The method
From “something is wrong” to the person who can fix it
Six steps. You supply the situation; Ujenva supplies the structure, the questions, the options and the handoff.
The loop
Problem in. Understanding, options, a plan, and the right person out.
Ujenva owns the distance between not knowing what is wrong and knowing exactly who to call. The work itself stays between you and the professional.
Describe
In your own words, in whatever form it comes out.
Type it, say it, photograph it, or send the document. No categories to choose, no technical vocabulary required.
Understand
Ujenva asks before it answers.
Questions adapt to the problem - a farmer is asked about seasons and soil, a shop owner about volume and process. Every question explains why it is being asked.
Clarify
A vague statement becomes a defined problem.
“My business is struggling” becomes “enquiries are healthy but conversion from enquiry to booking is 14%.” One of those is solvable.
Explore
Several ways forward, compared honestly.
Possible causes with confidence attached, and multiple solution paths set side by side on cost, time, effort, risk and what each requires.
Plan
A sequence you can actually follow.
Practical steps, who owns each one, and what to do first. Plus the expertise each stage genuinely needs - sometimes several roles, in a specific order.
Connect
Hand it over, prepared.
A brief written for the profession receiving it, the questions you should ask them, and a link, email or WhatsApp message. Then Ujenva steps back.
Where Ujenva stops
Ujenva is not the plumber, the engineer, the developer or the contractor - and it never handles the money.
It is the intelligence and connection layer between human problems and human expertise. The work, the fee and the relationship stay where they belong: between you and the person doing the job.
- No commission on anyone's work
- No holding your payments
- No guaranteeing someone else's job
- Professionals don't need an account
Before anything else
Ujenva checks whether your problem is really the problem.
Most tools accept the question you arrive with and start answering it. Ujenva tests it first - because the most expensive mistakes are the ones where you solve the wrong thing well.
“My business is struggling. I think maybe I need to advertise more.”
Reframed. Enquiry volume is not the problem - 60 a week is healthy. Conversion is 14% and the drop-off is consistently right after the price list. More advertising would scale the leak rather than seal it.
The stated problem was a symptom of a different one.
“I don't know if I need a new website or something else.”
The evidence points away from the website. Order data is complete and correct; losses cluster at exactly the hours when nobody can watch an inbox. Reframed as a handoff problem.
The thing they were about to replace was working correctly.
“Someone said we need an architect but someone else said an engineer.”
You were given conflicting advice, and both answers were half right. You need a structural engineer and an architect - the useful part is the order. Feasibility first, design second.
Both were half right. The sequence was the useful part.
Six ways Ujenva pushes back
That's a symptom, not the problem
When the thing you name is downstream of something else, Ujenva says so and names the real constraint - before you spend on the wrong fix.
Right things, wrong order
Sometimes everything you want is correct but the sequence isn't. Designing before feasibility, or advertising before conversion, wastes the work you do first.
It's too early to act
If a cheap test would change the answer, Ujenva tells you to run it rather than proposing work you might have to undo.
This isn't yours to fix
Some problems belong to a landlord, a supplier, or whoever caused them. Knowing that early changes what you do next - and who pays.
Nothing is actually wrong
An expectation that's mistaken, or variation within a normal range, is a legitimate finding. Ujenva will not manufacture a problem to have something to solve.
Nobody else has this problem yet
Builders often arrive with a solution rather than a problem. Ujenva asks who actually experiences it, how they cope today, and what it costs them - because building first is the expensive way to find out.
And when you’re right, it says so and gets on with it
Challenging is not the same as being contrarian. Ujenva pushes back only where the evidence supports it, and always shows the reasoning. If your framing holds up, it accepts it and moves on rather than inventing a disagreement to seem rigorous.
The handoff
Arrive at the professional already understood.
The hardest part of getting help is explaining the problem to someone who charges by the hour. Ujenva writes that explanation for you - shaped for the profession receiving it.
Send the brief, or a secure link to it, straight to their number.
Where most of this actually happens
Enter an address and Ujenva sends the brief with the files attached.
Secure link
A private page they can open on any device. No account, no app.
Download
PDF, DOCX, Markdown or plain text - yours to send however you like.
Laid out to be printed and handed over on paper.
Developer prompt
For software problems: requirements, spec, and an AI-ready build prompt.
Keeps your original idea intact
Professionals don't need an account
Brief for an agronomist
Same problem, written for who is reading it
Maize yield falling for three seasons
4-acre continuous maize plot in Los Ríos, ~40% yield decline over three seasons, pronounced upper/lower field gradient. Seeking soil sampling, laboratory analysis and interpretation before committing to any intervention.
The problem
- Maize yield on a 4-acre owned plot has fallen roughly 40% across three consecutive seasons.
- Planting method, spacing and timing are unchanged by the farmer's account.
- Performance is materially worse in the lower-lying section than the upper section of the same field.
Symptoms observed
- Germination is normal; plants stunt after the early growth stage.
- Interveinal yellowing on older leaves, lower leaves affected first (photographed).
- Standing water along the lower boundary persisting more than 24 hours after rainfall (photographed).
History and recent changes
- Same household has farmed the plot for over 15 years.
- Continuous maize; no legume rotation reported.
- Fertiliser switched to a cheaper DAP-based product approximately three seasons ago.
- No lime or organic amendment ever applied.
- A road was constructed on the land immediately uphill two years ago, altering runoff.
What has not been established
- Soil pH and nutrient profile - never tested.
- Presence or absence of a plough pan below tillage depth.
- Exact entry point of road runoff into the field.
Constraints
- Budget of approximately $400 before next planting.
- Planting window opens in roughly 10 weeks; lab turnaround must fit inside it.
- Household labour only.
What is being asked of you
- Composite soil sampling, taken separately for upper and lower sections.
- Submission for pH, available phosphorus, nitrogen and organic matter.
- Interpretation against the cropping history above, and an amendment recommendation with rates.
- An opinion on whether a soil pit is warranted to check for compaction while on site.
Questions you should ask them
- 01Should the upper and lower sections be sampled and analysed separately?
- 02Which laboratory do you use, and what is their current turnaround time?
- 03If lime is indicated, how long before planting does it need to be applied to act this season?
- 04While on site, can you check for a plough pan with a soil pit?
- 05What would you expect to see if road runoff were the primary cause rather than acidity?
- 06What is your fee for the visit, sampling, and interpretation?
For people who have never had to evaluate a professional before - this is the part that changes the conversation.
You choose what goes. Every section can be included or withheld, and contact details are held back by default - you can send an initial enquiry without revealing who or where you are.
Boundaries
An AI that tells you when it doesn't know.
Ujenva is very good at organising a problem and narrowing what it could be. It is not qualified to tell you that your foundations will hold, and it will not pretend otherwise.
Possibility and assessment are never the same word
Causes are labelled as hypotheses with confidence attached, and confidence is capped below certainty by design. A professional's assessment is shown as something different in kind, not something further along the same scale.
Gaps are stated, not filled
Every workspace carries an explicit list of what has not been established and how it can be resolved - a test, a measurement, a site visit. Ujenva would rather show you an empty box than invent what belongs in it.
High-stakes problems escalate on their own
Anything structural, electrical, or safety-relevant is flagged for a qualified professional the moment it is recognised. Ujenva narrows the field for them; it does not stand in for them.
You decide what leaves the workspace
Full brief, selected sections, specific files, with or without contact details. An initial enquiry can be sent anonymously, and contact details are held back unless you release them.
Questions people ask first
- How does Ujenva know what kind of professional I need?
- It works backwards from your problem rather than forwards from a category. The interview establishes what is actually happening, what constrains you, and what remains unknown - then identifies which expertise could resolve each part, and in what order. For a building extension, for instance, it will tell you a structural engineer must come before an architect, because a design produced before feasibility is known may have to be discarded.
- Do I need to know anything technical to use it?
- No. That is the point. Describe the situation the way you would describe it to a friend. Ujenva asks follow-up questions in plain language, and each question explains why it is being asked and what it will rule in or out.
- What if the problem I describe isn't really the problem?
- Ujenva checks for exactly that before accepting your framing. If the thing you named is a symptom of something else, it names the real constraint - 'sales are down so I need more advertising' is not a marketing problem when enquiries are already healthy and conversion is low. It also flags when you are asking for the right things in the wrong order, when a cheap test should come before any work, when the problem belongs to someone else, and when nothing appears to be wrong at all. It will not invent a disagreement: if your framing holds up, it says so and moves on.
- I have an idea for something to build. Will Ujenva tell me if nobody needs it?
- Yes, and that is deliberate. Engineers and founders often arrive with a solution rather than a problem - something they are genuinely excited about, with no evidence that anyone outside the room experiences the need. Ujenva asks who actually has this problem, how they cope with it today, and what it costs them. If the honest answer is 'nobody yet' or 'only me', it says so plainly. That is not a judgement on the idea: novel ideas often precede demonstrated demand. It means the real first task is validating it, not building it - because building first is the expensive way to find out.
- Will it just tell me what's wrong?
- It will tell you what it could be, with explicit confidence, and what would settle the question - a test, a measurement, or someone on site. It does not diagnose. For anything physical, structural, electrical or safety-related, it says plainly that a qualified professional is required, because a written description genuinely cannot establish those things.
- What can I send it?
- Text, voice notes, photographs, video, PDFs, documents, screenshots and measurements. For physical problems the evidence usually matters more than the description - a thirty-second video of a shower running has settled cases that paragraphs could not.
- Does the professional need a Ujenva account?
- No. Briefs go by WhatsApp, email, secure link, PDF or print, and the recipient needs no account, app or relationship with Ujenva. Many people send them to the plumber, agronomist or developer they already use.
- Does Ujenva take a cut of what I pay the professional?
- No. It never holds funds, takes no commission, and does not sit between you and the person you hire. It charges a subscription for the intelligence layer. What you pay a professional is entirely between the two of you.
- How long does it take?
- Usually around ten to fifteen minutes for the interview and analysis. The slow part is the thinking, not the loading - and it is considerably faster than discovering halfway through a job that you hired the wrong trade.
The thesis
People shouldn’t need to know how to solve a problem before asking for help.
They just need to know that they have one. Ujenva takes it from there - until it reaches the person who can finish it.
Free to start · No card required · Professionals need no account