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Hello, I'm Asal Rad

I help your business move AI from talk to a shipped product. lead digital products with real judgment. turn strategy into numbers that move.

I'm an AI-driven leadership consultant, fractional CPO and product strategist. I've spent fifteen years building digital products. I started in engineering, then founded my own company and moved into management by starting several businesses, and along the way I've advised more than 25 companies.

I've sat in every one of those seats. That's why the advice I give isn't theory. It holds up in execution.

The problem I work on

Everyone wants AI. Few get it to a product.

There is a long distance between "we want to use AI" and "we have a product, a team and a process that genuinely runs on it." Most companies are stuck at the start of that road. Pilots end without a verdict, the roadmap drifts, clever people can't agree on what to build, and in the end nobody decides.

That gap is exactly where I work. I close it, and I stay until the result is real.

Why choose me

Judge the work, not the talk.

Everyone is talking about AI right now. The difference is that before I was an advisor, I was an operator. I've made payroll, built teams, watched a plan of mine fail, and changed my mind in front of the room.

And I don't only advise. I build. I founded Lead because one pattern kept repeating: companies knew they should move on AI, but the projects stalled at the prototype and never reached the daily work.

Fifteen years, and the numbers standing behind them.

15+

Years in product

Across every seat, from strategy and management through to operations and delivery.

25+

Companies advised

Founders and leadership teams, mostly in digital businesses.

20+

Products launched

From the idea and its validation through to a real product in the market.

45+

Courses and sessions

Teaching, passing on experience, and writing for the people who read it.

EducationMarketplacesRestaurants & cafesCRMPaymentsSaaSE-commercePlatforms

What I do

Three ways to work together.

Choose the one that matches where your business is now. If you're not sure, that's exactly what the first call is for. All three begin the same way: a real conversation about what's standing in your way.

01

Fractional CPO

A senior product leader beside you, one to three days a week, without a full-time hire and without a six-month search.

  • Digital product strategy and a roadmap tied to business goals
  • Team alignment, hiring support, and frameworks that actually get used
  • Execution from first version to market, then compounding improvement
  • Clear reporting to your board, investors and key stakeholders
  • Working shoulder to shoulder with engineering, design, sales and finance

For you if: you have early signs of product traction but nobody senior owns the product, and your roadmap is closer to a wishlist than a strategy.

02

Management consulting

Strategy that survives contact with execution. Short, outcome-led engagements, plus a seat in the meetings where the real decisions get made.

  • AI readiness across four layers: data, team, process, product
  • Operating model and org design, and building the team that has to deliver it
  • Market entry planning, or taking a new product to market
  • OKRs, prioritised plans, and the follow-through to keep them honest

For you if: you're at a turning point. Scaling, entering a new market, moving toward AI, or simply outgrowing the shape the company was built in.

03

Strategic partnership

Not everything reduces to a number. Some work carries a bigger responsibility, and that deserves attention too.

  • Working on projects and businesses with a higher purpose and a large vision
  • Social impact work that lines up with my personal and humanitarian values
  • Building strategic relationships between businesses for shared advantage
  • Speaking, and running or contributing to educational events

For you if: you're doing something significant and you can feel it needs someone alongside you, whose skills and experience add real value to your goal and your project.

Work can start small. Pick one thing, fix it, prove it works, then widen the scope. Honestly, that's cheaper for you and more workable for me. Starting with a grand plan means finding out far too late whether it was the right plan at all.

Say helloIt starts here

How I work

Three steps, and I'm with you through to the result.

No off-the-shelf template and no theatre. I've run these plans myself, and I still do, so I know which part gives way first.

1Step one

Diagnose

A focused conversation about where you are, where you want to go, and what is genuinely in the way. It's usually not what you think it is.

2Step two

Design

A clear roadmap, and a plan to build capability or reinvent your business. Fitted to your reality, not to a generic version of another company's best practice.

3Step three

Execute

I stay through delivery and work beside your team until the numbers change. Then I hand over a team that keeps working without me.

Results

Part of the record, in numbers.

Three engagements and what changed because of them. Client names stay confidential. The numbers don't.

Bringing AI into an e-commerce operation

The problem
A client who wanted the results of AI without any route toward them.
What I did
Built an AI adoption roadmap aimed at specific operations, with automation that people would genuinely use.
−25%Operating cost
3xRevenue
4xCustomer acquisition

A business services platform for international projects

The problem
A product that acquired users but didn't keep them, and a release cycle slow enough to delay every fix.
What I did
Redefined product ownership, rebuilt the user journey from the data, and shortened the delivery cycle.
+25%Retention
−30%Release cycle length
10+International projects

A product studio running six businesses

The problem
Six parallel ventures each going their own way and burning shared resources doing it.
What I did
Unified product structure and priorities, and built one shared narrative and set of materials for fundraising.
−50%HR cost
5xValuation growth
3xFaster sales cycle

Feedback

What people have said, and what I'm proud of.

I never ask anyone for a quote or a video at the end of a project. But hearing back what others have said about me is the part that keeps me going.

”

In under two weeks she understood our entire business and started bringing us a plan. Projects that had been open for over a year closed in less than a month, and she moved so fast in execution that we were the ones asking for more time.

Senior manager, online education platform

”

We always invite Asal to our strategy sessions, because she has an open, creative mind that sees a problem from a different angle and offers a solution that might not have been on our list at all. She named our product and service lines, and the names were beautiful.

CEO, business software services

”

We were looking for an advisor for one of our growing startups. A friend introduced her, and because she had no prior background in that particular field we invited her in to discuss a different engagement instead. After three sessions we saw how she connected with the team, and both projects went to her.

Senior manager, investment fund

What I'm building now

I build what I recommend.

These are the live test of the same frameworks I bring to clients. If an idea doesn't hold up against my own profit and loss, I won't put it in front of yours.

Founder

Lead

An AI studio building software that runs a business's daily operations rather than reporting on them. FoodOS for restaurants and cafes, BusinessHub for multi-site groups, and four more systems for work, teams, money and life.

leadfirm.ir →

Founder

Marzi

An AI platform for resolving commercial disputes. Agents focus on how a dispute is surfaced, structured and settled. Most cases resolve through assisted settlement; the rest go to human arbitrators.

marzi.online →

Built at Lead

BusinessHub

A complete management system for restaurants and cafes. It runs prep, ordering, stock and waste, instead of reporting on them tomorrow. Built for established multi-site groups, and running in real kitchens now.

leadfirm.ir/BusinessHub →

Lead is the AI studio behind these products. More about my role at Lead →

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Questions

What people ask before the first call.

If yours isn't here, write to me directly. I reply within two business days.

What is a fractional CPO?
An experienced senior product leader who works inside your team part time, usually one to three days a week. You get the seniority of a full-time CPO for a fraction of the cost, and you end with a team that keeps running and growing on its own.
Do you advise, or do you build?
Both. I advise companies, and I founded Lead, an AI studio that builds software which runs a business's daily operations. I don't sell what I'm not willing to build myself. That's a useful filter for both of us.
How strong is the team behind you?
I work with a wide network of specialists across disciplines, who come in on commercial terms as each project needs them. I assemble the team around the problem rather than forcing the problem onto a fixed team.
What makes you different from other consultants?
Working across many industries gives a fuller view of how a business actually fits together. I work like a complete toolbox rather than a hammer that sees every problem as a nail. That's usually why the useful answer arrives from an unexpected direction.
How many projects do you take at once?
I start engagements against real capacity, not optimism. I've turned down interesting work in busy periods. Time to think and to be creative about a client's problem is part of the plan, not whatever is left at the end of the day.
What kind of companies do you work with?
Mostly founders and executives at growing companies, largely technology businesses across sectors: online education, food tech, fintech, legal tech and e-commerce. I'll also work with first-time founders and newly appointed leaders where I can genuinely make a difference.
Where are you based, and would you relocate?
I'm based in Tehran and work with teams in several countries. Everything starts remote, and remote works well. Relocation is open, but not as an opening move: it's something I'd consider after a period of working together and once terms are agreed on both sides.
How fast can we start, and what does it cost?
Usually two to three weeks, depending on capacity. Fractional work is monthly, set by days per week and scope. Consulting is scoped per project. The first call is free, and after it you receive the financial commitments and the details of the engagement on both sides.

Contact

Can I help you?

Tell me where you are and what's standing in your way. If I'm not the right fit, I'll say so early and point you to someone who is. That costs you one email and saves you a great deal of time.

Send an email→
Emailhi@asalrad.com
LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/asalrad
Based inTehran. Working with teams worldwide.
My studioleadfirm.ir