Maria runs a brand design agency with three employees. She sends 12 proposals a month, each taking 3 hours to create in Google Docs. That's 36 hours — nearly a full work week — spent on proposals instead of client work. She formats pricing tables that break every time she adjusts a line item, exports to PDF (which strips the interactive elements), emails it to the prospect, then checks her inbox obsessively for 4 days waiting for a response. She has no idea if they even opened it.
BetterProposals proved this market by reaching $500K+ ARR (now part of a larger suite). Proposify raised $8M and serves 8,000+ companies. PandaDoc processes $35B+ in documents annually. But these tools range from $19-49/mo and are designed for sales teams, not freelancers. A freelancer sending 5 proposals/month doesn't need CRM integrations, team workflows, or API access — they need beautiful templates, easy pricing tables, and a 'they just opened your proposal' ping.
The sweet spot is a $15/mo tool with 10 gorgeous industry-specific templates (design agency, web developer, marketing consultant), interactive pricing, built-in e-signature, and open/view tracking. At $15/mo with 3,000 users, that's $45K MRR — and the upsell to agencies at $39/mo with team features provides growth headroom.
💰 Revenue Blueprint
Three-tier value ladder to monetize from day one
Create and send 1 active proposal, basic templates, e-signature, platform branding
Unlimited proposals, 10 premium templates, custom branding, view tracking, e-signature, reminders
Everything in Freelancer + team collaboration, approval workflows, content library, analytics, CRM integrations
Why Now?
Freelance economy growing 15%+ annually. Remote selling means proposals need to be digital-first. Competition for clients is intense, making professional proposals a differentiator. The PDF proposal is dying.
📊 Market Evidence
The Market Gap
BetterProposals ($19+/mo) and Proposify ($49+/mo) target agencies and sales teams. PandaDoc ($35+/mo) is a full document suite. No $15/mo proposal builder exists specifically for freelancers with industry-specific templates.
Revenue Examples
Estimated from pricing, user base, and team size
Raised $8M, team of 50+. Revenue estimated from headcount and pricing.
🏆 Competitor Landscape
How existing players stack up in this market
| Competitor | Pricing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Proposify | $49/team/mo | Established proposal tool for teams, raised $8M |
| BetterProposals | $19/mo | Focused on proposals with good templates, now part of larger suite |
| PandaDoc | $35/mo | Full document automation — proposals, contracts, quotes. Overkill for freelancers. |
| Qwilr | $35/mo | Web-based proposals with beautiful design but expensive for solo use |
Established proposal tool for teams, raised $8M
Focused on proposals with good templates, now part of larger suite
Full document automation — proposals, contracts, quotes. Overkill for freelancers.
Web-based proposals with beautiful design but expensive for solo use
Launch Strategy
1) Create 10 free proposal templates as lead magnet (massive SEO potential for 'freelance proposal template' queries). 2) Launch on Product Hunt. 3) Content marketing: 'How to write a freelance proposal that closes' (high-volume keyword). 4) Partner with freelance platforms and communities. 5) YouTube tutorials on proposal best practices.
🛠️ Recommended Tech Stack
Suggested tools and technologies to build this idea
Why this stack: Next.js enables a rich document editor experience. React-PDF exports proposals as PDFs. Supabase tracks proposal views and e-signature status.
Strengths
- ✓Proposals directly impact revenue — a tool that helps close more deals has an obvious ROI
- ✓Template quality is a moat — beautiful, industry-specific templates are hard to replicate
- ✓View tracking creates engagement and reduces ghosting (prospects know you can see when they opened it)
Risks
- ⚠BetterProposals at $19/mo is already fairly affordable — need to undercut or significantly outperform on templates
- ⚠Notion/Canva templates could commoditize proposal creation
Score Breakdown
Good market signals with room for growth
Market (20%) + Revenue (20%) + Trend (15%) + Competition (15%) + Build (15%) + Pricing (15%)
7 — Proposify raised $8M, BetterProposals is profitable. Market exists but is niche.
7 — BetterProposals ~$40K MRR, Proposify larger. Revenue proof in the indie tier is moderate.
7 — Freelance economy growing. Remote selling continuing. Steady but not explosive.
6 — BetterProposals, Proposify, PandaDoc all exist. Differentiation through pricing and templates.
7 — Proposal builder with drag-and-drop and e-signature needs real engineering. 4-6 weeks.
8 — $15/mo undercuts most competitors. Freelancers are price-sensitive and this hits the sweet spot.
🚀 Start Building
Copy a prompt into your favorite AI coding tool and start building this idea right now.
Build a SaaS product called "Proposal & Quote Builder". ## Product Overview Create professional proposals with e-signature and close deals 50% faster ## Problem Freelancers and agencies spend 2-5 hours creating each proposal in Google Docs or Word, then export to PDF, email it, wait, follow up blindly, and use a separate tool for signatures. There's no visibility into whether the prospect opened it, how long they spent on the pricing page, or when they'll sign. This manual process loses deals: 35% of proposals go unanswered because the follow-up timing is wrong. ## Solution A web-based proposal builder with drag-and-drop templates, interactive pricing tables (clients can select options/packages), built-in e-signature, view tracking (know exactly when they open it), and automated follow-up reminders. Proposals are web links, not PDFs — so they always look perfect on any device. ## Target Audience Freelance designers, developers, and consultants; marketing agencies; and professional services firms sending 5-30 proposals per month ## Tech Stack - Next.js 15 (App Router) with TypeScript - Tailwind CSS v4 for styling - Supabase for auth, database, and storage - Vercel for deployment - shadcn/ui for UI components - Framer Motion for animations ## MVP Features to Build 1. Landing page with clear value proposition 2. User authentication (sign up, sign in, forgot password) 3. Core product functionality based on the solution above 4. Dashboard for users to manage their data 5. Pricing page with at least 2 tiers (free + paid) 6. Basic settings/profile page ## Known Competitors Proposify, BetterProposals, PandaDoc, Qwilr ## Key Risks to Address BetterProposals at $19/mo is already fairly affordable — need to undercut or significantly outperform on templates Notion/Canva templates could commoditize proposal creation ## Deployment 1. Set up Supabase project and configure environment variables 2. Deploy to Vercel with `npx vercel --prod` 3. Set up custom domain 4. Configure Supabase RLS policies for security ## Instructions Start by creating the project structure, then build the landing page first. Use server components where possible. Make it mobile-responsive from the start. Focus on getting the core value loop working before adding polish.