Your Phase II Commercialization Plan: Make It Executable, Not Just Aspirational

Written By Sarah Soliz

Welcome back to the Innovator’s Labyrinth, where I offer actionable nondilutive-funding insights to the tech-startup community. In each newsletter, I share current opportunities, lessons learned, services available, and more. Using my experience as a grant strategist and advisor, I will help you find your way to funding.

Featured Opportunity

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Lessons Learned

Five Ways to Improve Your SBIR/STTR Commercialization Plan.

Some Phase I and all Phase II applications to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR/STTR) program require a commercialization plan, which you should approach with the same rigor you bring to your research plan. Although team and experience are crucial parts of the plan, it’s not enough just to tell your reviewers that you know what to do or even that you’ve done it before and you’ll do it again. You also need to show them how:

  1. Treat the commercialization plan like a roadmap rather than a summary. A Phase II plan should demonstrate commercial potential and describe a credible path to market. Your technical development is not an end in itself but the first step down that path. Commercialization is the explicit goal of the SBIR/STTR program, and the evaluation of commercial potential is part of any Phase II decision. Convince your reviewers of this potential by gathering as much data as you can and using it to make your plan specific, actionable, and tailored to your company.

  2. Describe a market, not just a technology. Instead of focusing on the science, you need to explain who will buy, why they will buy, and why they will buy now. The National Institutes of Health, for example, asks applicants to address market, customer, competition, intellectual property (IP) protection, regulatory strategy, financing, production, marketing, revenue, risk, and more. If these sections are thin, reviewers may read the plan as technically interesting but commercially underdeveloped.

  3. Present market evidence instead of simply claiming a “large market.” Do the research that will allow you to differentiate your initial target market from all potential users. Even if your market is huge, reaching it is a step-by-step process that you need to show you understand. Distinguish your users from your decision makers or buyers. Identify your competitors—even if you’re competing against the current standard. Acknowledge risks and barriers, then discuss how you will overcome them. Avoid vague language, and provide a serious discussion of the details of your strategy.

  4. Show how your team will get from Phase II to Phase III (commercialization). Reviewers want a plausible plan for acquiring follow-on capital, partners, regulatory approvals, pilots, licensing, procurement, distribution, manufacturing, and other signs of market traction. Your prior commercialization record, if you have one, is important, but so is evidence of commercial interest and commitment, which could range from letters of support to partnerships within or alongside the grant.

  5. Present a realistic path that’s executable rather than aspirational. Weak plans imply that Phase II alone will get the product to market, or they skip the details. Include plans for IP protection, regulatory approvals, additional fundraising, and so on. Identify milestones, the steps needed to reach them, alternative routes, and their impact on the project. Acknowledge that Phase II is not the end; rather, it’s the first big step toward commercialization.

Remember, the strongest Phase II commercialization plans connect the Phase I results with remaining risks, path to market, and evidence that someone outside the company will fund, buy, or deploy your product.

Service Highlight

Proposal Readiness Sprint

Find confidence by getting ready to write quickly and efficiently. Build your evidence, story, and internal processes into a foundation for multiple applications. This sprint includes readiness assessment and gap identification, a plan for evidence collection, and a proposal process plan. Let me help you get started!

I recently had the pleasure of working with Sarah on an NIH proposal. I can not recommend anyone more highly. In additional to considerable insight into SBIR/STTR grant processes and requirements, she has an exceptional ability to distill the essence of complex scientific work and present it in a crisp and clear manner. Our proposal certainly benefited from her skillful participation. —Bonn Macy, CEO

Resources

Let's Talk!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm only beginning to understand the implications of AI, but I have yet to be convinced that it can replace human discernment. Those of us who have spent years developing our skills offer insight—unique combinations of experience and learning that can't be replicated. If you're writing a proposal, AI makes a great assistant, but don't confuse the assistant with the CEO.

Learn how I can help you submit a better proposal. Schedule a free consultation to discuss your funding strategy.

Sarah Soliz
Next

Life Beyond the SBIR/STTR Program (at Least for Now)