The second element of a valid offer requires the party who offers the proposal to intend to contract. Phrases such as “Are you interested” or “Would you give me” are words of preliminary negotiations.
Terms such as “I bid,” “I will give you,” or “My lowest price is,” show a present intention to contract and constitute valid offers.
That said, I'll take this opportunity to reiterate that I'm not a lawyer, I'm not accepted by the bar in any state, and for all I know the standards on this matter may vary by jurisdiction.
I'd simply err on the side of asking my lawyer before I started using this protocol with entrepreneurs or investors that I didn't know very well.
That said, I'm just repeating what a lawyer taught me about how courts determine intent to contract. I'm not a judge or a lawyer. I'm an entrepreneur who took some business classes.
edit: I just sent an old professor an email with the question, and a prompt to try to help him remember who I am. If he responds, I'll share the response no matter what it says.
From Anderson's Business Law:
> Because a contract is based on the consent of the parties and is a legally binding agreement, it follows that the parties must have an intent to enter into an agreement that is binding. Sometimes the parties are in agreement, but their agreement does not produce a contract. Sometimes there is merely a preliminary agreement, but the parties never actually make a contract, or there is merely an agreement as to future plans or intentions without any contractual obligation to carry out those plans or intentions.
> In some cases, the fact that important terms are missing indicates that the parties are merely negotiating and that a contract has not been made. When a letter leaves many significant details to be worked out later, the letter or printed matter is merely an invitation to negotiate. It is not an offer that may be accepted and a contract thereby formed.