LEAP is the biggest tech event in the region, and this year it ran in Riyadh for the fifth time, with more than 200,000 people through the doors.
We took a booth as a startup exhibitor. As a Riyadh company, it was one of the few big events we get to do in our own city. It was also one of the rare chances we get to meet our users in person. Most of them are in North America and Europe, which means the people who rely on Dadan every day almost never end up in the same room as the team building it.
Dadan at LEAP 2026: Our Experience
Our booth was in the startup area, near the main stage. For most of the team, it was the first time showing Dadan to a Saudi audience.
The distance from our users is also why we run on European servers and sorted out GDPR early, back when almost none of our demand was coming from home.
So the goal for LEAP was to build awareness across Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region, and we wanted to sit with teams here to understand how they use video inside their companies, and where a tool like ours fits.
Highlights From the Dadan Booth
Two things drew people to our booth. One was the feature we launched. The other was the chocolate we handed out, which got more attention than we expected.
Guides by Dadan, Our Newest Feature
We launched a new feature at LEAP called Guides Generator. It turns a screen recording into a written, step-by-step guide, and it adds a screenshot for each step automatically.
You can edit the steps and annotate the screenshots. It also translates the guide into more than 40 languages, and you can export it as a PDF or share it online through Dadan.
We built Guides for companies that work across languages, mainly B2B teams supporting customers and staff in different countries. One recording gives you a video and a written guide, and the written guide can be read in the reader’s own language. You don’t need to create it every time.
The Chocolates
We brought the usual table of swag. T-shirts, notebooks, stickers, flyers, tote bags, and a meeting jail card that everyone wanted a photo with. It all did fine.
But what did better was the chocolate.
Most booths in Saudi Arabia serve dates and Saudi coffee. We handed out chocolate instead. It was a small thing, but it worked, and it got people talking more than anything else on the table.
Conversations That Stood Out at LEAP 2026
We spoke with a wide range of people, from students to serial investors. The most common reaction was surprise at how much Dadan does in one place.
Most companies we talked to use a different tool for each job. Sales uses one for meeting notes, support has one for finding and requesting videos, marketing has one for polished recordings, and engineering wants whatever is simplest.
Dadan covers enough of all of it that people from very different teams saw a use for it.
For companies with staff and clients in several countries, Guides added to that, since it gives them documentation their clients can read in their own language.
But the best part of the event had nothing to do with the pitch. Some of the people who stopped by were Dadan users who had traveled from other countries for LEAP. They recognized us. We took photos together and recorded a short video of them talking about how they use Dadan.
What We Learned From LEAP 2026
People were surprised that a global SaaS product had come out of Riyadh. We have about 40,000+ users and a reasonable recognition on G2, most of it earned in a little over a year, and saying that in person, at home, meant more than saying it online ever has.
The other thing was distribution. Recording a video is easy, and every tool at LEAP could do it. The harder end of it was getting the video to the right person in a form they will open, and most tools stop short of helping with that.
The Future of AI-Powered Video Workflows
Two ideas have driven Dadan from the start. One, that getting a recording ready to share should not take several separate tools. Two, that most of the industry focuses on recording and ignores what happens to the video afterward, which is what decides whether it gets used.
Guides comes out of the second idea. A recording you make once can also become a written guide to send or translate. It works alongside our existing AI Assist tools, like transcription and meeting notes.
We met people from across industries and left with a much better read on the market here. If you are planning to enter the Saudi market, LEAP is one of the fastest ways to understand it.
What’s Next for Dadan?
For now, our focus is getting Guides to more teams. The larger goal has not changed. Every recording should have more than one way to be useful after you stop recording.
We keep our changelog and public roadmap up to date, so that is the place to follow what comes next.
Conclusion
We came to LEAP for exposure and left with more than that. Meeting our users in person was the highlight. The response was positive, and we have a long list of things to work through.
If you want to try Guides or the rest of Dadan, the free plan is at dadan.io.
