By SGN | 11 Aug 2026
Nobody would have guessed that Zac – an electrical engineering diploma holder who started out as a financial advisor – would end up co-founding an international AI startup.
In 2023, while he was handling a portfolio of 200 Meta advertisers as an account manager at TDCX, the world was seized by AI fever. Out of curiosity, he took a course in game development. “I created a product demo of an AI chatbot that can speak as an in-game character,” he shares. “I developed that avatar and sold it to a tuition centre.”
This early victory under his belt gave Zac the confidence to take an even bigger swing. Together with his ex-colleague Tashriq Ahmed, a proficient coder, he created an AI call agent and founded a startup called The Neuron Collective.
With no significant capital or extensive network to speak of, the duo relied on sheer persistence. After months and months of cold outreach, one connection led to the next, and they gradually built up a viable business with a presence in Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s digital ambition
Though Zac had a strong background in sales, he faced a steep learning curve. “In terms of technology, there was a very huge jump because I had to learn from everything from the ground up,” he says. It was crucial for him to understand product and pricing thoroughly in order to make a convincing case to clients.
The Neuron Collective’s star product is an AI agent that is capable of handling a high volume of calls or emails. In Singapore, applications range from real estate inquiries and restaurant reservations to apps for mental health or digital learning.
In a surprising turn of events, the startup acquired a client in Saudi Arabia through one of Tashriq’s connections – an oil and gas firm that adopted their product for procurement purposes.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, an expansive strategy to reduce its reliance on oil and gas, has increased investments in tourism and culture, and opened up the country to expat talent and capital. “They’ve gone all out in AI,” Zac adds. “They wanted to digitalise and use AI transformation as a form of economic diversification. This is why Saudi Arabia is a hidden gem for entrepreneurs.”
In the capital of Riyadh, where The Neuron Collective’s client is based, Zac has witnessed an increasingly globalised metropolis with a vibrant mix of historic landmarks and gleaming malls and skyscrapers, even if the city is not quite as flashy as Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Its fine dining scene is also on the rise, dominating the country’s first Michelin Guide that was launched this year.
In terms of business culture in Saudi Arabia, the pace is more relaxed and driven by relationships, Zac shares. Securing a business deal might take 6 to 9 months, double the time back home. “Singapore is more focused on solutions and efficiency,” he observes.
This relationship-based culture makes starting conversations easier, and being a Singapore company gives them the advantage of credibility. “We didn’t have a big network. It was just plain outreach,” Zac explains.
“That’s the thing about Saudi Arabia. If you reach out and offer something of value, they are quite open to meet.”
Hard to survive on one product
As Zac and Tashriq connected with more Saudi firms, one expressed interest in using AI to beef up the security of its perfume stores. Stumbling upon this market gap, they decided to create an AI camera intelligence product.
“The problem with CCTV is that it requires manual review. Scrolling through hours of footage is time-consuming,” Zac explains. “What AI can do is cut this process down to minutes and detect incidents early.”
The product has many potential use cases: in cleaning services, energy installation at data centres, facilities management to raise property value, even at preschools to detect child mismanagement.
While there are numerous AI communication solutions in the market, AI camera intelligence is relatively niche. “If you only depend on one solution, it’ll be very hard for a company to survive. Having more offerings makes us more competitive,” Zac says.
Staying in the game
Although The Neuron Collective had a quiet first year, business shot up in 2026, with ten new projects, including three AI deployments that have gone live. “Over the past six months, there has been tremendous growth in our market validation and volume of clients,” Zac notes. Entrepreneurship has taught him to be resourceful and to stay in the game long enough for a breakthrough to occur.
Looking ahead, the startup hopes to strengthen its foothold in Saudi Arabia while expanding in Southeast Asia and Australia. “These regions have strong use cases for our AI camera intelligence,” he reveals.
While Zac encourages founders to venture abroad, he also advises suitable caution. “Before entering a new market, be it Saudi Arabia or some other country, you need to know your unfair advantage,” he says. “You have to be realistic about who can help you expand and what value can you provide.”
Before taking the leap with The Neuron Collective, Zac had a rosy idea of what being a founder would be like . “Entrepreneurship has been so glamourised on social media,” he reflects. “I underestimated the long hours and how tough it would be.”
Besides the myriad responsibilities, a founder above all has to grapple with uncertainty, he says. Economic forces can change. Product-market fit can change. “Many things can go wrong, but you have to be ready,” he says.
For Singaporeans looking to venture into Saudi Arabia, Zac offers three pieces of advice:
Invest in relationships first
Spend time meeting partners, understanding decision-makers and building trust rather than relying on sales presentations and products.
Adapt to the local context
A product that works in the Singapore domain has to be developed according to the legal, language, operational and business requirements in Saudi Arabia.
Don’t expect immediate results
The country offers significant opportunities, but be prepared for a longer journey and find the right partners to open the door for you.
Our advice? Sure, LDRs are challenging, but it’s not all bad! Through our communication, we’ve grown to put ourselves in each other’s shoes, and to see from the other point of view. A relationship is always a work in progress, and as long as both parties share the same end goal of making the choice to choose each other every day, make sacrifices, learn to give and take, things tend to work out. Remember that trust, commitment, and respect are the magic ingredients!
About Zac
Zaid “Zac” Yahya is the co-founder of The Neuron Collective, an agentic AI startup with clients in Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Previously, he was an account manager at TDCX handling a portfolio of 200 clients for Meta.
Connect with him here.
