Every document you share is a hope. You write the proposal, post the link, and hope: that people read it, that they reach the hard question on page three, that the feedback comes back somewhere you can find it. Mostly what comes back is two thumbs-up emoji and a typo fix — and then silence, which you eventually decide to interpret as agreement.
We built Inkling because the hoping is the broken part. A document that needs answers shouldn't ask politely from the bottom of the page. It should interrogate its readers.
The problem with traditional documents
Think about the last time you shared a proposal with stakeholders. You probably:
- Wrote the document in Google Docs or Notion
- Shared it via email or Slack
- Asked people to "take a look and let me know what you think"
- Got responses in three different channels over two weeks
- Tried to synthesize everything into a decision
That process is broken. Not because the tools are bad, but because documents and feedback live in separate worlds. (If your proposals live in GitHub, we've since collapsed those worlds there too.)
Documents that ask questions
Inkling merges the document and the feedback form into a single experience. When you create a proposal in Inkling, you can embed structured questions directly into the content — right where they're most relevant.
Instead of a generic "what do you think?" at the end, you can ask:
- After the budget section: "Does this budget allocation seem reasonable for Q3?"
- After the technical approach: "Do you see any risks with this architecture?"
- After the timeline: "Can your team commit to these milestones?"
The result is feedback that's contextual, structured, and immediately actionable.
How it works
The workflow is straightforward:
1. Write your proposal in Inkling's rich text editor
2. Add questions at relevant points in the document
3. Share a link with stakeholders
4. Collect structured responses
5. Review everything in one place
Stakeholders don't need an account. They click a link, read the proposal, and answer the questions inline. Their responses are collected and organized automatically.
What's next
We're just getting started. Over the coming weeks, we'll be sharing more about:
- How teams are using Inkling for RFCs and technical proposals
- Our approach to collaborative editing
- The design decisions behind the product
If you're interested in trying Inkling, get in touch.
We're excited to build this with you.