Secure a 2023 DOD SBIR Grant with These 4 Secrets No One Has Told You! | KeepYourEquity

The Department of Defense SBIR grants are in a category completely in their own. So that means you need to know the best strategies to get your DOD SBIR approved and grant. But don't worry, if you keep watching, I'm going to share all my secrets to help you secure DOD SBIR grants in the same way that I've done for many founders to secure millions of dollars of non-diluted funding. Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. I'm Stacy Chin from keepyourequity.co, and our goal is to help startup founders just like you secure non-diluted grant funding from federal programs called the SBIR and the STTR. First, let's hammer down some logistics and some really important background information. The U.S. Department of Defense has the biggest SBIR budgets out of all the other federal agencies. So if you are developing a technology or innovation that can benefit the military or DOD in some way, then pursuing an SBIR or an STTR grant from the DOD would be an excellent way to secure nondilutive grant funding. The DOD is composed of multiple defense agencies that has their own SBIR and STTR programs specifically designed to fit their needs and particular interests. A few of the most common DOD agencies that has these programs include the Air Force, the Navy, the Army, and so many more. And the way the DOD announces these SBIR and STTR opportunities is through a governmental acquisition tool called the Broad Agency Announcement, or BAA. Through these BAAs, the DOD agency sends out a call that they're looking for innovations that can either advance or improve the current systems or solutions. Sometimes these BAAs can be super competitive. Broad, and other times they can be really specific. Each one will be unique. Now, to find these BAAs, you'll want to search the Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal, or the DSIP. And this portal has lots of great resources for startups, including upcoming BAAs or other SBIR or STTR opportunities, answers to questions on current solicitations, and most importantly, the deadlines. So we'll talk about that more in a sec. And another reason why you want to get really familiar with the DSIP is because this is the portal where you'll actually be submitting your SBIR application. If you want me to do another video that does a deep dive into the DSIP, leave a comment below. So now let's get back to those deadlines. During the course of a typical fiscal year, there are 3 pre-scheduled SBIR and STTR opportunities for the Department of Defense. However, you still want to keep a careful eye on the DSIP because at times there could be additional BAA cycles that are added to the lineup. So for each of the 3 pre-scheduled cycles, there are 3 really important dates that you want to keep in mind. First is the pre-release date, which is the date when the solicitation, or otherwise known as the instructions are available. The second is the open date. As the name suggests, this is the first day that you can actually submit your SBIR application in the DSIP. And finally is the closing date, and this is the last day you can actually submit your SBIR application in the DSIP portal. This is the deadline you do not want to miss. So for 2023, the pre-release dates for the 3 BAA cycles are January 11th, April 19th, and August 23rd. The breakdown of these days can be found on the DSIP, or I'll include them here for your convenience. I've also posted them in the description below. It's also important to know that these dates can change and the deadlines can sometimes get extended depending on the cycle, but this is not always the case. So that's why it's really important to keep an eye on the DSIP in case any of these deadlines are extended or changed. Now, since we've taken care of the logistics, let's talk about how to properly prepare for a DOD SBIR proposal. So there are a couple of really unique aspects that you have to consider when preparing for your DOD SBIR grant. And this is very different compared to when you're doing so for the other federal agencies. And these key points I'm about to share with you should be integrated into your application just for it to be considered competitive to the DoD. But before I share my 4 tips with you, please like and subscribe to this channel just so you won't have to miss any of the tips and tricks I have to share with you to secure non-diluted SBIR and STTR funding without giving away your startup equity. Now on to the good stuff. My tip number 1 is your innovation must solve a particular DoD need. Now, to prepare a really strong DoD SBIR, your job is to explain to the reviewers why your innovation is the best solution to solve a particular DoD pain point. And these pain points can be very different across the wide range of different DoD agencies. Again, these BAAs can be either super specific or really, really broad, but either way, you still have to convince the reviewers that your innovation is is the best solution to that distinct DoD problem for that particular agency, even if the BAA does not even list that particular need. So what does that all mean to you? That means you have to figure out and understand what is exactly going on behind the scenes. So for example, if you are a startup developing cutting-edge software technology that can help the Air Force to detect threats in the air from miles away on a real-time basis, in the grant application you have to explain how the Air Force is currently detecting threats, why these solutions are not effective, how these defects make them vulnerable, and why your innovation can solve that particular problem. So unfortunately, some of this information can be quite difficult to get, especially since some of those details are kept confidential. But luckily, there are a couple of things that you can do. So first, you can search on Google to find any white papers that highlight today's problems, recommendations for improvements, and current solutions written by military experts. And this is a great way to see if your innovation is aligned to what the DOD might be looking for. Second, you can try to network and connect with different with leaders within the defense agencies to learn more about the challenges they're facing and ways they're interested to innovate. And so to make these connections, you can try to network within your local communities, attend networking events, reach out to your current network leads, or just good old-fashioned cold calling. And finally, there are also military-based accelerator programs that your startup can sign up for that are specialized to support and fund startups developing technologies and solutions particularly for the DOD. And if you're lucky to get accepted to one of these accelerator programs, you'll get exposed to so many different military customers and grow your network within the military community so that you can get all the information you need. And from my experience, SARPs with the strongest DOD SBIR applications either have close connections within the DOD from that particular defense agency. They have either worked in the military for many years, or they're developing technologies and solutions specifically for that DOD need. So at the end of the day, your goal is to make sure you thoroughly understand the pain points within the DOD for that particular defense agency. and that will give you a huge leg up in your application because that allows you as the PI to clearly articulate why your innovation will be the best solution to solve that particular DoD need. And that leads me to my tip number 2: don't try to force your innovation to fit a particular DoD need. Not all innovations are a good fit for the DoD, and that is okay. Because the DoD has a huge pot of SBIR money, I've come across many founders who want to give DoD grants a shot. And in most cases, yeah, I totally agree that startups should try to go for SBIR funding from the DOD, but only if it makes sense. Because on the flip side, I have also worked with many founders wasting their time trying to figure out how they can pivot, or rather force, their innovation to fit that particular DOD need. And in those cases, I have to encourage them to take a step back and reevaluate whether the DOD SBIR program is a good fit for them. Sometimes if it's not meant to be, it's just not meant to be. So with that being said, if you're still wondering whether you should go for a DOD SBIR grant, ask yourself these questions to help you make that decision. Have I done my homework and fully understand the intricacies of the current pain points within that DOD agency? Do I have a better solution to solving those particular pain points than what the DOD is currently doing? Do I understand how to integrate my solution into their current systems and workflows? And most importantly, are my long-term startup goals aligned with having the DOD as a potential customer? If all those answers to those questions are not a confident yes, then you may want to reconsider going for a DoD SBIR and then pivoting your focus and efforts to applying for another grant at a different federal agency. Because you don't want to waste your time and effort and resources when your innovation could be a more perfect fit, say, for the NIH or the NSF SBIR program instead. Tip number 3: Understand your technology readiness level, or TRL. So the DoD adopted a rating system called the Technology Readiness Level as a way to evaluate the maturity of a technology in its development. And this is a standard system that's commonly used across most, if not all, defense agencies. The TRL is ranked on a scale from 1 to 9, with 1 being the technology in its really early phases of development and 9 being that a technology is in its final form after successful deployments and pilots have been completed. If you want to learn more about the TRL system, I'll leave a link in the description below. In SBIR applications to the DOD, I'd like to encourage startups to use the TRL system in two different ways. First, to describe what TRL rating their innovation is currently at, and second, what TRL level the innovation can progress to upon SBIR completion. If a startup pursuing a Phase I SBIR to the DoD, I typically see their innovations have to progress to around a TRL rating of about 4 to 6, and then upon a Phase II completion, they're expected to progress their innovation towards a TRL level of around 7 to 9. However, keep in mind that these TRL ratings can greatly vary depending on the innovation they're trying to make and due to the problem they're trying to solve. And again, this is another reason why it's really important to have the right resources, connections, to understand the DoD need so that you can better evaluate and plan what TRL level you're expected to be at upon SBI completion. Either way, if you're applying for a DoD SBIR proposal, make sure you mention your current and then expected final TRL rating in your SBIR application. Since this is a great way to show reviewers that you understand how the SBIR can help you progress your innovation towards a commercial product for the DoD. And finally, tip number 4: know the difference between your end user and your customer within the DoD. So when pursuing a DoD SBIR application, no matter the phase, it is critical that you understand who the customer is and who the end user is for your proposed innovation. So let's define who these people are. So the customer is the party within that defense agency that will be paying the startup for the innovation or the final product. In contrast, the end user is the party within the defense agency that, that will be directly engaging with the technology itself. And depending on your innovation and the problem you're trying to solve, sometimes the customer and the end user are the same, but other times they could be very different. And in your SBIR application, both Phase I and Phase II, it is super important to make that distinction. If you can identify and even name drop which defense agency, organization, or group you are targeting as the end customer and end user, This would give you a huge advantage in your proposal. And if these groups can provide you a letter of support for your SBIR application, reviewers would love this since this shows you have done your homework. You have started conversations within the DoD and have identified parties who believe that your innovation can truly solve a pain point for. So with that, if you find this video helpful, please like and subscribe to this channel and leave a comment below on any other questions you might have about securing DoD funding through the SBIR and STTR program. So thank you so much for joining me today. Please subscribe to this channel so you can learn more ways to secure non-dilutive funding so that you can keep your equity throughout your fundraising journey. And don't forget to check our website. We can have templates, resources, and more advice on how to secure funding from SBIR and STTR programs. Thank you so much, and I'll see you in a video very soon.