When a Proposal Felt Like a Breakthrough
In the early days of my startup, hearing a company say, “Send me a proposal,” felt like recognition. Someone had noticed our work and thought we might be able to help. I was happy to spend time on it because I could imagine the proposal becoming our first project with that customer. If it went well, perhaps a small project would grow into a long relationship.
A request worth millions of ringgit was even harder to resist. Before anything had been agreed, I found myself thinking about hiring, growth and what similar projects might mean for the next three to five years. For a founder building a company from the ground up, those possibilities feel real. They give you energy when the business needs it most.
The Work Begins Before the Deal Exists
My team and I would prepare the architecture, estimate the costs and ask partners for their prices. We wanted to give the customer our best answer. Yet sometimes we did not know enough about the site, devices, data, responsibilities or expected outcome to design a sound solution. When we asked, the reply was often, “Just give us your best proposal,” or “You suggest.”
That left us making assumptions about the scale of the work. We spent days debating options with partners and trying to price a project whose boundaries nobody had defined. The proposal might look complete when we submitted it, but much of it rested on guesses. Even a carefully written price could be wrong if the actual requirements later changed.
Then came the silence. Some customers never replied. Others said they would keep the proposal and budget for reference. Often, we never learned whether the project went to someone else, lacked funding, had no internal owner or was never ready to enter procurement. The hours we had spent preparing it were gone.
What Those Proposals Taught Me
That experience was frustrating because I had mistaken interest for commitment. A request for a proposal can be a serious step toward a project, but the words alone tell me very little. The lessons cost my small team time and money:
- Find the problem owner. I need to know who will use the proposed solution, who is responsible for the outcome and who can approve the next step.
- Ask what is known about the budget and timing. A customer may not have a final figure, but they should be able to explain whether funding exists and when a decision could be made.
- Understand the buying process. A direct award, competitive tender and early market study call for different amounts of work.
- Record what remains unknown. If key requirements are missing, I should not present assumptions as firm scope or a final price.
- Protect the team’s time. Preparing a detailed design has value. Giving it away repeatedly leaves fewer resources for customers who are ready to act.
These are practical business lessons I did not learn at university. I learned them while trying to keep a startup moving with limited people and cash.
A Different Answer Today
When someone now asks for a large proposal without a clear scope, I first ask about the problem, budget, timeframe, project owner and procurement route. If they need us to investigate requirements, work through the architecture and develop a costed plan, I propose a paid consultation. It gives the customer something more useful than a proposal built on guesses, while allowing us to put proper care into the work.
I still welcome a genuine opportunity. I also understand that a proposal request may be the start of a conversation, rather than a sign that a project is ready. It took me longer than I wish to learn that distinction. The cost was real, but so was the lesson: a founder must believe in what the company can build and know when to ask whether the customer is ready to build it with them.