The shape of professional gatherings for founders and digital creators in Southeast Asia is shifting fast. Conferences defined by keynote speeches and networking drinks are giving way to experiences built around action, connection and culture. Events like BeyondFest signal that change: they reject passive attendance in favour of formats where attendees become participants, conversations become co‑creation, and community replaces broadcast.
This shift comes at a moment when the region’s digital economy is accelerating. The ASEAN digital market is forecast to nearly triple towards the end of this decade, turning “digital native” from an optional badge into a mandatory business identity. In that context, the exhibition, conference and forum model is under pressure. Entrepreneurs no longer want to listen; they want to experiment. They want community, not just content.
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Against this backdrop, the focus is changing. Branding, storytelling and purpose are migrating from marketing appendices to core business infrastructure. Artificial intelligence is no longer an exotic topic—it is embedded in business models, yet still misunderstood in how it reshapes work and identity. In settings where cultural nuance matters, entrepreneurs grapple with both locality and global ambition at once. For example, event audiences in Penang differ markedly from those in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok or Jakarta in network style, payment expectation and value perception.
In one such event, organiser Jeremiah Su describes the experience as an “anti‑conference,” designed to trigger tension, friction, and community agency rather than comfort and passivity. Those shifts match broader signs in the ecosystem: as investors seek more than burn‑rate metrics, founders and organisers turn to networks as infrastructure and identity as advantage.
This new generation of gatherings is less about scale for scale’s sake than about trust, adaptability and human design. It is where business meets culture, technology meets narrative, and local roots meet global possibility. Here’s what Jeremiah had to say about all of this.
You describe yourself as a “Rebelpreneur,” and you emphasise purpose, joy, and community in how you lead. How do you reconcile that posture with the demands of scaling a high-growth business in a competitive tech economy?
The same way I built my first 2 businesses, with heart. It doesn’t matter if it’s high-growth, competitive, or tech-driven. All these are just mechanics, but every machine still needs a core, and that core to me is humans and humanity. So when push comes to shove, I will always choose people over profits.
BeyondFest calls itself an “anti-conference,” with formats like unconferences, eavesdropping talks, and interactive formats. How do you intentionally design friction or tension into the event format to push participants beyond passive attendance?
Easy, through ABC: attitude, behaviour, and culture. With attitude, I use specific energies, vibes and phraseology to prime the attendees and audience a certain way. It’s basically neuro-emotional communication, because every word comes with a set of pre-conceived notions and understandings.
An event is seen differently from a meetup. With this attitude, I then incite and elicit a certain behaviour from the attendees to have a hive mentality, and also to surface like-minded actions and responses. Eventually, when there is a critical mass, those behaviours will then shape and mould the culture of a product (BeyondFest), place (AWS), and people (attendees). This all stems from me, and I’m a little crazy.
In your career, you’ve exited your agency and now run The Beyond community and BeyondFest. What internal changes (mindset, team structure, leadership habits) did you make as you moved from agency founder to builder of a platform/community?
The first thing I had to let go of was my ego. I had to ditch everything I knew, everything I learnt, and restart.
The second aspect is to re-learn everything and put on the hat of a builder once again. The third thing is, and always will be, the tribe mentality.
Community building has always been something I’ve done in every initiative I started, whether it is internal HR processes or teaching with Nas Academy. It’s always about the people. That will never change.
Many founders view content, branding, and storytelling as optional marketing tools. You position them as foundational. What common flaws do you see in how tech startups treat branding, and what shift do you believe is most urgent?
Most startups think that branding is marketing. That’s a big no no nooooo. They’re not the same omg! Branding is internal, marketing is external. Content and storytelling are not foundational per se, but it’s more of a by-product of brand activation.
Once you understand your “why” (brand), then you can tell the best stories. Founders shouldn’t see branding as a luxury, but a necessity, and then branch out into marketing, content, and storytelling.
AI is a frequent topic in your event programming. In your opinion, what is the biggest misconception leaders have about how AI will reshape entrepreneurship over the next 3 to 5 years?
ANS: I personally feel the biggest misconception is that AI will make everything so much easier. Yes, and no. Basic stuff, for sure, AI will replace. But more complex stuff, the general public will still be clueless about it. Things like AIgentics, automations, N8N, and even vibe coding. There will still need to be people who are hyper-obsessed about AI to help make it palatable for the masses to adopt.
Community is a buzzword these days. You run a paid community, The Beyond. What is your philosophy of community as business infrastructure? How do you balance value creation for members with commercial sustainability?
Yeah. Before communities, there were tribes. Before tribes, there were teams. Before teams, there were gangs. Just different words repackaging the same ideology
Community as a business is basically giving access and a network to individuals willing to pay for it, and I believe in it. BNI, EGN, EO, I can name a hundred other community-based businesses that trade a subscription with value. For me, though, I always position the purpose first. With that purpose,
I always aim to bring impact and benefit to my members, and I truly want them to succeed. I want to help them. I want them to grow. Through that, money will eventually come either through membership, fringe activities and events, or the network.
The shift from local/regional focus to global ambition is hard. Based on what you’ve learned so far, what is the single hardest barrier for Malaysian/Southeast Asian digital entrepreneurs aiming for global scale?
Network through cultural nuance. In 2025, I ran community events in Singapore, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Pattaya, Mumbai, Manila, Bansko, Turkiye, Jakarta, and the one common thing is the drive to make money. BUT, how that drive is communicated and the network behind it is culturally VERY different. People in Penang want value and are very economical with their money.
People in Kuala Lumpur are very willing to help without an agenda behind it. Same country, different state, different mindset. With that difference in mindset comes different styles in network opening. Same with Bangkok and Pattaya. Bangkok people are hungry and will pay to attend an event to increase their network. Pattaya entrepreneurs are very attuned to free events, so they will think twice about paying to gain a network.
Looking ahead 5–10 years, what role do you see your work (BeyondFest, The Beyond, your personal brand) playing in shaping the next generation of entrepreneurial ecosystems in Southeast Asia?
I personally feel that I’m in a good space to disrupt. Everyone is bored with the same BS and the same way things are done. Especially in Asia, when a lot of people are politically correct. Because my activities bring me to places with people of potential, I have the platform to enlighten and build up.
No, I’m not looking to convert people into my brand of business and behaviour, but really to show them what’s possible, that anything can be done with the right tools and access, especially the emerging generations.
They are going to be the future of business and industry, and they do things so raw and authentically woohooo. It takes one person to bring method to madness, and I choose to be that madman.
Tickets and participation
Tickets for the event are now open for registration. Use code “TTC10” for 10% off your purchase for a limited time.
For more details and registration, visit BeyondFest
Editor’s note: Tech Collective Southeast Asia is a media partner for the BeyondFest and stands to earn from affiliate purchases.