Life Beyond the SBIR/STTR Program (at Least for Now)
Welcome back to the Innovator's Labyrinth, where I offer actionable funding info and insights to the startup and small business community. In each edition, I share current nondilutive-funding opportunities, lessons learned from my experience as a grant writer and strategist, services available from Labyrinth Consulting, and other resources for founders. I will help you find your way to funding!
Featured Opportunity
Acting as a reviewer is a great way to learn about proposal writing and agency procedures.
Lessons Learned
Five ways to keep developing your nondilutive-funding strategy.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR/STTR) program has supported research and tech transfer across industries for over forty years. The program has required reauthorization several times but has never been allowed to lapse completely—until now. What can you do while we wait for Congress to renew access to this significant source of funding? Here are five ways to further your nondilutive-funding strategy in the current environment:
Find other funding opportunities. Grants.gov and sam.gov contain numerous funding opportunity announcements outside of the SBIR/STTR program, and more are being released every day. These range from solicitations on specific topics to broad agency announcements that cover a wide range of possible technologies. Funding instruments include grants, contracts, and more. When you find an opportunity that looks like a good fit, reach out to a program official to confirm that they're accepting proposals and ask if they'll provide initial feedback on your idea.
Prepare supporting documents. Even if you haven't yet found the perfect solicitation, almost any proposal will require certain components that you can start preparing in advance. These include descriptions of significance, innovation, and impact; an outline of your approach; team member bios and company history; a preliminary budget; and so on. Drafting these pieces of your proposal will give you something to tailor to a particular funding opportunity and put you ahead of the game if you find yourself under a tight submission deadline.
Become a reviewer. Reviewing proposals is a great way to learn how to write a better proposal yourself. You'll have the opportunity to see how the review process works, understand what a good proposal looks like, and make connections that may be helpful as you develop your own technology and pursue funding. I've included a call for reviewers above, but you can also reach out to agencies who might be looking for someone with your expertise.
Work on your pitch. Much of what makes a good proposal also applies to a good investor pitch: describing the importance of your work, what's new about it, the impact it will have, the people who will make it happen, and how much it will cost. In addition, both a pitch and an SBIR/STTR proposal will require a significant amount of market research and customer discovery. Working on commercialization (and getting out of the building!) will strengthen your technical approach and your argument to funders, regardless of which path you take.
Cement your partnerships. You need strong partnerships—both technical and commercial—to secure funding. Having those relationships in place before you need to ask for a letter of support or other commitment will make your life so much easier when deadlines approach. Keep your potential partners up to date on your accomplishments and plans as you're mapping out your path to funding so that you're both ready and excited about working together when it's time to submit your proposal.
Service Highlight
Does the thought of putting together and submitting a proposal package fill you with anxiety? I can act as your project manager to ensure that you meet all requirements and deadlines with minimal stress. Take advantage of my experience and managerial skills to ease the complex process of applying for a federal grant. Let me help you get started!
When we needed help pursuing non-dilutive funding and grant writing recently, we reached out to Sarah and Labyrinth. Sarah helped us identify our best option for an SBIR grant. She helped guide us and managed the whole process through to submission. She did an amazing job project managing, writing, and reviewing. We will absolutely continue to work with Sarah on future submissions and recommend her to anyone working on non-dilutive funding and grant preparation and submissions. —Rick Thomson, CEO
Resources
Would you be interested in a startup-focused grant-writing bootcamp? Comment, message, or email me if you'd like to participate in a multiweek program that leads you step by step through the grant-writing process, provides expert reviews, and leaves you with a finished proposal, ready for submission. You can reach me here on LinkedIn or at soliz@labyrinth-consult.com.
Let's Talk!
If you had set up a meeting with the CEO of a company and instead of showing up they sent their assistant, what would you think? I recently heard an SBIR/STTR program official use this analogy to describe what it's like to receive an AI-generated proposal. Distinguish your proposal by working with a professional who will help you strategize your approach, craft your narrative, and navigate the application process. Schedule a free consultation to discuss your funding strategy.