Stop Chasing RFPs. Let Them Come to You.
Dec 10, 2025
For most growth-focused companies, the "RFP hustle" is a full-time job that nobody actually has time for.
The old way of doing business is fragmented and exhausting. Small teams spend countless hours jumping between government portals, paid newsletters, and massive databases like GovWin or BidNet, hoping to find just one relevant opportunity. You download zip files, scan PDFs to see if you qualify, and often realize — too late — that the bid isn't a fit.
There is a new way. With AI-matched RFP sourcing, high-fit opportunities surface to you automatically. No hunting, no filtering through noise, and no "swivel-chair" workflow.
At Settle, we’ve built the first platform that combines sourcing and response. Once you find the right RFP, you can respond inside the same platform — all configured during a simple setup call.
Why Chasing RFPs Is a Losing Game for Small Teams
If you are a small team, you likely don't have a dedicated Proposal Manager. That means the person looking for RFPs is likely the CEO, a VP of Sales, or a Marketing Lead. Every hour you spend searching is an hour you aren't selling.
Too many sources, not enough signal
The opportunities you need are scattered across hundreds of disconnected sources. You have state websites, city portals, bid marketplaces, and industry newsletters. None of them are centralized.
Worse, the listings vary wildly in quality. One might be a clean digital form, while another is a scanned PDF from 1999. Scanning and comparing them manually is painful and prone to error.
Slow qualification slows everything else
The biggest hidden cost in the RFP process isn’t writing the proposal — it’s reading the wrong ones. Teams waste precious time reading through 80-page PDFs just to find a single eligibility requirement that disqualifies them.
As we’ve discussed in our guide to smarter prospecting for scalable growth, missing key details like funding structures or mandatory certifications often leads to "false positives," where you invest time in a bid you were never going to win.
Missed opportunities are common
Good RFPs disappear quickly. By the time a small team spots a bid on a generic aggregator, larger competitors with dedicated research teams have likely already started drafting. When you see an opportunity too late, you are forced to rush the response, leading to burnout and lower win rates.
The Big Shift: RFPs Can Now Come to You
We are flipping the model from active searching to passive matching.
A continuously updated RFP feed
Settle’s RFP Hunter tracks thousands of opportunities across industries and regions. We aggregate data from the public web, government portals, and private listings so you don't have to. Every day, new opportunities are added to your feed without you lifting a finger.
AI matching based on your company’s actual data
This is where we differ from a standard database. A database uses keyword matching (e.g., "software"). Settle uses Contextual AI Matching.
During your onboarding, we analyze your company’s core data:
Services and products offered
Geographic regions served
Certifications (e.g., SOC2, Minority-Owned)
Target deal size and buyer type
Unique qualifications and expertise
Instead of just scanning for keywords, our system identifies true-fit opportunities that match your company's DNA.
What “RFPs coming to you” actually looks like
Imagine logging in to see a personalized feed of opportunities that are already vetted. Less scrolling. More shortlists. You get immediate clarity on which RFPs deserve your attention, turning a 3-hour research block into a 15-minute review.
From Match to Response: One Platform, No Bounce-Around
The problem with tools like BidNet or FindRFP is that they only help you find the work. Once you find it, you’re on your own to do the work. Settle closes that gap.
What you see when an RFP is matched to your company
We distill the chaos of complex solicitation documents into a clean, actionable dashboard. Without opening a single PDF, you see:
Fit Metrics: A clear score indicating relevance to your services and eligibility.
Requirement Summaries: Major deliverables and mandatory criteria extracted by AI.
Contract Amount: Budget transparency (when available).
Deadlines & Timelines: Clear visual cues on when questions and submissions are due.
Rapid go/no-go decisions
This clarity allows for a rapid go/no-go decision. You can determine if a bid is a realistic pursuit in minutes, not days. For a small team, getting back 5-10 hours of reading time a week is a massive competitive advantage.
Instant response drafting
This is the "magic moment." Once you decide to pursue a match, you don't need to download files and upload them to a separate tool.
With one click, Settle generates an AI-assisted draft tailored to that specific RFP. Our AI carries over the context from the "Match" phase directly into the "Response" phase. You can refine, collaborate, and finalize the proposal inside the same tool.
This eliminates the classic "Download → Email → Copy/Paste → Start from Scratch" workflow that plagues most teams.
A Realistic, Simple Example
Here is what this workflow looks like for a typical mid-sized agency or vendor using Settle:
Setup: They join Settle and complete a short company intake on a 30-minute call.
Discovery: Their matched RFP feed populates automatically with high-fit bids.
Review: They log in and see a project with a High Fit Score, clear deadlines, and a budget that matches their target.
Decision: They make a "Go" decision in under five minutes.
Action: They click "Start Draft," and Settle builds a preliminary response outline populated with their verified and trusted content.
Result: Teams on our platform are often able to go from finding an RFP to responding >50% of it in less than 10 minutes. They submit days earlier than usual—with dramatically less effort.
Why This Is Different from Every Other RFP Tool
Most platforms only solve half the problem
The RFP software market is currently divided:
Sourcing Tools: Platforms like GovWin or BidNet have huge feeds but no response features. You find the lead, then you leave the app.
Response Tools: Platforms like Loopio or Responsive (RFPIO) have great content libraries, but they assume you already have the RFP. They offer no discovery.
No one else combines discovery + matching + response into a seamless vendor-side experience.
You get leverage, not more work
The platform does the searching, sorting, and first-pass reading for you. You only work on real opportunities worth pursuing.
Getting Started Is Simple
You don't need to overhaul your entire sales process to fix your RFP pipeline. You just need to turn on the engine.
The 30-minute setup call
Because our matching engine is powerful, we want to ensure it is tuned perfectly to your business. In a brief 30-minute setup call, we will:
Ingest your company details and ideal customer profile.
Configure your matching parameters for maximum accuracy.
Give you access to your personalized RFP feed and response workspace.
Immediate next steps
Once configured, you will see matched opportunities immediately. You can evaluate them faster, respond inside one unified system, and save hours per week while catching opportunities you would’ve otherwise missed.
Ready to let the right RFPs come to you?
Book a demo and we’ll configure your RFP matching engine for you today.
