This episode dives into how AI is transforming proposal management in AEC and professional services, far beyond generic content libraries.
Trampoline CEO Edouard Reinach explains how procurement teams actually evaluate RFPs, why structure beats length every time, and how the first two pages of your proposal determine whether reviewers keep reading. If you’ve ever wondered what evaluators care about most, or why your executive summaries fall flat, this conversation gives you the real playbook.
We also explore how AI can finally fix the hardest parts of proposal work: SME capture, case study creation, document shredding, and knowledge management. Edouard shares what his team learned from sitting on both sides of the RFP table and why the right AI workflows can cut response time by 60 to 80 percent without harming quality. You’ll hear how teams increase response volume, reduce burnout, and surface insights that turn proposal managers into strategic leaders, not cost centers.
Whether you lead proposals, write bids, manage SMEs, or support sales, this episode shows exactly how AI-native tools change the way teams qualify opportunities, craft winning narratives, and support procurement’s decision-making process. If you want better win rates, clearer messaging, smarter workflows, or simply fewer late nights, this is the episode to start with. Listen in and learn what the next era of proposal excellence looks like.
Guest: Edouard Reinach, CEO & Co-Founder of Trampoline Host: Christina Carter
Christina Carter (00:08) Today we’re talking with Edouard Reinach, CEO and co-founder of Trampoline. Edouard comes from both procurement and proposal management. He’s been on both sides of RFPs, he’s a creative guy who loves writing, and he’s built one of the most unique and useful approaches to proposal management I’ve seen.
If you work in AEC or professional services, you’re about to get some of the most practical insights on responding to RFPs.
Very excited for you all to hear this.
Christina Carter (00:57) Thanks for joining The Stargazy Brief. Great to have you here.
Edouard Reinach (01:02) Thank you. Pleasure to be here.
Christina Carter (01:03) I’m excited to talk because Trampoline approaches proposal management differently from almost every tool out there. Your architecture is unique and customers seem to really love it. Let’s start with AEC. They often say: “Our proposals are different every time. We can’t use AI.” What would you say to teams afraid of AI or standardization because their proposals are complex?
Edouard Reinach (01:49) I come from the service industry. I was a consultant for many years, had a startup, had a services company, wrote and evaluated RFPs. I've seen every possible format. That’s why we built an interface that feels different. Our focus wasn’t writing—LLMs can write—but project management. Our proprietary capabilities include:
A visual language model that reads documents in full spatial context (PDFs, Excel, video).
An agentic framework for directing the AI as you work.
Automatic knowledge management that becomes extremely good at finding answers over time. Project management mattered more than the writing itself.
Christina Carter (04:12) AEC and professional services rely heavily on CVs, resumes, and project sheets. What best practices do you recommend?
Edouard Reinach (04:39) Case studies matter a lot—what you did, why you did it, how you did it. But most case studies are written in a rush during an RFP. We built a not-yet-public case study writer. You tell it what you did and who worked on it, and it interviews SMEs like a journalist.
The key is to gather knowledge while it's fresh, not six months later. SMEs are busy. If you give them a blank page, they ignore you. If you give them something to disagree with, they react immediately.
Our system uses this: AI generates a draft, SMEs correct it, and every correction feeds back into their model.
Christina Carter (07:19) So capture info immediately, interview SMEs, give them something to react to?
Edouard Reinach (07:38) Exactly. Sometimes I’d even write something intentionally wrong just to force the SME to respond.
Christina Carter (08:11) On the procurement side, what gave you confidence that a team could deliver?
Edouard Reinach (08:15) Structure. Rarely does anyone read a full proposal. Government evaluators might spend only 3–4 hours per offer. Good structure makes scanning easy. Tell evaluators what you’re covering at the start of every section. Address non-compliance early—why you're still bidding, what alternative you offer. And don’t miss forms. Missing a required form gets you thrown out immediately.
Christina Carter (09:49) Procurement folks tell me the same—it’s the fastest way to get disqualified.
Christina Carter (10:00) Are procurement teams using AI to scan and evaluate RFP responses before humans review them?
Edouard Reinach (10:00) Absolutely. And we’re building systems for that too. AI-native software shouldn’t look like old content libraries. Software should be simple—no one should need to be a “super user.” That’s the future.
Christina Carter (11:58) Are measurable win-rate increases happening?
Edouard Reinach (12:18) The honest answer: many customers have used Trampoline for less than a year, so it’s too early for solid win-rate causality claims. What we can say: We help teams respond to more RFPs with the same resources while maintaining quality.That’s the metric that matters.
Christina Carter (13:32) How do teams respond to more RFPs without sacrificing quality?
Edouard Reinach (13:52) Start with qualification. More capacity doesn’t mean you should chase everything. Our Go/No-Go engine (free: gonogo.trampoline.ai) helps with that. One customer said, “For the first time, I didn’t have to call my wife to say I’d be working Saturday.” Quality of life matters. AI should reduce burnout, not justify doubling workload.
Christina Carter (15:46) Proposal and solution consulting teams want to respond to more RFPs, but they’re burning out. What should they say to sales leaders to get budget?
Edouard Reinach (16:14) Sales leaders often hand off RFPs without thinking. Having an external, AI-driven view—“We’re unlikely to win this”—starts a serious conversation. It shifts the mindset from “work harder” to “work smarter.” Time is the scarce resource. Show how much time is wasted on low-probability bids and how AI reallocates that time to strategy and win themes.
Christina Carter (17:44) Yes, tie it to revenue.
Edouard Reinach (17:59) Exactly. Create a business case. Even 10% time savings is meaningful. Most customers save 60–80%.
Christina Carter (18:33) What separates proposal teams seen as strategic from those seen as a cost center?
Edouard Reinach (19:19) Strategic teams usually select their tools—they’re trusted. Cost center teams are seen like sales engineers. To shift perception: Break down every task in the RFP process. Show repetitive tasks that AI can handle and where humans provide strategic judgment. If AI helps you win even one more RFP, the tool pays for itself many times over.
Christina Carter (23:00) What’s the one process every team should automate?
Edouard Reinach (23:11) Many tasks qualify. But two stand out:
Mapping SME expertise to questions. Needs learning over time; not just prompt engineering.
Document shredding. Most AI tools either shred too much or too little. Preferences differ by user.We let teams shape how extraction works and feed that back into the system.
Capture feedback loops are also crucial but hard to automate cleanly.
Christina Carter (26:30) Storytelling is hard to automate. What actually works?
Edouard Reinach (26:38) Spend the most time on the first 2–3 pages—especially the executive summary. “Save the Cat” applies: you need an early emotional hook. Make the reader want to root for you. AI can’t create authentic emotional moments; humans must decide the angle. Great structure and scannability matter too.
Christina Carter (28:21) Procurement people on Reddit say executive summaries often feel generic and AI-generated.
Edouard Reinach (28:51) Exactly. One consultant we work with starts and ends with the executive summary—writes it first, refines it last. That’s the right approach.
Christina Carter (29:49) If you were building a proposal team from scratch today—people, tools, processes—what would it look like?
Edouard Reinach (30:08) You need a strong project manager to orchestrate the AI and the human workflow. Everyone else should own part of the process—annual performance should include RFP contributions. AI should help teams analyze past wins/losses and build next-year strategy. You still need writers with judgment. AI predicts; humans judge.
Christina Carter (32:58) If a proposal person synthesizes data—AI or not—and shares it with execs quarterly, they look incredibly strategic.
Edouard Reinach (33:18) Exactly. And if your team is seen as a cost center, start here.
Christina Carter (33:43) Proposal teams often wait for permission. How do they spark the conversation?
Edouard Reinach (33:43) Start by scheduling demos with vendors. Your job isn’t to push a tool—it’s to make it easy for your company to buy if they want to. Don’t wait for permission. Worst case: ask forgiveness later. Many tools offer free trials. Ours takes two hours to set up.
Christina Carter (35:34) Where can people find you?
Edouard Reinach (35:57) trampoline.ai gonogo.trampoline.ai Follow me and the company on LinkedIn.
Christina Carter (36:13) Everyone, go check them out. Thanks for joining us.
Edouard Reinach (36:21) Thank you. This was fun.
✸ Trampoline AI Website: https://www.trampoline.ai/
✸ Go/No-Go Engine (Free): https://gonogo.trampoline.ai/en
✸ Edouard Reinach on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ereinach/
✸ Trampoline LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trampolineai/
✸ Trampoline AI's Stargazy Page: https://stargazy.io/managed-services/tendium-managed-services
✸ Community: https://stargazy.circle.so/join?invitation_token=0856b517503bca21eecbae1d058313543675481b-28d54c10-c886-4708-8b3b-ffd62cd3c935
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✸ Website: https://stargazy.io/
✸ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stargazyproposals/
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