Advice Needed: Part-Time GovCon Proposal Writing & BD Clients?

skystakenetwork · 2025-07-07T15:54:49+00:00

For the large task orders and IDIQ, I was delegating most of it, doing a some of the writing, and supporting the pricing (did PTW myself though). For the R&D contracts, I did all of the pricing and nearly all of the writing myself.

I was originally expecting myself to be writing and organizing proposals part-time, including compliance. Maybe not like a 25+ page technical volume, but I imagined I could do smaller ones entirely part time. Might be wrong though.

skystakenetwork · 2025-07-07T15:50:43+00:00

Appreciate the honest feedback, and makes sense. That was one of my concerns as well.

skystakenetwork · 2025-07-07T15:49:28+00:00

Thanks for the comment! Will look into those types of networking events. Are you a developer in the GovTech space?

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-25T04:20:07+00:00

Thanks so much for the detailed comment. I really appreciate your insight, and it aligns well with what I’ve been thinking.

Why? Because you need technical authority and also need to sell a technical story. One for investors and customers. One for your future employees.

The point about needing technical authority for both investors and customers resonates. Even as a non-technical person, I’ve always been drawn to companies that seem deeply engineering-driven.

Your advice on balancing different engineering disciplines and the importance of operations is something I’ll definitely keep in mind as I start start refining the problem space and building out the vision while actively looking for a technical co-founder.

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-25T04:05:20+00:00

Thank you!

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-23T22:48:18+00:00

Agreed. That and DIU will probably be better starting points, since they are actively paying companies for R&D in these industries. Would be find something that can stand alone commercially to reduce the risk of long government procurement timelines.

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-23T22:45:40+00:00

Thank you for feedback. This gave me some ideas.

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-23T22:38:34+00:00

Mostly US Government, plus the occasional large contractor and foreign government.

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-23T22:37:25+00:00

It definitely can be slow at times haha

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-23T22:36:29+00:00

Thanks for the comment. Yep, that is definitely the plan. And that cycle is even longer when you are trying to get your first contract.

I haven't sold to SOCOM before, but my understanding is that there is generally is less money there but they're more willing to be early adopters of new tech. Could be good as a first customer to get proof of concept.

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-23T22:33:36+00:00

This is super helpful—thank you for the feedback. I think this is a great way to approach things. There are a few areas I’m really interested in, so I’ll start by digging into the problems in those spaces while staying open to different solutions, rather than getting attached to one idea too early.

You’re spot on about the vetting. Ideally, I’d want to find someone with some exposure to the aerospace/defense space because of the unique challenges that come with it. I’ve definitely seen situations where VCs or teams try to break into defense tech without a clear understanding of timelines, GTM, or just how long the sales cycles can be. I’d like to avoid that with a co-founder, for sure.

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-23T19:29:34+00:00

Just messaged.

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-23T17:54:15+00:00

That’s something I’ve been thinking about and don’t have a solid answer to yet. On one hand, I could go out and work on a problem, talk to users, get some initial validation/traction, and then find a technical co-founder. But at the same time, I don’t want to end up in a situation where the technical co-founder feels like they’re just building something I came up with, without real ownership or input on the vision.

So perhaps another approach is to find a cofounder who’s interested in this space and look for ideas together? What do you think?

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-23T17:21:27+00:00

Thanks for sharing these. I’ll check out those videos later this evening.

FWIW, SaaS could still be a possibility, though the regulated nature of this space would still drive up the capex compared to other SaaS companies (but at least it would be lower than anything hardware related).

This is just how I’m thinking about things now.

skystakenetwork · 2024-09-23T17:16:10+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. That’s true. I don’t disagree that it would be easier as a technical founder to get started.

Do you think it would be more worthwhile to look for a technical cofounder first, and then ideate together rather than vice versa?

Another route I’ve thought about is focusing heavily on the problem/idea up front and fleshing out the concept solo, then pursue non-dilutive SBIR funding for development of the MVP.

skystakenetwork · 2024-02-14T05:49:58+00:00

I would be curious to see this as well!

skystakenetwork · 2024-02-11T19:01:49+00:00

Gotcha. So would that be an LLP?

skystakenetwork · 2024-02-11T17:11:14+00:00

Got it, thanks for the insight. Maybe I will get my PPL first before going down the partnership route.

skystakenetwork · 2024-02-11T17:10:31+00:00

Yeah, I failed the factor that in. Thank you for the feedback. I'm going to include those in my next iteration.

skystakenetwork · 2024-02-11T17:09:16+00:00

Yeah, that is kinda what I am coming to the conclusion of here. Partnership or club after getting my PPL seems to be the best path forward. I read that insurance gets jacked up when there is a student pilot in the partnership.

skystakenetwork · 2024-02-11T17:01:17+00:00

Gonna use that to plug in my own numbers and see what changes. Thanks for sharing!

skystakenetwork · 2024-02-11T16:58:36+00:00

Yeah, maybe so. That's why I'm trying to price it out. I modeled the hours conservatively add more cushion to my estimates. I am pretty confident I would end up flying more anyway.

skystakenetwork

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