Why I Built GovIntel: From Marine Corps Supply Officer to GovCon Tech
I'll keep this short because I know you're busy.
I served as a Supply Officer in the Marine Corps. After I got out, I started a small government contracting business. Figured it'd be easy—I understood how procurement worked from the inside, had my SDVOSB certification, knew the right NAICS codes. Should be straightforward, right?
Wrong.
SAM.gov Nearly Broke Me
I spent hours on SAM.gov every week. And I mean hours. The interface is a mess. Filters don't work half the time. You run a search, get 10,000 results, and maybe 3 of them actually apply to your business.
"I was the SDVOSB spending 15 hours a week just searching for opportunities. That's time I could have spent actually writing proposals and winning contracts."
So I looked at the paid tools. GovWin wanted $8,000 a year. For a small shop like mine? That's not happening. The other options weren't much better.
I kept thinking: the government literally sets aside contracts for small businesses like mine. Billions of dollars. But the tools to find them are either free and broken, or expensive and built for Lockheed.
So I Built My Own
I'm a developer, so I started hacking something together. Connected to the SAM.gov API. Built filters that actually make sense. Added matching based on NAICS codes and set-asides.
It worked. I was finding opportunities in minutes instead of hours. Started winning more contracts because I had time to actually write good proposals.
A few other contractors saw it and asked if they could use it. That's when I realized this could help more people than just me.
What GovIntel Does
Nothing fancy. It pulls opportunities from SAM.gov, matches them to your business profile, and sends you a daily email with the good ones. There's an AI assistant that helps with proposals if you want it.
It costs $25 a month. I priced it that way because I remember what it was like bootstrapping a small business. $8,000 a year for software wasn't in my budget. $25 a month was.
That's It
I'm not going to tell you GovIntel will transform your business or guarantee you'll win contracts. That's not how this works. But if you're spending hours on SAM.gov every week and getting frustrated, this will save you time.
Try it free for 30 days. If it doesn't help, cancel. No hard feelings.
— Sanders