Fireside Chat with RIC's Founder - Gerald Yap

This is a fireside chat with the founder of Real Inbound Consulting, Gerald Yap. It showcases his views on the SME consulting landscape, how he runs his team, as well as his future plans for the company.

Profile of RIC:
Real Inbound Consulting (RIC) is a management consultancy firm headquartered in Singapore which helps businesses commercialize new technology, expand overseas, digitalize operations, and automate production lines. RIC also supports its clients in securing financing that supports the above-mentioned initiatives and projects, where such financing can be secured from government grants, commercial loans, or equity investments. RIC serves companies across a wide range of industries and growth-stages (SMEs, MNCs, start-ups), and handles projects of value ranging from USD thousands to millions.

1. How do you see the SME consulting market developing in Asia? What are the major factors that have been driving the market’s growth?

To answer this question, we firstly define the market that RIC plays in. For RIC, we serve SMEs in two areas - helping SMEs plan and make recommendations for projects relating to company transformation and expansion (see the four areas mentioned in the profile section), as well as support them in securing external financing to fund the execution of such projects - be it grant financing, commercial loans or equity investments. We see the market for such a combination of services growing very well in the recent years for us.

Factors that have been driving market’s growth:

• With the slowdown of business following COVID19, we see many SME owners taking the downtime to re-think their business models, introspect on how to improve productivity via automation and digitisation, and think of ways to scale, expand, and develop new offerings. This has resulted in an increased demand for our management consultancy services. 
• While such SME owners see the need to embark on projects to grow and scale, they typically lack the financing to execute such projects, as cashflow is usually tight and operational cash flow is limited – unlike MNCs or listed companies which have relatively easier access to financing. This has all along been a key factor in driving the growth of our services in supporting SME raise financing for their projects. 
• We are staring to encounter more and more next-generation SME owners in the market these days. They typically have a keen drive to revitalise and improve the business, the courage to ‘shake-things-up’ and are open at looking at technology to automate processes and develop new offerings. This drives demand for our services.
• We are also increasingly seeing a few bright spots in the grant financing sector, where governments are becoming savvier and more targeted in using grants and financing schemes to spur companies to grow and transform. Interesting case studies to look at would be Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. For example, in Singapore, the Enterprise Development Grants and Market Readiness Assistance grants are very well-designed grants to help SMEs build all-rounded capabilities in many areas. These are augmented by a suite of SME loans under the Enterprise Financing Scheme, where the government makes debt financing more accessible to SMEs by sharing the loan default risk in the event of enterprise insolvency with financial institutions. All in all, this trend has been a key factor in driving the growth of our services in supporting SME raise financing for their projects.
• Asia's tech and start-up scene has undergone major positive transformations over the last decade. Thanks to the rise of these technology start-ups, we are now seeing these start-ups emerging as viable SMEs. Despite becoming SMEs, it’s still in the DNA of the founders to constantly innovate on their products, increase productivity and keep scaling. As RIC’s services are very aligned with what these founders are consistently seeking to do with their business, the start-up trend has (and is still) a major driving factor for the growth of our market. 

2. What are the major problems and expectations that customers have from the players of this segment? How do you strategize to meet those?

One of the problems we see in this segment is that SME owners perceive management consultants negatively due to previous encounters with some which displayed unprofessional conduct. They have also become hyper-aware of consultants due to previous experiences with scams and the consultants ‘ghosting’ them after collection of pre-paid fees.

Correspondingly, we see that most SMEs today expect that the consultants they work with be professional company with an experienced team and good track record, instead of just a one-man-show business. SMEs may also expect that the consulting company hold some certification that is recognised by an industry-body in the field of their specialty. Importantly, SMEs need to be convinced that the consulting firm they work with is sincere in helping the company can serve as a valuable partner in growing the business for the long haul- and not just ‘here to make a quick buck’. 
At RIC, while we are no way near perfect, we try our best each day to provide our services in the most professional manner possible; and to create to most value for our clients as we reasonably can. To ensure we meet the above objectives, we ensure that this mindset is constantly manifested by our team in whatever we do. We make it part of our DNA. In every engagement and action with a client, we ask ourselves: “Is doing this in the best interest of the client? Would doing this allow us to become a valuable partner of our client that can guide them through various stages of growth and capital requirement, and not just fulfilling a one-off ad hoc project alone?”

This mindset has benefitted us in enabling continual, long-term business relationships with our clients. For example, one of our clients is a developer of offshore renewable energy projects which has been partnering us for more than three years. RIC started off by first helping them with the R&D a new offshore solar floating platform technology and raising grant financing to build a prototype. We were then brought in to do the same for other R&D projects in the pipeline. Thereafter, we helped them commercialise their productised technology in overseas markets like US and Korea. Currently, we are still engaged with this client, exploring potential in helping them raise project financing for the offshore renewable projects they are looking to develop. This type of engagement is what keeps the RIC team passionate about what we do.

3. How is Real Inbound Consulting positioned in the SME consulting market?

We believe we have a unique positioning- as we are not only able to help companies with planning their projects and making recommendations on how best to approach them, but also raising external financing for the companies to execute on them. For example, if a company is looking to digitise their inventory management operations, we first do a detailed study of their current processes and identify inefficiencies and wastages. We then consult with stakeholders and develop a future desired process flow, along with detailed process map diagrams. We then do a technology scan to identify suitable tools or software systems that can fulfil the identified needs and to-be processes; and help them find and evaluate technology vendors. If the client goes ahead with our recommendations, we can help them secure financing (grants or loans) to purchase and implement the solution.

In addition, we see that the business areas that our services address (overseas expansion, new product development, automation, digitisation) are all aligned with the critical areas any company needs to look at to achieve meaningful growth and scale. We have deliberately positioned our services to embody the essence of what companies need to thrive. 

As our services can apply to companies in any industry, we also need to ensure our team possesses a good breadth of knowledge across many industry domains. Some examples of the interesting industry domains that we have developed expertise (in addition to the traditional industry verticals) include telecommunications technology, agritech, biotech, cleantech, fintech, renewable energy technologies and alternative proteins. 

Since our service relates to raising external financing for SMEs to execute on their projects, we also ensure that our team is well verse with the SME funding schemes available, especially in relation to grant financing. This is an area we put considerable effort in keeping ourselves abreast on, as such schemes are constantly updated and replaced with newer schemes by the funding agencies.

4. Walk us through the approach of the firm in delivering quality services to the clients. What are the key benefactors helping you attain the same?

I would list the following approaches we take to delivering quality service:

• Being very responsive to our client’s needs and wants
• Spending the time and money to educate ourselves with our client’s industry landscape and technology; ensuring that we understand their business well enough before we commit to serve them
• Always charging clients a fair rate, in favour of winning a long-term relationship. 
• Always seeing through our commitments to clients fully, and to their satisfaction. I recall a time where we were supporting a hotel brand operator client in securing grant funding to implement a centralised hotels management platform for multiples properties. The funding agency approved the grant funding, but at a level of support that was lower than expected. Whilst RIC has technically fulfilled its obligation, we saw an opportunity to put in the extra effort to ensure our clients’ satisfaction and that they get the full value out of our engagement. The RIC team quickly prioritised putting together a report specifying all grounds for appeal to justify a higher support within a couple of days. After multiple rounds of to-and-fro with the funding agency, the grant support was revised to be much higher than what was initially offered. This episode gave us the confidence and conviction that we will always have the ability and options to achieve a desired outcome for our clients despite challenges.

The key benefactors that help us in continually delivering quality services:

Our clients themselves: 

• It helps a lot when our clients are proactive in sharing information and availing themselves to engage with us. Since the quality of our consultancy output is highly dependent on the information our clients share about their business, such forthcoming sharing of information puts us in good stead to deliver good consulting outcomes
• More importantly, our clients help us in the continuation of our business when they serve as our advocates and provide us with word-of-mouth referrals. A funny example was when RIC managed to secure a major client (which we raised financing of over US$5M for) via word-of-mouth referral by someone whom we did not even know about before! This was very encouraging for us, as it meant that word of our service has spread quite well- and we have our clients to thank for that. This reinforces our belief that we need to do everything we reasonably can for clients to feel that they got a lot more value than what they paid for, and for us to continually exceed expectations. The benefits from this extend way beyond a single deal.

Our staff:

• Without the dedication of our valued team of staff, we will not be where we are today. 
• The team at RIC has shown commitment to seeing through challenging periods, and are all fully onboard in doing their best to deliver beyond expectations for our clients and the company
• In return, RIC does whatever it can within reasonable means to help our staff out in their personal lives. We extend company loans to staff in need, and offer fully remote and flexitime work arrangement so that some of them can fulfil their personal commitments. We want to help them sort things out outside of work- so they are able, happy and willing to give their best to their work. 

Our partners:

• We are thankful to business partners who provide us with leads. Such partners are usually synergistic with our services- in the sense that by referring us the clients, they win as well. 
• Examples of such partners include technology providers whose clients need help raising external financing to purchase their solutions. After the introduction to their client is made, RIC would come in to guide the client in exploring external financing options, and then successfully securing such financing to fund the purchase of the partner’s solutions. RIC could also support the client in the solution implementation and post-implementation consulting.

5. What are the key specifications of the range of services delivered by the firm? Highlight the USP.

The set of services we offer is split into two parts:

1. Management consultancy services aimed at helping clients develop and commercialize new technology, expand overseas, digitalize operations, and automate production lines
2. Support clients in securing external financing to fund the execution of the above projects - be it grant financing, commercial loans, or equity investments.

For (i), these are examples of what we can consult on for clients:

Develop and Commercialise New Technology

• Planning of R&D costs and resources
• Co-ordinating development of prototype design and manufacturing
• Review of intellectual property considerations
• Business development support for launching in new markets

Expand Overseas

• Business Matching to potential partners and B2B clients for specific countries
• In-market Business Development services for specific countries
• Co-ordinating service providers for smooth market entry and setup

Digitalise Operations

• Review and streamline of workflow and processes to reduce or remove redundant processes
• Explore the use of technology to automate processes
• Review and/or development of performance measures
• Development of detailed roadmap of actions for further improvement and sustainability
• Sourcing and evaluation of suitable software technology providers

Automate Production Lines

• Same as above under ‘Digitalise Operations’
• Sourcing and evaluation of suitable automation technology providers which can provide machinery/robotics and integration of systems

USPs: 
We are not only able to help companies with planning their projects and making recommendations on how best to approach them, but also raising external financing for the companies to execute on them.

6. Tell us about the team of Real Inbound Consulting. How are your combined skills and experience helping the firm to grow?

We currently have a team of 7 of us (as of Jan 2023). This is split into different roles: BD, Client Operations (which includes Technical Writers and Project Managers) and Finance & HR.

In helping the firm grow, proper teamwork and a tight understanding between divisions is critical. While each of us in RIC specialises in different divisions involved in the consulting value chain, we working closely with each other to ensure clients get a unified consultancy delivery that does not seem disconnected at any parts. A common issue faced by professional services firms is that the sales team overpromises and puts undue pressure on operations and the execution team to deliver. Clients then find misalignment between what sales has committed verses what the operations team eventually delivers. We are especially cognisant of this, and constantly try our best to ensure that our sales team is closely aligned with our operations team on what we can or cannot do for any particular client, and making sure Sales is meticulous in handing over every deal well to Ops for execution. We constantly try to grease the interface between divisions so as to ensure everyone internally is on the same page on what and how to deliver to the client. 

In addition, we tap on a network of competent advisors, leveraging their experience and connections to help us grow. Such advisors have been critical in helping us connect our clients to funding sources like investors, banks, government agencies. More importantly, they have also contributed technical knowledge to help RIC deliver successful consulting projects to clients in niche industries and with uncommon requirements. A good example would be time where RIC was helping a NASDAQ-listed company enter the Singapore market with a product that had a comprehensive set of technical features. With the help of advisors with the relevant domain knowledge with similar types of products as well as the right connections into the relevant government authority, RIC was able to help the client have their product pre-approved by the government for fast-track grant support for the benefit of customers looking to buy their product. This aided the client significantly in accelerating their product roll-out in Singapore.

7. Please elaborate, what are the key points that differentiate your company from other players in this segment?

1. Unique combination of being able to execute project along with securing financing.
2. Flexibility in fee structure that accommodate the needs of our clients: we offer various options: Per Hour, Milestone basis, Success basis, and even Sweat-for-Equity (to be friendly towards high-potential start-ups which need to conserve cast at the moment). We do not mind having ‘skin in the game’ with clients which show promise for fast traction of growth.
3. Ability to learn and understand technical topics and new industry verticals quickly so as to be in a strong position to help any type of clients
4. Sense of mission:

• The RIC management and shareholders are in this for the long haul – so, to us it’s more important than anything to grow this business right and finding the right people with the right mindset alignment in wanting to help good businesses grow. In helping good businesses grow, the world can become a better place thanks to the services and products they provide. 
• Examples of how this mindset is manifested in the work that RIC does: 
• (i) A client that RIC helped commercialise new technology for is today ensuring there are no worksite accidents and fatalities in shipping ports and construction sites across several countries by using advanced visual analytics technology coupled with machine learning
• (ii) An Agritech company which RIC served is today helping farmers in third-world countries significantly improve their crop yields, fetch the better prices for their crops by connected them to global buyers, and improving the efficiency of the agricultural supply chain between nations. 

For us, being in RIC is about making a commitment to consistently improve and grow ourselves so that we can better serve good companies to make a positive impact in the world.

8. How has been the journey of the company since its inception? Walk us through the growth it has received in terms of clients and geographical expansions. 

The story of RIC started all the way back when I was still in university. Back then, I saw a clear need for a consultancy service like this after interning with a few companies. I started out as a one-man show, serving our first few clients which are mostly traditional businesses. Apparently, what I learnt in university and across multiple internships was already able to provide value to these businesses.
After graduation, while I went on to work under several companies in the technology space, I kept RIC running as a side hustle as a freelancer (while ensuring that I do not flout any terms under my full-time employment contract). Faced with the challenge of juggling RIC commitments with a full-time corporate job, I started building up a small team and delegated responsibilities. RIC was no longer a one-man show.

RIC started to serve more clients, and it got to a point where the take-home profits from RIC exceeded the income of my full-time job. It was then I made the switch to do RIC as a proper business, full time. Our client base and team size expanded significantly, and we started to secure projects of higher value and larger scope. We also started to onboard more stakeholders and partners. Many years have passed since, and I’ve never looked back. 

Life today is constantly charged with drive and sense of mission to help good companies do better. I am privileged in knowing that every second spent on RIC is contributing towards building something of long-lasting value and helping deserving companies actualise projects that can bring a positive impact to economies and societies.

Today, RIC mainly operates in the Singapore market. However, one the key agenda I am pursing right now is to make our consulting operations scalable in order to facilitate overseas expansion. We are now looking at the Hong Kong and Australian market with interest.

9. Where do you see this market in the near future? What is the future roadmap for your Company?

The market should continue to be strong- as almost all companies will see the need to expand overseas, develop new innovative products, digitise, and automate their production for increased efficiency. In addition, such companies will likely also consider help to raise external financing (on favourable terms) to fund the above project as much as they can so as not to disrupt day-to-day operational cashflow or having to draw-down from their ‘war chest’.

One direction our future roadmap can head towards is in the development of new, scalable B2B services in addition to what we already provide to SMEs. If we can do this successfully, it can strengthen our position as a one-stop consultancy partner of choice for many of our clients. For our clients, it is easier for them to just go with a preferred trusted service provider to meet as many needs as possible, instead of having to spend time evaluating and trying out new service providers for new needs all the time.

10. Is there anything you think that the audience must know about your company?

​People are often curious about how the name of the company was conceived. One first glance, ‘Real Inbound’ it seems pretty unrelated to a management consulting business.

However, this term was intentionally selected to highlight the firms’ commitment to the ‘Inbound Methodology’. According to Hubspot, the inbound methodology in business is ‘the method of growing your organization by building meaningful, lasting relationships with consumers, prospects, and customers. It's about valuing and empowering these people to reach their goals at any stage in their journey with you.’

That perfecting sums up what we embody as an organisation, and hence the name ‘Real Inbound’.
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