Accidental Founder, Intentional Marketing: A SG Playbook

Most startup stories in Singapore sound planned: co-founders meet, write a deck, raise money, then “scale.” Ernest Yen’s story (and Farmly’s early path) is messier—and more useful for SMEs. A last-minute hackathon pitch turned into SG$5,000 in kickstart funding, an office space, a mentor network, and eventually a community-first farmers’ market concept that also acts like a marketing agency for farmers.

That detail matters for anyone running (or thinking of starting) a business here. You don’t need a perfect masterplan to begin. But you do need intentional marketing—the kind that helps people understand what you stand for, why you’re different, and how to find you when they’re ready to buy.

This post is part of our Singapore Startup Marketing series, where we look at how Singapore teams earn attention locally, then grow regionally across APAC. Farmly’s story is a clean case study: a student project becomes a real business when marketing stops being a “nice-to-have” and turns into a capability.

The real “accident” wasn’t the business—it was the attention

Here’s the direct lesson: ideas don’t become startups when you form a company; they become startups when someone outside your team cares. In Farmly’s case, that caring showed up as judges picking their pitch, and later as a grassroots community sponsoring a location.

Many Singapore SMEs get stuck because they treat marketing as an afterthought—something you do after operations are “stable.” That’s backwards. Marketing is what creates the conditions for stability: demand forecasting, customer acquisition, credibility, and partnership opportunities.

Why hackathons feel like magic (and why they’re not)

Hackathons compress what normally takes months into hours:

• You clarify a problem.
• You pick a specific audience.
• You propose a solution with a clear “why now.”
• You package it into a story other people can repeat.

That’s marketing fundamentals under pressure.

Farmly’s pitch worked because it wasn’t generic sustainability talk. It connected a real consumer pain (farmers’ markets are hard to access without a car) to a national narrative (Singapore’s “30 by 30” food resilience target). It’s easier to fund—and to sell—when your message rides an existing wave.

What Farmly got right early: positioning, not just promotion

If you only remember one thing: Singapore is crowded. Positioning beats posting.

Farmly didn’t position itself as “another marketplace.” It became:

1. A farmers’ market that brings fresh produce to heartlands, and
2. A marketing partner helping farmers sell online.

That second line is the strategic move. It turns marketing from a cost into a product.

A practical positioning formula SMEs can use

I’ve found this template works well for Singapore SMEs (especially when budgets are tight):

We help [specific audience] get [specific outcome] by [your unique method], unlike [common alternative].

For Farmly, it roughly becomes:

We help local farmers reach neighbourhood customers and online buyers through community markets and done-with-you digital marketing, unlike relying only on weekend foot traffic.

When you can say it that cleanly, your website copy, Instagram bio, pitch deck, and sales messages stop contradicting each other.

USP isn’t a slogan. It’s an operating choice.

Farmly leaned into what the founders already had: Mass Communication training—public relations, content, design, digital marketing. That’s a good reminder for SMEs: your strongest USP is often a capability you already own, not a feature you wish you had.

For a typical Singapore SME, that might look like:

• A tuition centre with a strong parent referral engine becoming known for “results reporting” and student progress dashboards
• A B2B services firm specialising in “48-hour turnaround” because their internal workflow is disciplined
• A retail brand becoming known for “WhatsApp-first concierge service” because they’re responsive and structured

Notice the pattern: the USP is believable because operations support it.

Community distribution is Singapore’s unfair advantage (if you earn it)

Farmly’s venue choice is more than logistics. It’s distribution.

They shifted from an indoor plan to an outdoor, community-buzz setup, then secured a location sponsorship via the Woodlands grassroots community. That’s a reminder that in Singapore, offline trust networks can outperform paid ads, especially early.

The “heartlands go-to-market” plan most SMEs ignore

If your business targets Singapore residents, you can build traction with a three-layer approach:

1. Community access (grassroots groups, CCs, residents’ committees, school networks)
2. Local proof (events, pop-ups, collaborations, partner booths)
3. Digital capture (retargeting, email/WhatsApp lists, and content that extends the event)

The mistake is stopping at layer 2.

If you run a weekend event and don’t capture contacts, you’re renting attention for a day. The goal is to turn one Saturday crowd into a list you can reach on Monday.

What to set up before your next event (simple, not fancy)

• A QR code to a single landing page with: what you do, where you’ll be next, and a sign-up
• A WhatsApp broadcast opt-in (clear consent)
• A “new customer” offer that doesn’t destroy margins (e.g., bundle, free delivery threshold, add-on)
• A photo routine: 20 wide shots, 20 product shots, 10 customer interaction shots—minimum

That content becomes two months of posts if you’re disciplined.

The digital marketing stack an “accidental entrepreneur” actually needs

Farmly’s story highlights something I see constantly with Singapore founders: you can start from anywhere—school, a side hustle, a hobby like selling corals online—but you still need a marketing system.

Here’s a realistic Singapore SME digital marketing stack that supports lead generation and repeat sales.

1) Message: one sentence, one promise, one proof

Write down:

• Your one-sentence positioning
• Your primary offer (what you sell now, not later)
• One proof point (a number, a partner, a testimonial, a before/after)

If you don’t have proof yet, borrow credibility ethically:

• Founder experience
• Mentor support
• Pilot programme results
• Community partnership

2) Content: pick one “hero channel” and one “support channel”

Most SMEs fail because they spread thin.

A practical combo:

• Hero channel: Instagram or TikTok (for consumer) / LinkedIn (for B2B)
• Support channel: Email or WhatsApp (for retention and repeat)

Use content for two jobs: visibility and conversion.

Visibility content: event recaps, behind-the-scenes, partner highlights.

Conversion content: pricing clarity, bundles, FAQs, “how ordering works,” delivery zones.

3) Local SEO: the quiet work that compounds

If you serve a neighbourhood (or even all of Singapore), local SEO is often the cheapest long-term acquisition channel.

Prioritise:

• Google Business Profile fully filled
• Consistent NAP (name, address, phone) across directories
• Reviews every month (ask immediately after a good experience)
• Location pages if you serve multiple areas (e.g., “Woodlands delivery”, “Tampines pickup”)

Local SEO isn’t glamorous. It’s also how you get found when someone searches with intent.

4) Lead capture: don’t rely on DMs

DMs feel personal, but they’re not a pipeline.

At minimum:

• One landing page per campaign/event
• A simple form + automated confirmation
• A follow-up sequence (even 3 messages is enough)

If you’re serious about leads, you need a place for interest to go besides “message us.”

Four lessons from Farmly that apply to Singapore SMEs right now

Ernest shared advice like being detail-oriented, using available resources, and finding motivation. True—and we can translate those into marketing actions SMEs can execute in Q1.

1) “Be one-of-a-kind” = differentiate in a way customers can repeat

A differentiation that customers can’t explain is useless.

Good: “We bring farmers to your estate once a month and deliver pre-orders.”

Weak: “We care about sustainability.”

2) “Use resources” = treat ecosystems as channels

Singapore’s support systems aren’t just funding. They’re distribution and credibility:

• Poly/uni incubators and alumni networks
• Community organisations
• Industry associations
• Brand collaborations with adjacent SMEs

When you show up in those places, you reduce your cost of trust.

3) “Details matter” = conversion is made of small frictions

A 10% improvement in conversion usually comes from boring fixes:

• clearer pricing
• better product photos
• faster replies
• simpler checkout
• fewer steps to order

Most SMEs spend time “posting more” instead of removing friction.

4) “Find motivation” = pick a metric you can win weekly

Motivation dies when you can’t see progress.

Pick one weekly scoreboard metric:

• 10 new WhatsApp opt-ins
• 5 qualified leads
• 20 review requests sent
• 2 partner outreaches

Momentum is built with small wins that are measurable.

Where this fits in the Singapore Startup Marketing series

Farmly’s early journey shows a pattern we’ll keep coming back to in this series: Singapore startups don’t win by shouting louder; they win by being easier to trust and easier to buy from.

The teams that grow regionally across APAC usually have these basics locked:

• clear positioning
• consistent content
• simple lead capture
• proof points they can scale (reviews, case studies, partnerships)

If you’re an SME owner who feels like you “accidentally” became responsible for marketing—welcome to the club. The good news is that a repeatable system beats inspiration.

The question worth sitting with: if a last-minute student pitch can turn into funding and real community distribution, what could your business do with three months of intentional digital marketing?