In 2020, I walked into meetings with a drawing book, ready to show developers the app I could already see in my mind. I could sketch every screen, but I needed their help to bring it to life.

Six years later, I stood at the Dubai AI Campus booth as a startup founder. For the first time, I could open my own commercial security app and say, “I designed this, and with the help of AI, I built it myself.”

  1. 2020Drawing what I couldn’t explain

    I used to sit beside developers and turn the pages of my drawing book. “When someone taps here, this is what they should see next.” Sometimes a whole conversation came down to one button. I knew what I wanted it to do, but my sketch didn’t always make that clear. Together, we turned those drawings into apps I could sell. I was proud of every one.

  2. 2023Giving my ideas a clearer shape

    I started using AI to turn my sketches into screen designs. Now I could show developers exactly where a button belonged and how a user would move from one screen to the next. They had a design they could follow, and I spent less time trying to explain what was in my head.

  3. 2025Going beyond the design

    Usually, a finished design was my cue to hand it over. This time, I kept going. With AI, I started building an entire app myself. If a screen didn’t work the way I pictured it, I could change it and try again. That was when I began to see myself as someone who could build the product too.

  4. 2026Building my first commercial security app

    I built my first commercial security app with AI, without hiring a developer, and started a company around it. That’s why this photo means so much to me. I’m grateful to the Dubai AI Campus team for making it easy to register my company in Dubai.

Back then, I knew what I wanted someone to see when they opened the app. I just didn’t know how to build it myself. So I drew that first screen and took it to a developer. With the page between us, I could point to a button and explain what should happen next.

Years later, AI helped me build an entire app on my own. When I look back, I’m proud of that first sketch. I had no idea where it would take me. I just knew the idea was worth putting on paper.