“It shouldn’t take eight weeks and five teams just to submit one proposal,” says Vyavos founder Elisabeth Rotnicki.
Determined to rethink a process she had experienced firsthand, Elisabeth set out to solve one of the most time-consuming and fragmented challenges in corporate life – responding to Requests For Proposals (RFPs).
The result is Vyavos, an autonomous proposal execution system built on the idea that proposals aren’t a document problem, they’re an execution problem.
Vyavos replaces fragmented tools and manual coordination with a single system.
It interprets RFPs, determines the best response, assembles the right team, and delivers structured, client-ready proposals. And it does all this using the company’s own knowledge and ways of working.
From frustration to first idea
Before founding Vyavos, Elisabeth was working in Germany as a proposal manager at KPMG.
The role was strategic and high impact, focused on helping KPMG win new business. But behind the scenes, the process was far from efficient.
Creating a single proposal could take up to eight weeks and involve multiple teams, all working in silos and contributing pieces that needed to be brought together under pressure.
“It takes five different teams just to get one proposal out,” she recalls.
Over time, the process became repetitive, fragmented and increasingly frustrating. “It took away the fun in the work,” she says.
Around that time, Elisabeth made a decision that would reshape everything. She moved to Australia.
Originally, the move was meant to be a professional opportunity.
But when that path didn’t materialise, she chose to go anyway, putting herself in a completely unfamiliar place, far removed from the structures and networks she knew.
“It forced me to rebuild everything from scratch,” she says. New country. No network. No clear next step.
In those early weeks in Melbourne, she found herself in a stripped-back routine, living out of an Airbnb and figuring out what came next.
It was there, removed from the noise of her previous role, that she began reflecting on the problem she had left behind.
Sitting alone, she started mapping out the proposal process from memory. Every team. Every step. Every handover.
What emerged was not just a list of inefficiencies, but a system that could be redesigned.
“I started to see how everything was connected,” she says. And for the first time, she could imagine a different way of doing it.
That moment marked the beginning of Vyavos.
A universal problem hiding in plain sight
Responding to RFPs is a critical function for many organisations, particularly in industries like construction, engineering, consulting and legal services. But it is also one of the most resource-intensive.
Teams must analyse lengthy documents, interpret client requirements, gather internal knowledge, coordinate across departments, develop pricing models and produce polished submissions, all within strict timeframes.
Despite the importance of this work, much of it is still done manually.
“That pain point is universal,” Elisabeth says.
Through early validation, she found that organisations in Australia faced the same challenges as those in Europe. This confirmed that the problem was global, not local.
Automating the entire proposal process
Vyavos was built to rethink and simplify how proposals are created.
Rather than acting as a simple writing tool, the platform functions as an end-to-end system that mirrors the workflow of multiple teams.
Users can upload an RFP and the system will analyse the document to understand client requirements, draw on organisational knowledge and past experience, and generate tailored responses and project approaches.
It can also recommend pricing models, suggest team structures based on skills and availability, and produce visually aligned proposal documents.
“It’s not just writing, it’s orchestrating the entire process,” Elisabeth explains.
This is not to remove humans from the process, but to shift their role.
Instead of starting from scratch, teams review, refine and make decisions. They remain in control while reducing time and effort.
Forging a path in a new country
While the idea was clear, the path to building Vyavos was not straightforward. Coming from a legal and business background, Elisabeth did not have formal technical training.
“I didn’t know how to build it,” she says.
Of course, she found another way. Using emerging tech tools, she created an early prototype, which allowed her to translate her ideas into a working model that could be shown to developers and collaborators.
From there, she built connections, partnered with university teams and worked with local developers to bring the MVP (minimum viable product) to life.
Elisabeth did all this while managing the realities of starting over in a new country. “I was building a company while building a life,” she says. “And that’s not exactly simple.”
Finding support through ecosystem and community
For Elisabeth, joining the startup ecosystem played a pivotal role.
Through Stone & Chalk, she gained access to networks, mentorship and validation opportunities that helped shape the direction of Vyavos.
“I realised I wasn’t alone,” she explains with a smile. “I was suddenly surrounded by other founders in a similar situation, I had found my community and finally, I felt safe.”
Elisabeth also reiterated that this community had helped shape her thinking. “I was so focused on getting to the finish line, however Stone & Chalk reinforced that building a company is a marathon, not a sprint,” she says. From then on, she learned to focus more on the journey.
This community also opened doors. From validating the concept with industry professionals to forming key connections, the community helped accelerate progress.
Defining a new category
Vyavos is entering a space where tools already exist, but its ambition goes beyond incremental improvement.
Rather than competing as a proposal-writing tool, the company aims to define a new category. It is building a system that organisations rely on to run their entire proposal and project acquisition process.
“We’re not just a tool. We’re a system,” Elisabeth says.
In the short term, the focus is on entering the Australian market, securing pilot customers and refining the product through real-world use.
Long term, the vision is global. The company plans to expand into Europe and the United States, where the same challenges exist at scale.
Take the first step
For Elisabeth, the journey has come with challenges, particularly as a founder building in a new country.
But her advice is simple. “Just pick up the phone,” she says.
Reach out, ask questions, and take opportunities, even when you are not sure where they will lead. “Because each conversation also provides an opportunity to open another door,” she emphasises.
And for those starting from scratch, that willingness to take the first step can make all the difference.
