asia.storage’s Origin Story: From Vietnam’s First Self-Storage to Asia’s Comparison Platform
Lorenz Wagener shares how he built Vietnam’s first self-storage facility with zero market demand, then scaled insights across Asia to create asia.storage. Watch the full 33-minute interview with Alberto Serrano.
Oct 21, 2026 · Lorenz Wagener
Interview
In 2018, Lorenz Wagener opened Vietnam’s first self-storage facility in Hanoi—in a market where almost nobody was searching “self storage” on Google. Nobody knew what self-storage was. There was no demand to tap into. He had to create it from scratch.
Today, after building KingKho to 87% occupancy and working with operators across 20+ Asian markets, Lorenz brings those hard-won lessons to asia.storage—Asia’s first self-storage comparison platform, aggregating 800+ facilities across the region.
In this 33-minute interview with Alberto Serrano (This Is Alberto, 267K subscribers), Lorenz walks through:
Why he’d enter as the 2nd or 3rd operator today — not the first, despite succeeding as Vietnam’s pioneer
How to create demand when your product doesn’t exist yet — the role of display ads, organic traffic, and why his first 200 customers were local, not expat
Property selection rigor — why he rejected 74 properties before finding the right one, and what “right” actually means
Scaling from one facility to an entire continent — why asia.storage is the natural next step for an operator-first founder
How the aggregator solves operator discovery — why asia.storage changes the game for both renters and facility owners
What You’ll Learn
Demand creation without market awareness — Tactics for educating a market that doesn’t yet know your product exists
Occupancy to scale transition — How KingKho’s 87% occupancy proved the model and unlocked capital for bigger bets
Operator economics under aggregation — Why asia.storage’s “3 free leads on day one, no commission, no subscription” resonates with operators tired of Google Ads costs
Geography strategy across emerging markets — When to enter mature markets (Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo) vs. building in emerging markets with early-mover advantage
Why proximity beats brand in self-storage — And what that means for your discovery strategy
Video: Full Interview (33 minutes)
Originally published on This Is Alberto: Cómo Vender Trasteros si Nadie los Busca — How to Sell Self-Storage When Nobody’s Looking
Interview recorded in English.
Video Chapters
- 0:00 — Introduction
- 2:25 — From Shanghai to Hanoi: How Vietnam’s first self-storage facility was born
- 7:14 — How to sell self-storage where nobody knows it exists
- 12:46 — The numbers: 74 properties rejected, occupancy metrics, unit sizing insights
- 18:31 — asia.storage explained: A comparison platform for all of Asia
- 28:12 — Where to open next in Asia: Mature markets vs. emerging markets
About the Interview
Guest: Lorenz Wagener, Founder & Managing Director of asia.storage; Co-Founder of KingKho
Host: Alberto Serrano, Founder of Trasteros Plus (Spain), Creator of This Is Alberto YouTube channel (267K subscribers focused on self-storage operations and entrepreneurship)
Key Takeaway
Building asia.storage wasn’t a pivot. It was the inevitable next step after seeing the same problem repeat across 20+ markets: operators are fragmented across multiple discovery channels, renters can’t easily compare facilities, and aggregation changes everything.
As Lorenz says in the interview: “For the first time, operators have a single platform where renters actively search and compare.”
For Operators: Start Your asia.storage Journey
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More Resources
Market data: Browse 800+ facilities and operator listings at asia.storage.