Usul

What do they actually do

Usul is a web platform for defense contractors to find and pursue U.S. government (mainly DoD) contracts by linking current opportunities, budgets, and stakeholders. It provides a personalized, AI‑ranked Contract Inbox, a capture pipeline with Salesforce/HubSpot sync (Contract CRM), Competitive Intelligence on incumbents and historical award pricing, Market Maps/PEO directories that tie capabilities to budget lines, and Forecasts that flag upcoming recompetes and likely matches for each customer (Contract Inbox, Contract CRM, Competitive Intel, Market Maps, Forecasts).

A typical workflow is: upload capability documents and connect the existing CRM; Usul ingests sources such as SAM.gov and consortia, ranks relevant solicitations, maps them to the offices controlling funds, shows incumbents/prices and expiring awards, and pushes accepted pursuits into the team’s CRM and calendar. Teams also use surfaced contacts, org charts, industry days, and an AI proposal assistant to triage solicitations and reach program managers earlier (usul.com onboarding/docs, Contract Inbox, Market Maps, Competitive Intel, Contract CRM).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Early-stage defense startups — BD/capture lead: They struggle to identify which DoD opportunities truly match their product and waste hours on noisy keyword searches instead of a prioritized list of matches; they also lack clear visibility into which program offices control the money and who to contact (Contract Inbox, Market Maps).
• Growth-stage contractors / mid‑market capture teams: They need to scale pursuit coordination across a small team without spreadsheets and want early signals on recompetes so they can engage before incumbents lock in work (Contract CRM, Forecasts).
• Proposal managers and capture leads at primes: They must assemble compliant, competitive proposals under tight timelines but often learn about solicitations late and lack quick summaries of fit and required attachments, leading to last‑minute scrambles or poor bid/no‑bid choices (Contract Inbox, Competitive Intel).
• Pricing and competitive‑intel analysts: They lack accessible historical award prices, incumbent patterns, and competitor teaming structures, forcing ad‑hoc research and increasing the risk of mispricing (Competitive Intel).
• Partnerships/teaming and BD‑sourcing teams: They struggle to map their or partners’ capabilities to specific budget lines and PEOs, slowing identification of the right primes and program managers and over‑relying on personal networks (Market Maps).

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

• First 10: Founder‑led, pilot‑first outreach to BD/capture leads (YC network, defense incubators, LinkedIn). Ingest their materials to switch on a personalized Contract Inbox and Market Map, then convert once a few qualified pursuits land in their pipeline (Contract Inbox, docs).
• First 50: Hire 1–2 AEs with DoD capture experience and a CS lead to run cohort onboarding, standardized playbooks, and weekly ROI reviews using early case studies and YC/seed press credibility (YC, press). Drive demand with targeted webinars, sandbox demos of Forecasts/Competitive Intel, and packaged Salesforce/HubSpot integrations (Forecasts, Competitive Intel, Contract CRM).
• First 100: Pursue enterprise/prime pilots with custom Competitive Intel and deeper CRM/consortium integrations, backed by a small implementation team and SLAs; add channel partners (procurement consultants, SIs), referrals, and early allied‑market outreach as coverage matures (Competitive Intel, Market Maps, press).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

In FY2023, the federal government awarded about $759B in contracts; DoD alone obligated roughly $431.4B, with around 37k vendors receiving DoD awards (GAO, DoD FY23, HigherGov).

Bottom-up calculation:

Illustratively, 5,000 paying contractors at $25k ACV implies ~$125M in annual revenue; the range spans roughly $25M–$1B depending on adoption (2k–10k customers) and packaging at ~$5k–$100k ACV.

Assumptions:

• Usul focuses first on DoD‑oriented contractors with dedicated capture budgets (subset of tens of thousands of DoD vendors).
• Pricing tiers vary by team size and deployment: ~$5k (small teams), ~$25k (mid‑market), ~$100k (enterprise/primes).
• Customer count scenarios of 2k/5k/10k reflect varying penetration across startups, mid‑market, and primes.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Deltek — GovWin IQ: Enterprise market‑intelligence suite for finding federal/SLED opportunities, analyst research, and award history; broad coverage favored by established primes and mid‑market capture teams (GovWin IQ).
• Bloomberg Government (BGov): Data, news, and policy analytics with budget/spend signals, contacts directories, and contracting coverage; strong for policy and large‑contractor context, less of a capability‑personalized capture CRM (BGov).
• GovTribe: Modern platform for discovering and tracking government opportunities and collaborating on pursuits; emphasizes alerts/search and award data more than capability‑driven matching to PEO/budget maps (GovTribe).
• Govini (Ark): Defense‑acquisition analytics focused on program/budget insights for DoD planners and primes; deeper agency‑level analytics rather than a lightweight, personalized capture CRM (Govini Ark).
• BidPrime (and similar bid aggregators): Aggregates procurement sources with fast document access and keyword/NAICS matching; strong on sourcing breadth, lighter on capability‑centered matching and integrated capture workflows (BidPrime).