Regional Founders Meetups: how it went and what’s next

Tech in Asia had an exciting 2023, especially on the events front.

With the world opening up again, we were able to bring our community together through a series of offline events, such as our annual Tech in Asia Conference, our SYNC summit, and the newest addition to our slate: the Regional Founders Meetups. These were networking events that gave founders and tech leaders in our audience the opportunity to connect and exchange ideas.

As we get into the thick of 2024, let’s take a look at how the Regional Founders Meetup series has grown.

Why Founders Meetup?

We started the Regional Founders Meetups because we realized that people crave face-to-face meetings and connections, especially after so much time apart due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As we did more offline events, we found that the energy and enthusiasm was just so much more palpable when we’re all in the same room together. Video conferencing is great, but it doesn’t really offer that same kind of interaction. Many of our attendees also shared that they valued these in-person connections and were hungry for more opportunities to network with others in the tech scene.

Photo credit: Stefanie Yeo for Tech in Asia

At the time, 2023 was shaping up to be a rough year for startups, with a tech winter setting in, funding slowing down, and economic uncertainty making things tough for everyone.

In the face of this, we wanted founders to feel like they’re not alone, as well as give them an avenue to connect with like-minded folks to ask questions, get help, meet new people, and seize opportunities. After all, who knows the struggles of the founder’s life better than those in the same boat?

And with that, our Regional Founders Meetup series was born.

Highlights of the year

In 2023, we hosted 11 meetups in seven cities – Singapore, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Bangkok, and Bangalore – with over 1,000 people in attendance across all the events. That’s 11 evenings of community and networking, and we hope our attendees walked away from the meetups with fresh insights and new connections.

Aside from the networking, some of our meetups included fireside chats, geared at giving founders new ideas and perspectives or addressing some questions they have about the entrepreneurial life.

Tech in Asia COO Maria Li and CEO Willis Wee at our last Regional Founders Meetup of 2023 / Photo credit: Stefanie Yeo for Tech in Asia

Some of the speakers we had at our sessions included Brian Cu, co-founder of SariSuki and Grab Philippines, Rexy Josh Dorado, co-founder of Kumu, and Bryan Pelz, co-founder of VNG and Bootloader Studio. We also had our CEO Willis Wee and COO Maria Li talk about Tech in Asia’s own acquisition journey, coming off the back of our acquisition by SPH Media.

Coming up next

We had an amazing 2023, and 2024 is set to be just as exciting, with our Regional Founders Meetups coming back bigger and better than before.

Our first Regional Founders Meetup for the year will be happening in Singapore on April 24.

Rufus Sorsa, associate partner at Antler, and Ed Barker, principal at Square Peg, will be sharing their perspectives on the investment scene and what lies ahead for our tech ecosystem in 2024.

Seats are limited, so be sure to get your tickets before it’s too late.

GET TICKETS

If you’d like to keep up with our calendar of events and be the first to know when our Founders Meetups will land in your city, simply fill in this form below:

Thank you to our 2023 partners – AppWorks, AWS, CleverTap, Cooley, D.Camp, Oracle, Sinarmas Land, Singapore Global Network, Quest Ventures, and Purple Quarter – for making these meetups possible. And of course, thank you to our community, for showing up in full force to our events – your support is invaluable.

(Interested in being a partner for the Regional Founders Meetup series? Connect with us here.)

Here’s to another year of community, connection, and learning! We’ll see you very soon at our first meetup in 2024 👋.