From Miami to Dubai: Markeltree in the Founder & Technology Ecosystem

Markeltree's week was an education in enterprise tech, and they certainly learned more about where software and AI are heading next, from enterprise technology to founder rooms.

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Our Founder Story

Built Close to the People Who Live the Problem

Some businesses are constructed at the rear of a desk. We had never been able to. The best products we know of began with someone standing near the problem: the founder sweating over a pitch, the operator with a process that won't work, the investor asking the question nobody wants to hear, and the enterprise team trying to make a big idea work at scale.

We're creating Markeltree to be close to these people. So when September 2026 came around, we packed up and headed from our Miami roots to Dubai.

Miami Dubai

We spent some days there in two completely different parts of innovation in the Middle East: Seamless Middle East 2026 and the 24six9 Dubai Chapter: Pitch Roast.

Dr. Kimberly Dalius and Tariq Malik, founders of Markeltree, at Seamless Middle East 2026 in Dubai — Dr. Kimberly Dalius & Tariq Malik at Seamless Middle East, Dubai

Part One

A Journey Through The Enterprise Floor

Seamless Middle East 2026 · Dubai World Trade Centre

Seamless Middle East placed us in the heart of technology, at Dubai World Trade Centre. During those days, we walked through fintech, payments, digital commerce, AI, automation, and the infrastructure that seamlessly drives modern customer experiences.

New products are accessible to anyone. We wanted to know the signal beneath, the technologies that businesses are applying, and what problems they're solving. A demo is evidence of what can be done. The buyer's interest will tell you what's required. There's a gap there that we filled.

Part Two

The Room Where Ideas Get Tested

24six9 Dubai Chapter · Pitch Roast

The following night, the scale went down, and the level of honesty rose. We were invited to attend the 24six9 Dubai founder community's Pitch Roast, a smaller and more intimate room for startup founders to pitch in and receive direct constructive feedback from the community.

It was good, speedy, honest, and sensible. Each founder was experimenting with something, asking the question, “Can I describe the problem, the product, and why it's important in such a way that it will stand up to questioning?” A reminder that all products start as ideas that have to face questioning, reality, and execution from customers.

Side by Side

Two Rooms, One Picture

Put the two events side by side, and they fit together. Seamless was an introduction to enterprise-scale technology. With 24six9, it was back to the basics, the starting point.

Seamless Middle East

An introduction to enterprise-scale technology

The direction of the market

24six9 Pitch Roast

Back to the basics, the starting point

The source of new ideas

One was an overview of the direction of the market; the other was an examination of the source of new ideas. We needed both.

Founder Stories

Four Rooms. One Week in Dubai.

Here are the four stories. Pick one to read the full account.

Markeltree founders at the Middle East – UAE Agentic AI Forum in Dubai, September 2026

Story 01

Where AI is headed

Middle East – UAE Agentic AI Forum, Dubai

Dubai, UAE

Our first room was where AI is headed in the future: away from AI answering questions and toward agentic AI that acts, performs multi-step tasks and works inside real business processes.

Read the story

Markeltree co-founder beside the ETCIO EMEA Annual Tech Summit – The Middle East banner in Dubai

Story 02

The enterprise reality check

ETCIO EMEA Annual Tech Summit – The Middle East, Dubai

Dubai, UAE

The AI forum was on what can be done, whereas the enterprise technology summit was on what organizations have to do, in a room of leaders responsible for systems, budgets, security, and teams.

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Markeltree founders on the Seamless Middle East 2026 expo floor in Dubai

Story 03

The market at scale

Seamless Middle East 2026, Dubai World Trade Centre

Dubai World Trade Centre

Seamless Middle East took us center stage of tech at Dubai World Trade Centre: fintech, payments, digital commerce, artificial intelligence, automation and the systems behind modern customer experiences.

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Markeltree founders in the audience at the 24six9 Pitch Roast, AstroLabs Dubai

Story 04

Where ideas begin

24six9 Dubai Chapter: Pitch Roast, AstroLabs Dubai

AstroLabs Dubai

Our final room was the smallest, and also the most honest: the 24six9 founder community's Pitch Roast, where startup founders shared their ideas and got direct, constructive feedback.

Read the story

What It Means for Us

But What Does It Mean To The Way In Which We Build?

That's a contrast that reflects our own work: the technology is just a tool that we use, whether creating an AI product, a custom software platform, workflow automation, a mobile application, or integration; the technology itself is not as important; it's what value the business and people benefit from doing it that matters.

AI Products Custom Software Platforms Workflow Automation Mobile Applications System Integrations

Whether it's Miami or Dubai, our mission remains the same: remain relevant to the issues that deserve addressing, learn from the people around you, and develop effective software that's used in the real world.

A product, workflow, or business process that is in need of a better technology solution? See how Markeltree's AI and custom software development solutions can help or share a discovery conversation with our team.

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What our customers say

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Markeltree’s AI solutions helped us optimize our data workflows and decision-making process. Their team clearly understood our objectives and delivered a practical, results-driven AI implementation.