A new look at the freelance platform

A business seeking new contracts needs new customers. Conversely, if a business outsources its work, it needs new contractors.

While there are numerous freelance marketplaces such as Upwork, companies often require established firms rather than freelancers as their contractors.

The startup we’re examining today identified this issue and developed a platform to assist both parties.

The problem

If you are an agency or business looking to win new clients through the RFP (Request for Proposal) process, you will encounter two problems:

1. Where can I get these RFPs from?
2. How can I rapidly and clearly comprehend the scope of work for each RFP?

The first problem can be addressed using a marketplace where you can easily find and filter all RFPs that interest you.

The second issue is more complicated. RFPs often have unclear deliverables, lack budget details, involve opaque processes, and generally consist of essential information scattered throughout extensive documents.

The solution

Prosal.io Everything you need to find RFPs & win new clients for your business.

The primary concept behind Prosal is to establish an outsourcing platform where agencies can locate high-quality requests for proposals (RFPs) and secure new business clients.

The platform tackles these challenges by generating a unique landing page for each RFP, summarizing all vital details needed to evaluate the opportunity’s suitability.

This information includes budgets, submission deadlines, project timelines, and proposal prerequisites. Additionally, the platform sources high-quality RFPs from organizations across the U.S. and internationally, concentrating on nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and local governments.

In doing so, it supplies agencies with a standardized and readily accessible document for each RFP, simplifying the process of reading, responding to, and acquiring new clients.

Moreover, Prosal has created a community-driven platform and has collaborated with leading technology partners to supply additional resources for its users.

By doing this Prosal offers agencies a simpler method for finding clients. Rather than attending events and inquiring if companies have available work, you can now monitor the Prosal website for new service requests. You also have the option to subscribe and receive email notifications for new requests that match your specified criteria.

The startup claims that this way of finding clients increases the number of business opportunities opened by 5 times, some of which can be turned into real orders. At the same time, the agency will spend 10 times less time than before to receive this number of opportunities.

Prosal receives RFPs in three ways:

1. Organizations directly post on RFPs on Prosal.
2. Prosal collaborates with organizations to create and share their RFP.
3. Prosal identifies high-quality RFPs and requests the issuing organization to post them on the platform and share with the audience.

Business model

Prosal offers two types of subscriptions, for agencies and for clients.

Agencies can have access to some of the published RFPs for free. However, for access to “premium” RFPs they will have to subscribe to a $69/month plan.

As a client, you can publish an unlimited number of RFPs but to attract more qualified contractors or promote your RFPs on Prosal, you can opt for a special plan. However, the pricing policy for such a plan is not yet established by the startup. You are encouraged to discuss it individually.

The value

Today, an increasing number of companies are opting to outsource work instead of hiring and maintaining full-time employees. This strategy enables them to reduce fixed monthly costs while still having the flexibility to hire quality freelancers as required.

However, you might not be able to identify well-known platforms where companies can locate highly qualified agencies. Similarly, you might not know of resources that compile Request for Proposals (RFPs) in a convenient format for agencies to review and compare.

A special feature of Prosal is its ability to translate formal RFPs into easy-to-read landing pages. This eliminates the need to read through Word documents or PDFs, allowing you to review RFPs directly as web pages.

The market

The global freelance platforms market was valued at USD 4.39 billion in 2022. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.5% from 2023 to 2030, reaching USD 14.39 billion by 2030.

Alternatively, another source estimates the market size at USD 5.62 billion in 2023. It projects the market to reach USD 12.15 billion by 2028, predicting a CAGR of 16.66% during the forecast period (2023-2028).

The market shows promise, and Prosal has intelligently targeted a substantial portion of it by focusing on agencies instead of individual freelancers. Additionally, the platform has discovered an effective method of handling RFPs.

Source: growthmarketreports.com

The founders

1. Nicholas López – Co-Founder and CEO
2. Alfredo Ramirez – Co-Founder and COO/CMO
3. Nyle Malik – Co-founder, CTO

The company

The company was founded in the US in 2020 and currently has approximately 12 employees. While the company received some angel investments in its early stages, the first significant funding came in December 2023.