Our partners are not consultants. They are operators who have built, scaled, and run commercial organisations across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. They have sat in the seats our clients are hiring for.
Meet the Partners
LEADERSHIP
Lars Bjørge
Founder & Managing Partner — APAC
Singapore
SEA
Greater China
ANZ
Adtech / Martech
Agency Networks
Digital Strategy
P&L Management
Lars spent over two decades in digital marketing and media across Norway, China, and Singapore. He was the first Norwegian to work in China's creative and media agency sector, spending nine years there in senior roles at TBWA Asia, PHD Greater China, Proximity BBDO, and OgilvyOne Shanghai. He was recognised on China's Digital A-List in both 2015 and 2017.
Before China, Lars founded and sold a digital marketing agency in Norway. He holds a Master's in E-Marketing and CRM from the Norwegian School of Management. He is also an angel investor, investing both privately and through TSF.
BACKGROUND
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2015 & 2017
China Digital A-List
Recognised as a leading digital practitioner in one of the world's fastest-evolving markets
9 YEARS
Greater China Agency Leadership
TBWA Asia, PHD Greater China, Proximity BBDO, OgilvyOne Shanghai
NORWAY
Founded & Sold Digital Agency
Built and exited a digital marketing agency to Omnicom in Norway - allowing them to compete in digital space in the market.
China
15x
Built PHD China's digital practice from the ground up — Unilever, VW, HP — growing managed spend 15x during the fastest period of digital transformation in the world's largest market.
Co-founded TSF in 2019 with Pierre Martensson. Leads overall strategy, client engagements across APAC, and the Cavai relationship now entering its sixth year. Based in Singapore.
AT THE SCALE FACTORY
Pierre Mårtensson
Founder & Managing Partner — Europe
Nordics
Europe
Greater China
SEA
International Expansion
VC / Fundraising
General Management
Board Governance
Pierre is a commercial leader who has taken on exceptional challenges across an unusually wide range of markets and situations. He arrived in Singapore at 22, selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door for Lux International. He rose through Managing Director roles in Singapore, South Africa, and Sri Lanka before becoming VP Asia Pacific.
He went on to serve as Managing Director China for Oriflame Cosmetics, CEO of Eniro Norway, and SVP & Head of International Expansion at Tapad. At Tapad, he was part of the leadership team that executed a $360M divestment to Telenor. He then joined Antler as a founding team member, helping secure the initial tranche of investment for their Southeast Asia Fund 1. Antler has since become the largest early-stage VC in the world.
BACKGROUND
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
TAPAD
$360M Divestment to Telenor
SVP & Head of International Expansion. Part of leadership team that executed the exit.
ANTLER
Founding Team, SEA Fund 1
Helped secure initial investment tranche. Antler is now the world's largest early-stage VC.
ORIFLAME
Managing Director, China
Led China operations for the Swedish cosmetics company across a complex regulatory market.
LUX INTERNATIONAL
Singapore to VP Asia Pacific
Started door-to-door age 22. Rose through MD Singapore, MD South Africa, to VP APAC.
Co-founded TSF in 2019 with Lars Bjorge. Leads client engagements across Europe and investor relations. Board member at Zinzino. Executive advisor to SalesScreen, Adverty, Security Research Labs, and PropTech Farm. Based between Singapore and Oslo.
AT THE SCALE FACTORY
Thomas Haugan
Partner & COO — APAC
Singapore
SEA
Japan
Philippines
Business Development
E-commerce
Health / Biotech
Martech
Thomas has spent 17 years in Asia, holding commercial roles that span business development, marketing, e-commerce, and general management across both agencies and corporates. He led the Asia expansion of Genesis Healthcare (Japan's largest private DNA testing company) as Deputy General Manager and Head of Marketing & Partnerships, driving the direct-to-consumer business through e-commerce channels in Singapore and Taiwan.
Prior to that, he helped fast-growing technology companies including MediaMonks and Idomoo enter and scale in Asia. He also held agency roles at Wunderman (WPP), where he initiated and won new business and grew agency scope into retail, social, and CRM. He studied International Marketing at BI Norwegian Business School and at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
BACKGROUND
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
GENESIS HEALTHCARE
Deputy GM & Head of Marketing
Built Asia expansion for Japan's largest private DNA testing company across SEA markets.
GROWTH CONSULTANT
Venture & Market Entry
Helped MediaMonks, Idomoo and other tech companies enter and scale in Asia
WUNDERMAN
Business Development
Initiated sales opportunities, won pitches, and grew scope into retail, social and CRM.
17 YEARS
Embedded in Asia
Singapore-based since studying at NTU. Deep operational knowledge of SEA, Japan, Philippines.
Joined TSF in 2021. Runs the Bannerflow APAC engagement day-to-day in a dual role as TSF Partner and Head of APAC for Bannerflow. Drove the engagement from launch to $2.2M ARR AND 27 enterprise wins - and counting. Based in Singapore.
AT THE SCALE FACTORY
Aadi Vaidya
Partner — Germany & Central Europe
Germany
Europe
India
SEA
Operations at Scale
Fundraising
Supply Chain / SaaS
Market Entry
Aadi started his career at Citibank India before joining Zilingo as a founding team member. As COO of the Sequoia and Temasek-backed platform ($970M peak valuation), he drove the company P&L across all business units, scaling to $1B in commerce sales and 100+ tier 1 factories on SaaS. He co-led fundraising of over $300M across equity and debt and managed 300+ people across eight geographies.
Having lived and operated in three major tech hubs — India, Southeast Asia, and Europe — Aadi brings a distinctive perspective on what works in each. He is a mentor at Techstars Berlin, an advisor to the German Accelerator (the federal government's startup programme), and a board member at Lilipad, a Berlin non-profit establishing libraries for children in refugee accommodations.
BACKGROUND
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
ZILINGO
COO & Founding Team
Sequoia/Temasek-backed. $970M peak valuation. $1B commerce sales. 300+ people, 8 geographies.
$300M+
Co-led Fundraising
Across equity and debt instruments from global blue-chip investors over seven years.
COVID PIVOT
Operational Turnaround
Turned contribution margin positive within 3 months of pandemic onset through disciplined cost management.
BERLIN
Techstars & German Accelerator
Mentor and advisor to early-stage startups. Advises federal government startup programme
Joined TSF in 2025 as Partner for Germany and Europe. Enables German and European scale-ups to enter Asian markets through market-specific context and anchor partner identification. Also supports TSF clients expanding into the DACH region. Based in Berlin.
AT THE SCALE FACTORY
Aaron Wild
Partner — MENA
MENA
Greater China
ANZ
Agency Leadership
Media Strategy
Enterprise Clients
P&L at Scale
Aaron spent three decades leading some of the largest multinational media agencies in the world, across China, MENA, and Australia. He held China CEO roles for six consecutive years at Omnicom's two highest-performing agencies: first as CEO of PHD China (where he doubled the business and won over 100 worldwide media awards), then as CEO of OMD China, a 700-800 person operation and Omnicom's biggest agency in APAC.
His career began with early postings in Guangzhou, where he learned to navigate uncertain and fast-moving business environments. He later held a Director role at Mindshare before joining PHD Shanghai as head of the Unilever business. After returning to Australia, he moved to MENA as Regional Director and then Chief Client Officer at Initiative MENAT, managing relationships including HSBC. Throughout his career he has worked with P&G, McDonald's, Unilever, Volkswagen, Apple, and L'Oréal.
BACKGROUND
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2017–2019
CEO, OMD China
700-800 person agency. Omnicom's largest in APAC. Executed network turnaround strategy
2013–2017
CEO, PHD China
Doubled the business. 100+ worldwide media awards during his tenure.
2024
Chief Client Officer, Initiative MENAT
Senior client relationships across the Middle East including HSBC.
BABSON / OMNICOM
Senior Leadership Program
Advanced Management Program at Babson College through Omnicom University.
Leads TSF's expansion into Dubai and the Middle East. Brings deep agency and enterprise relationships across the Gulf, combined with first-hand experience scaling operations in China's most demanding markets. Based in Dubai.
AT THE SCALE FACTORY
AdTech
The partners are supported by a team of consultants, business development managers, and specialists deployed across client engagements.
The Wider Team
TEAM
Ashley Tan
Head of Accounting
Charlotte Cheng
Head of Creative, Cavai
Malin Renstrom
Head of Operations
Drew Santos
BD Manager
Magnus Nadheim
Commercial & Product
Joanna Shih Lu
Marketing & PR
Joanna Pawluczuk
Commercial Head
Vinjard Talsnes
BD Manager