Legal setup (trade licence, visas, bank account) typically takes two to six weeks in the UAE. Building an actual functioning go-to-market engine — positioning, channels, first paying customers — commonly takes another three to six months, longer for regulated B2B categories with long sales cycles.
Treat licensing and go-to-market as two separate timelines running in parallel, not sequentially. Companies that wait until the licence is issued before starting marketing typically lose a full quarter they didn't need to lose.