By SGN | 20 May 2026
Many expatriates begin their journey to Singapore on the back of a high-flying role, corporate transfer, or a specialised recruitment drive. Not for Pierre Martensson.
His story starts in 1994, with a map, an Electrolux vacuum cleaner, and no cash.
Braving the HDB blocks of early Nineties Singapore
Pierre had come to Singapore in search of a challenge that would prove his mettle. Back in Sweden, he had been working at Stadium, a sports shop selling shoes. He had never been to Asia, but had read extensively about it, and wanted to experience it for himself.
So, he applied for a door-to-door sales role with Electrolux in Singapore, from a notice he had seen in a newspaper advertisement.
“Knocking on doors and selling vacuum cleaners would be one hell of a challenge,” he grins.
There was never a dull moment for Pierre the moment he alighted from Changi Airport. He headed to Scotts Road, where he had planned to rent a room from a Chinese opera singer. As he found himself with no funds after paying his deposit, he realised he would need to walk to his new office in Paya Lebar.
“There were no mobile phones or Google Maps in those days, so I borrowed a map from a Caltex Station, so I could find my way around. It was a long walk to the office,” he shares.
For months, Pierre knocked on the doors of HDB flats across the island. By his own admission, he became quite adept at selling vacuum cleaners, an experience that would inform his outlook on business for decades to come.
“I’ve learned one lesson, which I apply to everything I do in life: if you want customers, you have to be out there selling to them,” he says. “You cannot sit in a nice, air-conditioned office and hope that the customer is going to find you. This usually doesn’t work.”
Instead of limiting himself to only a select handful of countries, Pierre decided to embark on a global professional journey. After his initial success as a door-to-door salesman in Singapore, he was able to replicate the same in other countries. In South Africa, his claim to fame was successfully selling a vacuum cleaner to Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu.
He then worked as Managing Director of Oriflame for five years, spending the first two years in Sri Lanka, then the latter three in China.
Believing in Antler’s vision
Pierre returned to Singapore in 2016, in a senior leadership role at venture-funded startup company Tapad.
In 2018, his path crossed with Magnus Grimeland and Fridtjof Berge, the Founders of Antler. While the meeting was purely coincidental, as he had run into both in an elevator, the timing could not have been better.
At the time, Pierre was an active angel investor, but he was frustrated by the middling success rate of early-stage startups. The story played out nearly identically every time: he’d meet the founder, ascertain their goals, and examine the technology being leveraged to grow the business.
“All these startups had the same goal; of growing exponentially and becoming unicorns,” he says. Of course, this did not materialise for a majority of the startups.
“I started to wonder if there was a smarter way for me to invest in startups.”
The answer arrived to him in the form of a pitch deck shared by Grimeland and Berge. The duo had analysed hundreds of companies, and formulated a four-pronged reason as to why most startups failed.
This was their vision for Antler: a model that would mitigate startup failure by applying a more systematic, hands-on approach to venture building from the get-go. Impressed by their previous track record in growing successful startups from the ground up, he felt compelled to lend his expertise.
Pierre’s role was to do exactly what he had done decades ago: knock on the doors of investors, but this time, he was swapping out the vacuum cleaner for a pitch deck. At the time, Antler’s business model of working with early-stage founders was fairly novel, so had his work cut out for him.
“I had to knock on a certain number of doors in order to get my foot in the door, so I could sell Antler’s value proposition,” he explains. While the initial rejection rate was high, with only one in ten investors subscribing to Antler’s vision, Pierre remained undeterred.
It took eleven months of relentless knocking to raise Antler’s initial round of funding.
Solving the ‘lone wolf’ problem with Scale Factory
After a year with Antler, Pierre had identified another significant gap in the market. Many European and US companies were eager to expand into the fast-paced Asian markets, but were failing because they relied on a strategy of sending their best salesman to an unfamiliar market.
This hardly ever yielded positive results, mostly because the lone salesman trying to make sense of local cultures and systems lacked the right context, contacts, and resources to replicate domestic success.
Another (unsuccessful) strategy involved local teams applying the same strategy deployed in Europe and US, to Southeast Asian markets or contexts, and hoping for identical results. Furthermore, a lack of understanding from the main offices about local timelines and market dynamics led to undue pressure on local teams.
This encouraged Pierre to start The Scale Factory with his co-founder, Lars. “I want to help companies avoid the common pitfalls that come with regional expansion,” he says.
The Scale Factory stood out because of the fundamental difference in the way it operated.
“Most consultants leave behind a go-to-market strategy for their clients on how to win in Asia. At The Scale Factory, we do the same, but we also pull together a team of great local talent who can bring the plans to life, and ensure the new business is profitable,” he explains.
“In many ways, we become our client’s commercial team in the region.”
One of The Scale Factory’s most successful case studies is marketing tech company Bannerflow. Within 14 months of working with Scale Factory, the company experienced rapid growth and became profitable in the region, landing major clients like Singapore Airlines.
Well into its fourth year of scaling Bannerflow in the APAC region, The Scale Factory has deployed a team of six commercial talents and counting for Bannerflow.
Admiring Singapore’s large-scale efficiency
When asked why he chose to incorporate The Scale Factory in Singapore, over competitors like Hong Kong or Bangkok, Pierre’s answer is immediate: the ecosystem is unparalleled.
“Setting up shop in Singapore is quick, transparent, and comes with access to world-class talent and support,” he shares. “Early on, we figured that this would be the deciding factor for us to build our business.”
In a similar vein, he was also fascinated by how quickly things were brought to life in Singapore, compared to the “consensus-driven” culture of the Nordics. “In the Nordics, you have to gather consensus for months before taking any action.”
Feeling a pull towards Singapore
While Pierre is currently based in Norway, he travels to Singapore frequently, in his capacity as the Managing Partner of The Scale Factory, to oversee his teams and operations. He maintains a strong connection to the city-state, because of his business and employees.
“My children were raised and educated in Singapore, and so they consider this country their home,” he shares, pointing out how both are fluent in Mandarin. “And I am confident my children will return to Singapore to work – just maybe not as door-to-door salesmen!”
Moving back to Singapore is on the cards for Pierre, because of his work with The Scale Factory. And while the company is growing swiftly, with a local team running operations on the ground independently, he still wants to be actively involved with the company at all times.
“We are building up The Scale Factory’s business in Europe, so we can create a highway for Asian businesses to expand into Europe,” he shares.
“I’ve always known I will move back to Singapore. I love it there.”
Interested in working in Singapore or starting a business here?
Find out more about the new Overseas Networks & Expertise (ONE) Pass as well as other work passes that may suit you.
About Pierre
Pierre is the Founder and Managing Partner of The Scale Factory, a growth platform that builds and operates revenue engines for tech companies across APAC and Europe. He was the first investor and Partner at global venture capital firm Antler, and has worked across diverse international markets for over three decades.
Connect with him here.
