RFP = ‘Really F*ing Painful’

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Over the last few months, we’ve made a new friend at Skimm HQ. And we’re not sure how we feel about Mr. RFP. Technically, known as a “Request for Proposal”; we like to refer to it as ‘Really F*ing Painful.’

We were very excited to start receiving RFPs from brands and agencies who want to work with theSkimm. So we put on our adult pants and looked at this thing….and realized that it seemed pretty nonsensical. For those who fill these out everyday, we feel you. For those who have no idea what we’re talking about, run.

The purpose of an RFP is for an agency to have a very detailed proposal around dates, inventory, and pricing. The reality is a spreadsheet with more restrictions and instructions than the SATs.

Reasons why RFPs are hard for startups:

-N/A
Get used to filling out columns like this because many a category won’t apply to you.

-But don’t you want to hear about my company?
RFPs are bare bones facts. When pitching, startups have a story they tell in conjunction with the facts. Maybe its a story on engagement or why they’re so innovative but it is very hard to tell it in this format.

-Come on up to my deck
Your presentation MUST adhere to the very strict formatting guidelines. We recently filled one out with a much bigger company who asked if our design team could make some tweaks to the deck. Uh, what design team?

-Did someone say flights?
We have had to make a Skimm thesaurus to track all the lovely new terms in these docs. Turns out flights are not just champagne, SOV is not a carpool lane, and third party tags have nothing to do w insta.

New Entrepreneur Lesson of the Day:Get a crash course from a friend/ investor/advisor on this. It’s formulaic and can be a headache but means you are growing up as a company. Hooray.