Consus

What do they actually do

Consus centralizes government specifications, standards, and handbooks so teams can work from the correct document version. It verifies the active revision, alerts users when documents change, and helps pull out the relevant clauses or requirements from long manuals—all aimed at reducing rework and speeding up bids and delivery timelines YC page.

Publicly available info today is limited beyond YC’s description; the website is currently a simple landing page, which suggests the product is early and evolving consus.io.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Contractors and subcontractors bidding on government work (defense, aerospace, infrastructure): They struggle to confirm which specification/standard revision is official for a bid or design. Missing an update can cause non‑compliance or a lost bid YC page.
• Proposal and capture teams at engineering, consulting, or construction firms: They spend hours searching handbooks for exact clauses needed for compliance, slowing response times and increasing error risk. Faster extraction of relevant passages directly addresses this YC page.
• Program managers and engineers executing government contracts: Requirements change mid‑project, and unclear revision status leads to rework and schedule slips. Verified active documents and update alerts reduce this uncertainty YC page.
• Compliance, legal, and audit teams in regulated companies: They need an auditable record of which standard was in force at a given date, but document trails are fragmented. Good records and version evidence align with formal records‑management expectations government records guidance.
• Government procurement/standards officers and records managers: They must distribute authoritative specs and ensure suppliers use the right versions, but distribution/notification channels are inconsistent. A central verification and update mechanism would reduce downstream nonconformances YC page.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Run 4–8 week pilots with primes/subs and capture teams tied to active bids/programs to prove revision verification, change alerts, and one‑click requirement extraction on real documents; source via direct outreach, founder network intros, and sponsoring proposal‑prep sessions YC page.
• First 50: Package pilot wins into repeatable “bid‑readiness” offers sold through prime capture teams and proposal consultancies; publish playbooks/templates showing time savings; get endorsements from standards/records teams to reach their supplier networks and support audit value with records expectations YC page records guidance.
• First 100: Operationalize a repeatable motion: inbound content (how‑tos, compliance checklists), account‑based outreach to PMs/procurement, and reseller/integration partners in proposal/compliance tooling; pursue procurement vehicles and a self‑serve tier for smaller subs, with case studies emphasizing auditable revision history and automated alerts YC page records guidance.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

U.S. federal contract obligations were about $759B in FY2023, indicating a very large ecosystem of vendors working under detailed government requirements GAO. Over 674,000 entities are registered in SAM.gov, showing the potential supplier base engaging with federal awards GSA/SAM.gov.

Bottom-up calculation:

Focus on U.S. contractors and subs in standards‑heavy categories plus proposal/engineering consultancies: assume ~30,000 organizations with recurring standards/requirements needs purchasing software at an average $10,000–$25,000 per year, implying a $300M–$750M TAM for this initial wedge. Expansion to agencies, additional verticals, and higher ACVs would increase this.

Assumptions:

• Roughly 4–6% of the 674k SAM‑registered entities have frequent, complex standards/requirements workflows and budget for specialized tools.
• Average annual contract value of $10k–$25k per org reflects small‑team subscriptions and mid‑market deployments; large primes could be higher.
• This estimate excludes many global opportunities and non‑federal/regulatory use cases, which could expand TAM beyond the U.S. contracting core.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Accuris (Engineering Workbench): Large incumbent for standards access/management with AI search, requirements extraction, revision comparison, and alerts—directly overlapping with Consus’s core problem space Accuris EWB overview PDF.
• Techstreet: Long‑standing marketplace and enterprise subscription for codes and standards with watchlists and publisher coverage; widely used to source authoritative revisions ASME announcement.
• Nimonik / Document Center: Standards subscriptions plus regulatory‑change and compliance software (watchlists, alerts, legal registers, audit support), competing for compliance/audit workflows Nimonik Document Center background.
• S&P Global / IHS Markit (legacy standards access): Historically marketed standards access and Engineering Workbench; materials still position a central system for authoritative standards and notifications, overlapping with Consus’s aims S&P Global.
• Microsoft SharePoint (and general ECMs): Common substitute where teams use generic document repositories/version control plus process to track standards; often chosen due to ubiquity and procurement norms VisibleThread OpenText blog.