Things we've built

What we built

• Opportunity feed — Pulling live tenders from multiple public sources (including Contracts Finder and Find a Tender), so users see relevant opportunities without manually searching multiple government portals.

• ITT import and AI extraction pipeline — Users upload a tender document and the system extracts the actual requirements automatically, instead of someone manually re-reading a 40-page PDF.

• National TOMs-based commitment builder — Adjustable sliders for social return on investment (SROI), so users can build realistic, scoring-aligned commitments rather than guessing.

• AI narrative generator — Writes the bid response text — built with a token-substitution approach specifically designed to stop the AI from inventing figures or claims that aren’t backed by the user’s real commitments.

• Pay-per-bid model — £45 per bid, no subscription, with Stripe-powered payment — so smaller businesses can use it without committing to a monthly cost for something they might use a handful of times a year.

Why this approach

Most tools in this space are either expensive bid-consultancy retainers or generic AI writing tools that don't understand the specific scoring framework councils actually use. HelpMeBid sits in between — affordable, framework-aware, and built to stop AI hallucination from creating compliance risk in a process where inaccurate claims can actually disqualify a bid.

What we built

• Pre-launch waitlist site — with email capture — converting interest into a warm list before the product exists to ship

• How it works section — explaining the vacuum infusion principle in plain terms for anglers familiar only with overnight soaking

• Facebook presence — built in parallel for community engagement with the waitlist audience

• Manufacturing RFQ — drafted and issued to four OEM candidate suppliers — Dongguan Yulong Hardware & Plastic, JENSON Plastic, Seal The Jar (Protosil Kft.), and PYGLASS — covering chamber size, valve seal liquid-tolerance, splash-guard feasibility, MOQs, and lead times

• Full SEO content hub at /guides — targeting high-intent carp fishing bait preparation searches: how to glug boilies, pellet pump guides, best boilie liquids and attractants, boilie preparation tips — 1,200–1,800 words each

• Structured schema throughout — Product, Organisation, and FAQPage schema, with PreOrder availability markup ready to activate on launch

The manufacturing strategy

Three routes to market were scoped: white-labelling existing Chinese OEM vacuum food containers (recommended as the fastest, lowest-risk path to a testable product), custom tooling in China, and UK manufacture. Standard vacuum food canister size sets — 0.5L through 3L sharing one detachable pump — map closely onto the product concept and potentially satisfy the core interchangeable-chamber functionality without custom tooling at the validation stage.

Why this approach

Carp anglers are experienced, opinionated, and immediately suspicious of brands that don't understand the fishing context. Every element of the VacBait site — from product positioning to guide content — was written for people who already know what a 48-hour session looks like. The SEO content hub serves two functions simultaneously: ranking for searches the product's buyers are already making, and demonstrating to those buyers that the brand understands their world deeply enough to be trusted at launch.