Podcast Episode 177 - Expediting the RFI Process, with Dane Carlson

Episode 177 of the Econ Dev Show Podcast is out. Listen now.

In this episode of the Econ Dev Show (a replay from EDO Breakthrough Podcast episode #10), Sandy Dubay interviews Dane about his entrepreneurial journey in economic development.

Dane shares the deeply personal story behind starting his podcast during COVID while his son underwent cancer treatment, his initial nervousness about hearing his own voice, and his strategy of cold-contacting newly certified economic developers for guests.

The conversation explores the challenges economic developers face with changing leadership and boards, before diving into Dane's innovative solution: Sitehunt, an AI-powered platform that transforms how economic developers respond to RFIs by automatically matching community assets with project requirements and generating detailed responses in minutes rather than days.

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To reach Franklin for his podcast editing services, email franklin.carlson@icloud.com.

Episode Links

• Sitehunt
• EDO Breakthrough E10 – Expediting the RFI Process, with Dane Carlson
• Dane Carlson | LinkedIn
• Sandy Dubay
• PPR Strategies - Boutique in size and big on heart, PPR Strategies is a full-service communications agency that helps communities and destinations boost visibility.

Actionable Takeaways for Economic Developers

1. Start content creation despite fear - Begin podcasting or newsletter writing even if you're uncomfortable with your own voice; improvement comes through practice and builds valuable professional connections.
2. Contact Dane to learn how Site Hunt can help you - Reach out to explore how AI-powered RFI automation can save you hours of manual work and improve your response quality.
3. Build resilient stakeholder relationships - Prepare for board and leadership changes by maintaining broad community connections beyond current decision-makers.
4. Create comprehensive asset inventories - Develop detailed databases of all community sites and buildings, including problematic properties with complete disclosure.
5. Perfect your cold outreach strategy - Don't hesitate to contact strangers in your field; most economic developers welcome opportunities to share their expertise and network.
6. Implement AI for routine tasks - Use AI tools like disciplined interns to automate repetitive processes and data enrichment, freeing up time for strategic work.
7. Prioritize data over perfection - Focus on having complete, accurate information about sites rather than only marketing "perfect" properties.
8. Streamline opportunity assessment - Develop systems to quickly evaluate whether RFIs are worth pursuing before investing significant time in responses.
9. Maintain operational continuity - Keep community development goals steady regardless of political or organizational changes around you.
10. Transform information into marketable assets - Understand that the difference between raw land and a development opportunity is having the right data available to share with prospects.