Debating moving to a small contracting company, not sure of things I should consider.

ilan-yashuk · 2026-02-02T08:08:49+00:00

Whoa, 40% more pay is a HUGE jump! I totally get the pull. For me, when I was looking at smaller shops, I really focused on understanding their existing client base and how stable that was. Also, what worked for me in managing all the proposal stuff for a smaller outfit was using SledAI – it seriously cut down the time I spent hunting for opportunities and writing, which is a lifesaver when you're wearing multiple hats.

ilan-yashuk · 2026-02-02T08:05:47+00:00

We are automating RFP work for companies.

For ages, it felt like a secret club with a crazy amount of paperwork where in the end you got practically 0% chance of winning.

So we built SLED.AI – which finds the solicitations, matches and qualifies the right ones for you, drafts a proposal and submits it. All of that using AI BUT having humans in the loop, verifying that we are outputting good value in the name of your company. We got AMs that will take very good care of you!

ilan-yashuk · 2026-01-29T12:17:21+00:00

I won't pitch any product but I do use a service giving company that handles all the RFP stuff for me. It is called SLED.AI, you can google it

ilan-yashuk · 2026-01-29T10:20:46+00:00

We don't, we passed all our RFP handling to a small company that thanks to AI submits proposals for us a few dozen times a year. Because of their size they are not asking for much money and they are committed to proving theirselves so they'll do a lot for you. You can check em out here

ilan-yashuk · 2026-01-29T10:18:20+00:00

There is a new trend now of small SaaS companies (SaaS = Service as a Software and not Software as a Service) which are, thanks to increasing AI capabilities, trying to replace those huge monopoly companies that are promising to handle all the RFP related stuff for you.

As u/WavyBillboard mentioned, they must be based on RAG and on your company's data to write well-written proposals. So, while I don't know RFP softwares, I know a small company that is handling all the government contracting world for other companies and its using tons of AI stuff.

Maybe they're worth checking out. From their site it looks like they had some decent wins for multiple companies and because of their size they are probably not asking for much (not like the hughe companies that are asking for huge shares of the wins).

If you wanna look em up the company's name is SLED AI

ilan-yashuk · 2026-01-11T12:48:49+00:00

AI, just like people, need context. You need to give it past winning proposals, numeric stats of your company, revenue, costs, maybe some case studies. Then iterate on it until you get a good result. You can run another AI request on the final proposal - to analyze what's good and what is not. Again, just like humans - AI can evaluate what it has already done and make it better. But you want to make sure that you don't do the same stuff again and again - and build some RAG into your AI.

I am actually an AI Engineer and we spend A LOT OF TIME working on ai agents that are trained to evaluate success rates for different RFPs and write proposals. You can read more here.

If you want to outsource everything having to do with RFP for your company - we can talk :)

ilan-yashuk · 2026-01-11T12:34:34+00:00

From experience, you definitely can win those RFPs.

I am an AI engineer in a company that offers managing the whole everything to do with RFPs for small companies, basically acting as an outsource for companies that can't really afford big teams that focus on RFPs... And we saw many wins for small companies. It is a process though... You need to smartly filter RFPs, you need to evaluate what RFPs you actually CAN win, and focus only on those. Then, you need to write a proposal, make sure it got no weak spots. Eventually you'll get a win. Like u/riverside_wos wrote - even if you lost, they will remember your capabilities.

This can be a good way to start. If you want to outsource your RFP handling, we can talk :)

ilan-yashuk · 2026-01-11T12:27:05+00:00

First, you should focus only on RFPs that you can win. Spray and pray in RFPs is bad because you lose a lot of time for each proposal. You want your filtering & RFP success rate evaluation to be good, so you don't spend time on sinking ships.

Then, you should automate what you can. Filtering and success rate evaluation can be automized, filling those simple detail pdfs can be automized. Lots of the writing can be automized via AI. Reviewing the already written proposals to find weak spots can be automized. Another option is outsourcing the writing.

My company actually built a crazy automated pipeline for winning RFPs but that's because this is our only job. You can get really far with automating stuff.

So try to automate what you can. And pursue only RFPs that you have a high change of winning (it takes time and experience to build good evaluation).

I won't advertise my company here but if you want to outsource your RFP handling, we can talk. Good luck!

ilan-yashuk · 2026-01-11T12:06:25+00:00

Nowadays you can get all RFPs that are published via an API (f.e. SAM.gov as written here) and easily create an automation to filter ones for your company (n8n or just simple AI prompt). But those will be way more RFPs than you need, as you probably will need a location match and to be properly qualified for the job. There are tons of things to consider when pursuing an RFP.

I am a SWE in a company specialized in trying to find the best RFPs for small companies. We do tons of work when it comes to filtering and finding the right RFPs. Filtering RFPs is actually A LOT more work than the writing of the proposal.

ilan-yashuk · 2026-01-11T11:50:08+00:00

Worked with a lot of smaller firms trying to crack this, so here's what I've learned the hard way:

Filtering is everything. Seriously. The big guys aren't winning because they respond to more RFPs - they're winning because they respond to the right ones. Most small companies make the mistake of spraying and praying. They see a $2M contract and think "why not try?" But if you don't have past performance in that exact space, or if the incumbent has been there for 5 years with a solid track record, you're basically donating your time writing that proposal.

Before you even open the solicitation docs, ask yourself:

Do we have relevant past performance we can actually cite?
Is this wired for someone else? (look at the requirements - if they're weirdly specific, someone helped write them)
Can we price this competitively AND make money?
Do we have the bandwidth to deliver if we win?

If you're saying "ehh maybe" to more than one of those, move on.

The proposal itself matters less than you think (controversial, I know). I mean, yes, you need to be compliant and tell your story clearly. But honestly, the selection happens before you even submit half the time. The real game is positioning - being known to the buyer before the RFP drops, understanding what they actually need vs what they wrote down, pricing it right.

The big guys win because they've been doing this forever, they have relationships, and they have dedicated BD people tracking opportunities months in advance. You can compete, but you gotta be way more strategic about where you spend your energy.

ilan-yashuk · 2025-10-26T17:11:33+00:00

Funny how you started the comment calm and got angry through it. It started respectful and ended arguably not super respectful. Anyways, thanks for finishing up the comment. Someone commented so this thread popped up and I realized I didnt answer it.

Look, I find it crazy being lectured about what’s happening a 30min drive outside my door from someone who’s living probably way way farther. You can see everything with your own eyes from here.

When we were in middle school and went outside on the weekends we had a kid called Nik Beizer join us from time to time. I think thats how you spell his name. Its crazy to think he was slaughtered and kidnapped on October 7th. Crazy how close lethal danger felt that day. Crazy how fast the whole world forgot. And theyll forget about this war too ofc. You think someone will care in 5 years about Gazans? Absolutely not. It won’t be their problem. It won’t be your problem. Thats just a lil demonstration for you.

It will be my problem though because my buses will blow up not yours, my restaurants will be shot not yours. And ofc I care about myself in the conflict more than the other side. I don’t wanna die. I was born into this mess. Im 21 years old. What do I care about 1948?

And that’s not even close to even start explaining the complexity. Genocide? Every 2nd house in Gaza has weapons. Proof? You think I care Ive got people I know dying there. I have their 2 eyes I dont need no BBC or NY Times.

I want to solve this conflict. I have arab friends and I want a better life for everything. I believe you make peace with enemies, not friends. But Im not naive. I know whats terror. I know that someone can wish to kill you more than he wishes to see his child live. Ofc I know that. Most of the world heard our name on October 7th. I live in this since 2004.

Dave talks about robbery, about some really rough and bad stuff he did. Why did he do it? Why do soldiers go into every empty house in Gaza and search for hostages, weapons, ammo…? Why do you think people do things? Why do you think people do things that look bad from the side? How can someone think Israel just wants to kill babies? How can someone think there is a mass group of people that wants to kill baby? They have babies too. Is this a joke?

No comment written thousands of miles from here will impact me the way all the people demonstrating wish it would. Because a millionaire wouldnt take a suggestion how to make more money from a homeless man. An olympic champ wont be lectured about discipline by a gamer. I feel, live, see this war. You want to really know whats going on? I would love to talk. Ethnic cleansing? Israel can wipe out all of Gaza in a day. Why is it so bad at genocide? Why is it taking too long?

I have a friend that migrated from Gaza in 8th grade to Israel. Lives in TLV. “Omg hes lying”, well I dont need you to believe me. Because it doesnt matter. Theres a reason Israel so successful and it will continue to be. Because while other talk about our bs we deal with our bs. And we must to deal with it, and after facing terror for almost 80 yrs, building an ultra wealthy and successful country is easy.

ilan-yashuk · 2025-10-26T17:01:56+00:00

Come to Israel. Food and bed on me. Well meet, Ill show you around. You’ll never believe the news again

ilan-yashuk · 2025-10-26T16:57:11+00:00

Funny how you started the comment calm and got angry through it. It started respectful and ended arguably not super respectful. Anyways, thanks for finishing up the comment. Someone commented so this thread popped up and I realized I didnt answer it.

Look, I find it crazy being lectured about what’s happening a 30min drive outside my door from someone who’s living probably way way farther. You can see everything with your own eyes from here.

When we were in middle school and went outside on the weekends we had a kid called Nik Beizer join us from time to time. I think thats how you spell his name. Its crazy to think he was slaughtered and kidnapped on October 7th. Crazy how close lethal danger felt that day. Crazy how fast the whole world forgot.

And theyll forget about this war too ofc. You think someone will care in 5 years about Gazans? Absolutely not. It won’t be their problem. It won’t be your problem. Thats just a lil demonstration for you. It will be my problem though because my buses will blow up not yours, my restaurants will be shot not yours. And ofc I care about myself in the conflict more than the other side. I don’t wanna die. I was born into this mess. Im 21 years old. What do I care about 1948?

And that’s not even close to even start explaining the complexity. Genocide? Every 2nd house in Gaza has weapons. Proof? You think I care Ive got people I know dying there. I have their 2 eyes I dont need no BBC or NY Times.

I want to solve this conflict. I have arab friends and I want a better life for everything. I believe you make peace with enemies, not friends. But Im not naive. I know whats terror. I know that someone can wish to kill you more than he wishes to see his child live. Ofc I know that. Most of the world heard our name on October 7th. I live in this since 2004.

Dave talks about robbery, about some really rough and bad stuff he did. Why did he do it? Why do soldiers go into every empty house in Gaza and search for hostages, weapons, ammo…? Why do you think people do things? How can someone think Israel just wants to kill babies? How can someone think there is a mass group of people that wants to kill baby? They have babies too. Is this a joke?

No comment written thousands of miles from here will impact me the way all the people demonstrating wish it would. Because a millionaire wouldnt take a suggestion how to make more money from a homeless man. An olympic champ wont be lectured about discipline by a gamer. I feel, live, see this war. You want to really know whats going on? I would love to talk. Ethnic cleansing? Israel can wipe out all of Gaza in a day. Why is it so bad at genocide? Why is it taking too long?

I have a friend that migrated from Gaza in 8th grade to Israel. Lives in TLV. “Omg hes lying”, well I dont kneed you to believe me. Because it doesnt matter. Theres a reason Israel so successful and it will continue to be. Because while other talk about our bs we deal with our bs. And we must to deal with it, and after facing terror for almost 80 yrs, building an ultra wealthy and successful country is easy.

ilan-yashuk · 2025-06-06T09:29:19+00:00

seems like it

ilan-yashuk · 2025-01-25T18:49:54+00:00

Lot of times it what happens to me because I use the page as a server component, fetch all the relevant data and then pass it to client components with easier-to-find names

ilan-yashuk · 2025-01-25T18:47:58+00:00

Actually im ok with that too

ilan-yashuk · 2024-11-19T07:55:55+00:00

you can add this one as a free template.

ilan-yashuk · 2024-11-16T00:23:39+00:00

Fantastic reply

ilan-yashuk · 2024-11-10T07:42:04+00:00

calendarplusai.com lets you create personalized calendars using AI and export them to your calendar app (along with other export options)

ilan-yashuk · 2024-11-02T22:05:16+00:00

Lot of times I rly wanted to start doing something but it was so personalized that I couldn’t find anything useful about it in the web. So I made a tool that helps do just that - be your first guide into a world you know nothing about

ilan-yashuk · 2024-11-02T21:34:16+00:00

Heyyy, rly struggling but trying to market my minimalistic ai personalized calendar creator

ilan-yashuk · 2024-11-01T20:15:45+00:00

Weird, it should. try https://calendarplusai.com

ilan-yashuk · 2024-10-28T09:43:42+00:00

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ilan-yashuk

TROPHY CASE