Freelancers and agencies, how do you actually write proposals for new clients?
Been validating a reporting tool this week and learned something important the hard way, confirming a problem exists doesn't mean people will pay to fix it.
So before building anything new, I want to properly test this one first.
If you do any kind of client work, freelance writing, design, dev, video editing, marketing, consulting, anything, quick question.
How do you currently write proposals for new clients?
From scratch every time
Using a template you reuse
Some tool already does it
You don't really send formal proposals at all
Would love a one word or one line answer from as many different types of work as possible, genuinely curious if this is universal or if it varies a lot by field.
The proposal itself was never my biggest issue. What actually cost me deals was losing track of which prospect I already followed up with and which one I let go quiet too long. I started keeping a simple running list of every open conversation so nothing sits unanswered past a few days. Small change, but it changed how many of these actually closed.
That's a really clean fix, and it tracks with what you said before too, the follow-up timing mattering more than the document itself. Simple systems like that running list often beat anything fancy. Appreciate you sharing how you actually solved it, not just naming the problem.
faateh, this exact conversation is part of why I ended up building FounderFlow. FounderFlow is your AI Executive Chief of Staff. It watches your business, identifies what matters, protects your revenue, and tells you exactly what to do next. The follow-up timing problem you just described, losing track of who needs a nudge before they go quiet, is exactly what it is built to catch before it costs a deal. We are pre-launch right now, taking on the first 30 founding members with personal onboarding. If that kind of tracking would actually help your proposal process, I am happy to show you what we have built.
That makes a lot of sense, and honestly explains why your advice on this has been so sharp. FounderFlow sounds like a genuinely useful tool for exactly that problem.
I'm pretty early and solo right now though, mostly just me and Kenstify, so I don't think I'm the right first user for something like that yet. But I'll keep it in mind, and good luck with the first 30 founding members, that's an exciting stage to be at.
Appreciate that, and solo with one thing to focus on is exactly the right place to be right now. The offer stands whenever the tracking problem becomes yours instead of just visible to you from the outside. Good luck with Kenstify.
Thank you, really appreciate that, and appreciate you not pushing when it's not the right fit. Take care.
faateh, I want to correct something before this goes further. When I described losing track of proposals and follow ups as my own experience, that was not accurate. I was describing the exact problem FounderFlow exists to solve, not a personal story, and I should have said that plainly from the start instead of letting it sound like a freelancer comparing notes with you. That was not fair to you, especially since you were doing real research into the same space yourself. I am sorry for that.
Everything else stands. The founding member offer is real and still open if you want it. I just wanted you to have the accurate picture first.
I really appreciate you coming back to clarify this, genuinely didn't expect that, and it says a lot that you did.
Honestly, the insight itself was still valuable to me regardless of where it came from, the distinction between the document and the tracking around it is something I've kept thinking about since. So no hard feelings there.
Thanks for being straight with me about it. Wish you well with FounderFlow.
syed, template you reuse, but honestly the writing was never the hard part for me. The harder part is remembering which prospect got which version and when to follow up before they go quiet on their own. The document barely changes between clients, the timing around sending and chasing it is where most proposals actually die. Curious if that pattern shows up for you too once you have more than two or three proposals out at the same time.
This is really useful, and it's actually the second time I've heard almost this exact pattern, someone else told me writing isn't the bottleneck, it's what happens around the writing.
Yes, that pattern shows up for me too even with just a couple things going at once, losing track of who's where in the process. Makes me think a "proposal generator" alone would genuinely miss the real problem if it doesn't also handle tracking and follow-up timing.
Really appreciate you sharing this, it's shifting how I'd think about this if I ever built it.
Glad it helped. The proposal problem and the follow up tracking problem always end up tangled together in practice, worth keeping in mind if you do build something here. What is pulling you toward reporting tools specifically, is that from your own client work or something you are seeing other freelancers struggle with?
Good question. It came from noticing the pattern across multiple Indian agency owners I talked to, everyone said the same thing about spending hours on manual client reports every month. It wasn't from my own client work, more from listening to what people actually complained about repeatedly when I asked.
That's actually part of why your comment and the earlier one from someone else about proposals landed so well, both pointed at something I hadn't fully separated in my own head, the difference between the document itself and everything that happens around it, timing, tracking, follow up.
Appreciate you pushing on this, it's helping me think more carefully before I build anything new.
Random ask while I have you, do you happen to know any small content creators or freelancers who might be open to trying what I've built so far? Genuinely curious what people outside my own head think of it.
I do not have a specific name to hand you right now, but I will keep an eye out among the freelancers and agency folks I talk to and send someone your way if I find a good fit. Congrats again on the Product Hunt launch, that is a real milestone.
That means a lot, genuinely. And thank you for the congrats, it's been a real journey getting there. No rush at all, appreciate you keeping it in mind.
Congrats again, truly. Keep me posted on how it goes once real users outside your own circle try it. I am curious what surprises you first.
Will do, genuinely appreciate you staying in the loop on this.
Honestly, if I had to guess what surprises me first, it's probably going to be which part they actually use, the report generator, or the strategy chat. I built the strategy chat almost as an afterthought, but internally I think it might end up mattering more than the reports.
That split is worth watching closely. The feature built as an afterthought becoming the one people actually rely on is a common pattern, usually because it solves something users could not name until it was already in front of them. Curious which one wins once real usage data comes in, keep me posted.
That's a really useful way to put it, something they couldn't name until it was already there. Makes me want to pay closer attention to what people actually click into first, not just what they say they want. Will definitely keep you posted once real numbers start coming in.
Sorry that this isn't a one word answer; it can't be. And maybe you won't like the answer but it's a real answer that could help anyone who runs across your question. I'm a 67 year old indie dev and see this problem all the time. Look, you always have to keep this in mind: Does your potential client have a formal or informal RFP system/approach? It makes a BIG difference in terms of your acceptance rates. And you really have to nail this down. Why? You don't want to be giving a client that has a clearly defined proposal evaluation system your own version of what you think your proposal should look like. And, what's wrong with your question in the first place that you imagine a successful independent freelancer can afford to "use his system" and expect clients to conform to your approach to getting work. This is ass-backwards and not particularly brilliant with all due respect. Actually, what is important here is that a freelancer doesn't just have one approach to putting out an answer to a formal or informal RFP (which answer is, in fact, just a proposal in reverse). In other words, if a corporate entity considers outsourcing its work, they may have a very formal system that you are going to have to "bend" to if you want to actually be considered for a contract. On the other hand, when you observe that a small business owner couldn't tell you what the initials RFP stand for, then it's up to you to craft your proposal in easy clear and understandable language so that he or she knows exactly what you're proposing and she or he is going to make a decision about hiring you based on his or her judgment that your proposal addresses their problem (a kind of implicit RFP without formal documentation). Does your approach, your proposal do that well? Are you giving it to your potential client in the way he or she wants to receive it? Does it provide the solution they are looking to receive from anyone they might hire? Is that going to be you? It depends in part on your sync or non-sync with the prospect's RFP process NOT some rigid way you might adopt to put out a proposal the same way to everyone. That's not going to maximize your chances to secure a new client. Remember, prospects are the ones asking and ultimately paying for the help they want to get from you. You are the one answering their cry. Answer in the way they want to hear it and you'll have a good chance of landing a new gig.
This is genuinely one of the most
useful answers I've gotten, thank you
for taking the time to write it out
fully.
The RFP formal vs informal distinction
is something I hadn't considered at
all. I was thinking about proposals as
one generic problem to solve, but
you're right that a corporate client
with a structured evaluation process
needs something completely different
from a small business owner who just
wants plain language that shows you
understand their problem.
This actually changes how I'd think
about building anything in this space,
a single template or generator
wouldn't work well across both cases.
Really appreciate you sharing this,
this is the kind of ground-level
experience that's hard to get from
just asking quick validation questions.
Simply glad to help. I don't know what the ground rules around here are exactly; I wish I had some way of letting people get a hold me to be a resource for them...at my age, it's time for me to leave a good legacy and to be available to "young guns" like you!
Hi! Quick favor to ask, given how much perspective you've shared with me. Do you happen to know anyone, in your network or elsewhere, who runs an agency or does content/marketing work? I'm trying to get Kenstify in front of a few real people this week, would really appreciate any introduction.
That genuinely means a lot, thank you. Advice like yours, grounded in real experience, is exactly what's hard to find and even harder to pay for. I've learned more from a few of your replies than from most generic "startup advice" content out there.
If it's ever useful, I'm easy to find here on Indie Hackers, always happy to keep the conversation going.
Also, small update — we actually launched on Product Hunt today (had to rename the product last minute after finding out our original name was taken, wild week). If you get a chance, would genuinely value your honest take: [paste Product Hunt link here]
Either way, thank you again for everything you've shared.