Stacy L ChinFounder, KeepYourEquity · I get the government to write you checks

It took a LONG time to write an SBIR proposal. Here's why...

17 Oct 2026 · 2 min

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In this interview, the interviewee recounts the six‑month process of preparing and submitting a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) proposal. Beginning in February, they participated in the regional I‑Corps program at UMass, which guided early steps such as contacting program managers and drafting a one‑page aims document. Uncertainty about SBIR reauthorization persisted until April, when the program was officially renewed, prompting the team to intensify work on mandatory federal registrations (SAM.gov, Grants.gov). The interviewee emphasizes the complexity and time‑sensitivity of these registrations—mistakes can lead to immediate rejection— and credits Stacy and the KYE community for helping navigate the process. The application was ultimately submitted in August, marking roughly six months of coordinated effort.

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Can you walk us through how long did it take you to write the applications?
I was again very fortunate that we participated in the regional I-Corps program at UMass around like Feb. And then we weren't sure again that when SBIR would be reauthorized. We were hoping that it would be reauthorized pretty much in the next cycle, and very fortunately it did. So I think around April is when we came to know that SBIR was reauthorized. And then since we were participating in the I-Corps program, we knew that what were the initial steps. reaching out to the program managers and seeing, sending them the one-page aims page to know if we align with that particular institute and agency. So we knew that we were supposed to do these things, so we kind of like started doing those things initially. And then also once we got to know about the reauthorization, we started working on the registrations, which are again such a tricky thing. You already know, again, very grateful, Stacy, to you and the KYE community for all the help, uh, understanding all the registrations and like being on top of all the timelines for these registrations. So again, registering from— for SAM.gov, Grants.gov, any, any of those things, I mean, we had to like look into those ASAP because, I mean, SAM.gov and certain of these things like take months, and if you end up making any mistakes, your application can be like rejected right away. So those were like very tricky things that we needed, needed to navigate. So I would say like we ended up starting the work pretty much since Feb and then submitted the application in August. So yeah, it took us like quite a bit, like almost 6 months to get the application.