, made mistakes, and shut things down. I know how easy it is to confuse interest with demand, and how costly that becomes when you scale too early.
My role is simple:
Help you see reality clearly, reduce downside risk, and move forward only when the foundation is solid.
If you’re facing a growth or market entry decision and want an honest, grounded perspective, I’m happy to talk.
WAEL SASSO
Selected Operating Experience
Some of the Projects I worked on and were tremendous learning experiences
CARLOGIK
Auto Repair Marketplace
Co-founded and scaled a marketplace in a fragmented, trust-poor market.
What started as a consumer platform evolved into a B2B infrastructure product after direct feedback from workshops revealed where real demand lived.
Key lesson: Markets don’t respond to ideas, they respond to what solves their real pain.
Pivoting early saved time, capital, and focus.
TSSP
Manufacturing Facility + M&A
Played a key role in a US$ 140M acquisition and post-merger integration of a manufacturing business in Saudi Arabia.
Led strategic planning and operating discipline in a capital-intensive environment, helping transform the company into a professionally run organization now listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange.
Key lesson: Growth without structure destroys value. Discipline, sequencing, and governance matter, especially when scale and capital are involved.
GFI
Ingredients & Starch Sales
Representing and supporting the market entry of food ingredients into West Africa, working directly with distributors, manufacturers, and buyers on the ground.
This work involves validating real demand, navigating fragmented channels, and closing deals in markets where assumptions break quickly.
Key lesson: Interest is not demand. Only transactions tell the truth, especially in emerging markets.
ReachAll
AI Voice Assistant
Supported the commercial expansion of an AI voice assistant system in the UAE’s auto repair ecosystem, helping position the product, identify buyer profiles, and convert pilots into paid usage.
While the market was different, the work was the same: test messaging, validate willingness to pay, and build repeatable sales motion.
Key lesson: Technology doesn’t sell itself. Distribution, positioning, and follow-through close deals.
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