Ringvin

 R I N G V I N  C O N S U LT I N G Where RingVin Comes In RingVin Consulting was born from a desire to partner entrepreneurs in their quest for a less turbulent and more satisfying route to success. The person behind RingVin Consulting has worked very closely with 1st generation entrepreneurs across countries and industries. The entrepreneur - regardless of the industry he operates in - has very similar kinds of challenges : whether that is branding, identifying his core customers, reaching scale or managing cash flows and stake-holders. RingVin Consulting offers services designed to precisely address these challenges. Y O U , T H E  E N T R E P R E N E U R The Challenges Of Being An Entrepreneur Being an Entrepreneur is not easy. Others see it as glamorous, liberating and an easy way to get wealthy. But the reality is very different. Only a person who has actually tried his or her hand at entrepreneurship realizes how challenging it is. It can often become lonely and fru...

  5 January 2023 While almost failing to complete my trek (described  here ), what went on in my head on whether I should persist trying to reach the summit or if I should just quit?   According to Annie Duke (Author of the famous books  Grit  and its successor  Quit ), the decision should be simple if you focus on rewards/penalties and consequences of either action.   But is it actually so simple?  Some of the thoughts that went on in my head were really emotional aspects that touched on what defines " me ".  (Pls read the table in horizontal view on your phone due to the small font size) As evident I was battling very strong emotional aspects that pushed me towards a GRIT strategy. In the end I set a very simple decision standard.  I will trudge along at a pace that I can comfortably manage, and then halt wherever I am at 06.10 a.m (as the sunrise is at 6.10 a.m).  If I reach the summit by 06.10 a.m then I will consider myself luc...

  3 January 2023 15 minutes into the climb I realised I had seriously over-estimated my own physical fitness levels to undertake this trek. I was feeling out of my depths : out-of-breath, fatigued and on the verge of collapse. This trek up Skandagiri Hills (1450 meters elevation) had been described by the Forest Department as "moderately difficult".  The trek starts from the foothills at 4 a.m and if we climb at a brisk pace through the darkness, we can reach the summit by 5.30 a.m in time to see the sunrise. I realised this "moderately difficult" description was meant for accomplished trekkers, and not meant for inexperienced chaps like me.  "No hurry - take your time to catch your breath" my son said.  "Yeah - we will wait for you" said my daughter. "No - both of you please continue with the trek" I insisted.  "I will follow later if I feel better". I was not sure whether I will be able to reach the summit.  At least let my ...

  11 August 2022 We were on a conducted tour of the West Coast of USA.  Since we were sitting in the front row of the bus I got to observe the bus driver closely.  The bus driver was probably in his late 50's or early 60's and seemed very knowledgeable.  The tour guide in fact seemed to be in awe of the driver, and obeyed the driver's suggestions on where to stop, which places to visit at what time etc even though the tour guide was technically the person in command.  Something about the way the driver carried himself, the calm and the self-assured manner in which he spoke indicated to me that he is no ordinary bus driver. At one of our "restroom breaks" I introduced myself to the driver, Rick, and we got talking. Rick is 62 years old.  He was a senior Manager in the Ford automotive company for over 25 years on their assembly line. 10 years ago (when he was 52 years) Ford company went through a major crisis and Rick was given the option of either retaining ...

  13 February 2022 We were homeward bound in our car after a family outing in the jungles.  Because of poor network connectivity I and my wife had both switched on google maps on our respective phones so that we have a back-up in case any one phone packs up. We reached a fork on the deserted forest road.   "Turn Right" said the voice on google maps on my phone. "Turn Left" said the voice on google maps on my wife's phone. I stopped the car at the fork and contemplated. "Both routes will take us home - so why over-think?" said my practical wife. "But why did Google suggest 2 different routes even though we are in the same car?" asked my analytical daughter, voicing my thoughts. "May be Google is hinting that it is time our parents split" said my son with his usual poker face. "I think Google recommends routes based on the risk profile of the individual" I said.  "Google realises I am a risk-taker so it is recommending ...

  4 April 2021 Coffee - Good or Bad? My mother is one of those charming, spiritual souls who is, however, a bit gullible when it comes to the "wisdom" that gets shared in her many Whatsapp groups.  One week it would be about the goodness of drinking milk with honey, and the next week it would be about the heathy way to drink water (always sitting, never standing).  Despite my frequent protests, she would diligently forward these whatsapp wisdom to me - and I would spend half my time cleaning my inbox.  But gullible as she is, even she was a bit taken aback when on a particular day she got 2 contradictory messages about the benefits or harmfulness of coffee.  Both claimed to be from scientifically conducted research.   She vaguely knows that my profession has some "research" in it, and she promptly asked me the other day why is research wisdom so contradictory.  So here is my simplistic explanation for this.... Firstly much of nutritional research is...

  2 April 2021 "Our apartment painting committee conducted a useless poll among all the residents, and the most horrible colour has come out as the winner"  I said. The wife patiently nodded. "This winning colour is the colour of Shit" I said.  "Imagine having to look out of the window and seeing this colour of shit every morning" I said getting really agitated now. "Well, it won in the polls" she said. "Being a Market Researcher, I know how to manipulate polls.  All you need to do to make people opt for a bad option is to make all the other options even more disgusting" I said. "Well, as a housewife, I have faced the brunt of all your useless Market Research outcomes all these years. Like me, you just need to change your reality, and then acceptance becomes easier" she said philosophically. "What do you mean? This shitty paint colour will look shitty whatever one does.  I challenge you to change reality" I shouted. ...

  30 March 2021 Carlo Rovelli's writings on Quantum Physics is amazing and made me ponder about the close connection that exists between the principles of Market Research and that of Quantum Physics. One of the interesting implications of Quantum Physics (QP) is that the properties of objects seem to change depending on whether they are being observed or not.  Quantum entanglement means that two objects seem to be able to affect each other even when they are too far apart for any information from one to reach the other : "a photon on venus could be changed by a photo taken in Venice".  This weird science finds practical use every day, forming the basis of our latest technologies : from computers to nuclear power. So how does this relate to our humble Market Research? There was a time (before large data bases automatically collected real-time behavioural data) where consumer behaviour data was the exclusive domain of the MR industry.  Behavioural data was largely coll...

  29 March 2021 While I believe in the positives of the ongoing AI revolution in our lives, I got some contrary (and highly relevant) view-points from a conversation between the Nobel laureates Kazuo Ishiguro and Venki Ramakrishnan on the impact of AI on our civilization.  A quick summary: *  Inbuilt Biases :  AI takes decisions based on large data sets which come with inbuilt existing biases (e.g gender, race).  Once acceptable biases e.g. about slavery if they are managed by humans can be changed over a period of time. But when these biases are inbuilt into an algorithm - and are opaque - it will be very intimidating to challenge and question, and will be very difficult to over-turn. AI will become a kind of Delphi oracle. The most worrying aspect : it is not clear how these existing biases can be removed. *  Deep Fakes  created through AI is going to be an increasing problem - and will make it difficult for humans to differentiate truth from fiction...

  18 March 2021 Several people messaged asking me why did I not start a Market Research agency - after all I had spent my entire career in MR? So why get into an area that seeks to consult entrepreneurs in more general areas of running their business? To answer the question : I have not abandoned MR; it is still a part of what I do - albeit only a small part.  And that is because I believe MR professionals have a lot more to offer to the success of a business than merely "providing  insights to aid better decision making". Most MR professionals I believe are really really smart - but we unfortunately tend to limit ourselves : "Here is the answer to your question. So now let me move on"  seems to be the motto. The reality is that apart from being smart "insighters" - some of us are - or were - also very good managers of Businesses.  We functioned almost like successful entrepreneurs - after all many of us successfully - and very profitably - managed MR busi...

16th March 2021 I bought the "RingVin" domain name about 5 years ago when the entrepreneurial bug hit me.  I then created a web-site which centred around essentially my then profession - Market Research.   However, for various reasons I got into employment again, and I basically hid the web-site from public view.  When the time came for renewal, I only renewed the domain name, not knowing that if I also did not renew the web hosting fees, the web-site will get deleted. Later I realised with horror that while I still owned the "RingVin" domain, it was completely empty - the original web-site I had constructed with great difficulty had been deleted and irretrievably lost for ever.  All the time and effort I had put in to think through and construct the original web-site had been wasted.  When recently the time came for me to get back to doing my own thing, I chaffed that my web-site was no longer operational.  All the tools for web-site construction had ...