What Is a Proposal

I kept hearing that I should create a proposal to start a business, so I looked into what a proposal is and how to write one, and compiled my findings here.

A proposal document is written to document the work a company does, organize concrete plans, and share them with others.

Planning is about analyzing what's happening with a given problem or task, determining whether the problem is worth solving, what impact solving it would have, and whether solutions exist — then estimating expected benefits and results through hypotheses before actually doing the work. If the benefits outweigh expectations or the results look promising, you can pursue the work more passionately and recruit people to join.

Stages of planning

1. Problem identification and improvement ideas emerge
2. Confirming the problem and task
3. Verifying the problem/task / Analyzing the current situation
4. Deriving solutions
5. Creating a concrete execution plan
6. Writing the proposal

Prerequisites Before Writing a Proposal#

Report Writing Principles (5W3H)

Planning Process and Methods
Before writing the proposal, you need to organize your plan first. The process looks something like this (it may vary slightly):

1. Recognizing the task
   Finding the task's direction, analyzing the current situation, identifying root causes, reviewing conditions, analyzing requirements and needs
2. Collecting and analyzing information
   Gathering and analyzing necessary information
3. Brainstorming and conceptualizing
   Generating needed ideas and finding solutions
4. Writing the proposal
   Creating documents and expressing them. Documents can take the form of proposals, reports, authorization requests, etc.
5. Reporting
   Presentation varies by type of plan. Expression methods can include reporting, persuading, or providing information.

Key Considerations When Writing a Proposal

1. Write a clear conclusion at the end and provide another summary to aid overall understanding
2. The design and content shouldn't be packed too densely nor look too sparse
3. Prioritize simplicity over clutter, and keep the layout polished and consistent
4. Tables and images should be either custom-made or match the overall tone
5. The overall direction and message of the proposal must align with the planning intent
6. Write from the perspective of the reader, client, or person in charge — make it easy to understand
7. Pre-answer anticipated questions and concerns
8. Persuade with data, not personal experiences, thoughts, or subjective opinions

Basic Structure of a Proposal#

Cover section

Introduction section

Main body section

Supplementary section

Practical 3-Step Proposal Writing Method#

1. Setup - Draw the preliminary sketch
2. Structure - Build the basic framework
3. Page writing - Write each page's body content

Setup - Drawing the Preliminary Sketch#

1. Setting the writing direction of the proposal
2. Setting the proposal's options
3. Setting the persuasion direction

Setting the writing direction
Decide in advance what format to use.
Don't write the proposal based solely on your own or your company's situation — you need to understand the broader context (industry, market conditions) and the type of person who'll be reading the proposal, as well as your competitive standing.
If the proposal has weaknesses, it's better to include improvement ideas or ways to fill the gaps rather than leaving them as-is.

Setting the proposal's options
Organize environmental factors (financial status, vision, direction, product and external conditions) and check necessary prerequisites (resources needed for execution).
Identify and define items that need verification and key content to include in the proposal.

Setting the persuasion direction
You're not creating a proposal for someone who's already 90% interested and will be persuaded regardless. You're persuading someone who has no interest in your plan or is inherently negative.
Since you're making it to persuade, it must be persuasive. Why bother making it so diligently if it won't persuade anyone? Especially when there are other things to do right now.

There are three things to check when setting the direction of the proposal:

1. Determine the persuasion type
2. Review the items to highlight
3. Review the persuasion appeal

Determining the persuasion type
This is about what part of the proposal will resonate with and attract the reader.
"That's exactly what I wanted...!", "I'm not particularly drawn to it, but many people would be.", "This could make money.", "Others would be tempted.", "That's fresh."

Think about how to keep the person you're trying to persuade engaged in this proposal.

Reviewing items to highlight
Once the persuasion type is set, review the items as well.
Think about which features, UI, strengths, or ideas of your product can be used as persuasion elements.
If you pick a feature without much thought and then feel "this probably won't work..." — it won't work, so change it.

Reviewing the persuasion appeal
Decide the atmosphere — what emotions the person being persuaded should feel.
Fear, alertness, anticipation, attraction, etc. — the Tone & Manner of delivery should change based on the chosen appeal.

Structure - Building the Basic Framework#

The direct framework refers to the table of contents, but before building that, you need to compose the proposal's narrative flow (how to advance the content — think Korean drama-style "frustrating build-up" or "refreshing reveal"). For this, you need to understand top-heavy and bottom-heavy approaches.

It's similar to the classic introduction-development-turn-conclusion structure, but you need to decide where to place your main punch.
A top-heavy approach leads with the conclusion and then explains why.
A bottom-heavy approach starts with the problem and works through solutions, introducing your product at the end.

Once you've set the narrative structure, create the table of contents. A table of contents is like a signpost.
It tells us where we need to go, so if it's well-crafted, it's like navigation guiding you to your destination.
Even if you decide not to include a table of contents in the proposal for some reason, you should still create one for flexibility.

Content in English is "Content"
Table of Contents is "Contents," "Table of contents," or "List of contents"

Getting the table of contents right is hard. Here's what can go wrong when writing a proposal with a poor table of contents:

1. Can't grasp the big picture. End up not knowing what the point is.
   Without a table of contents, creating a narrative arc is difficult.
2. Have to fix everything or start over.
   Due to tight coupling rather than loose coupling, changing one slide may cause disconnects with previous slides or break the flow. A sense of continuity can be achieved by making each section feel like it progresses step by step.
3. Harder to respond to additional slides or changes.
   When additional requirements come mid-way, a poorly organized table of contents makes it unclear where to insert them.

How to create a good table of contents
Having too little content is a problem, but having too much is also a problem.
If there's no data, think and research. If there's too much data, prune and select what's important.

1. Break it into large chunks
2. Identify subsets and overlaps
3. Put them in order

Breaking into large chunks
The chunks should feel roughly equal in size.
For software development, you might break it into planning, development, design, testing, deployment, operations, etc.
Using AI or search engines to determine these chunk sizes can be helpful.

Identifying subsets and overlaps
Sets are groups of related content.
There's nothing more tedious than briefly explaining something and then explaining it in detail again later.
To resolve these partial overlaps, lean the content to one side.

Putting in order
Unlike a building model that can be viewed all at once, you can't show everything simultaneously — it's hard to explain all at once.
Content must flow and be broken down step by step.
The order of what you say on each slide and how they connect must flow naturally — otherwise it feels awkward and is harder for the audience to follow.
Just like there's an order to getting dressed after a shower (the shower process, drying and applying products before dressing, the order of putting on clothes), you need to set criteria and maintain a top-down structure.

Page Writing - Writing Each Page's Body Content#

Having set the table of contents, you've solved one of the harder parts of planning.
Of course, there's an order to page writing too.

1. Pagination
2. Creating key phrases
3. Understanding page elements
4. Writing the page body

Pagination
This is about allocating how many pages each large chunk should get. More chunks mean more pages. Trying to fit a large chunk into a single page makes it complex or text-heavy, which won't resonate. Allocating too many pages to unimportant sections diverts from the plan's intent. Pagination is a balancing act.

Creating key phrases
Each page should have a concise phrase summarizing what it wants to say.
Overlooking this means you might explain something simple in a complicated way or emphasize something unimportant.

Benefits of creating key phrases:

1. It becomes clear what to write on each page
2. Connecting the phrases from each page immediately reveals the story the proposal is telling
3. Connecting the phrases reveals weak spots, allowing you to reinforce them
4. Once key phrases are created and connected, summarizing the proposal becomes easy

Understanding Page Elements#

This is about what to fill each page with.
The main components of a page are text, images, tables, and infographics.

Text
Is there a page without any text? If so, it's probably not a key page. If deciding what to write is difficult, choose from these:

1. Text revealing the topic, including the key phrase
2. Text explaining the topic
3. Annotation-like text stating simple information

Tables
When there's too much content to convey, organize it through a well-structured guide.
Don't just plop a table on a page by itself. Tables in a proposal are for reference, not for the audience to analyze.
Summarize what can be learned from the table in text.

Images
Avoid meaningless images. Inserting relevant images enhances understanding.
Images are powerful and can be used frequently, but relevance to each page should be considered.

Infographics
Infographics are visual representations designed to make information more intuitive.
Diagrams, graphs, etc. fall within the scope of infographics.
Too many are distracting and break focus, so use them appropriately.

Writing the page body

1. Write the key sentence
2. Add all page element materials that support the key sentence
3. Pare down to only the essential minimum and remove the rest
4. Edit the design so content is clearly visible

Consider how long someone spends on a single page, how much attention people give, and write the proposal accordingly. Even if someone reads carefully out of appreciation for your effort, their focus will still drift. Having 1-2 pieces of information per page is actually more considerate to the audience. If you have time, I'd recommend checking out Misconceptions and Truths About Planning, Proposal Writing Basics Part 1.

Structure of a Proposal#

1. Planning background
2. Current situation analysis
3. Core content
4. Execution strategy/methods
5. Expected effects

Planning background
Summarize the reason you started planning. For me, I wanted to solve a personal problem. Without the system helping me, it was hard to change on my own.

Current situation analysis
Assess the current situation related to that reason. Are there competitors? What's the market size and state? What's my situation and my company's situation? How much can we accomplish? Thoroughly examine everything based on objective data.

You need to use objective evidence to prove why the plan is needed (Why) and introduce a solution that explains how and to what extent the problem can be resolved (So what).

Core content
In my case, I'd love it to become a super-app that solves all the problems I've identified. But listing too many things lowers focus on specific problems, and I don't have the resources to tackle everything at once, so some adjustment is needed.
Extract common keywords from the problems to simplify things.

Execution strategy/methods
The scope of execution varies depending on where you draw the boundaries. The execution strategy also changes depending on what stage the proposal is at. In the IT industry, it can be broadly divided into budget allocation, marketing plans, and software development plans.
What matters is executing well-established methods, presenting ideas that are competitive compared to others, and proposing creative methods that deliver cost-effective results to satisfy proposal readers. While doing all that, you also need to show focus on the consumer (What).

Expected effects
The effects expected from executing this plan. Whether it's brand building, revenue generation/increase, or acquiring potential customers — different plans yield different results. And there will certainly be unexpected positive effects along the way.

References#

• The Process of Creating a Concrete Execution Plan: How to Write Proposals
• Work Tips - Initial Draft Structure and Proposal Writing
• Proposal Writing Methods, Basic Practical Skills Summary
• Proposal Writing Basics: Building the Framework

You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.

— Joyce Meyer