Top 3 Things to Keep in Mind For Your 1st SBIR Proposal

In this video, I'm going to share the top 3 things you should keep in mind when writing your first SBIR proposal. Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. I'm Stacy Chin from keepyourequity.co, and we help science and tech startups secure SBIR and STTR federal funding so that we can bring innovations to the market. So I wrote my first SBIR proposal about 10 years ago, and I just remember how confusing and long and challenging the entire process was. There are just so many moving pieces, and then pages and pages and pages of things to fill out still, and the work seemed to be endless. And since since then, I have consulted hundreds of other startups on their SBIR strategy and finally figured out a streamlined process that makes it much easier and more straightforward compared to the first time I went through the process. So to save you the time and stress, I'm going to share the top things I've learned that I wish I knew when writing my first SBIR proposal. But before I do, please like and hit subscribe to this brand new channel so you won't miss any tips and tricks on how to secure non-diluted SBIR and STTR funding for your startup without giving away your equity. Tip number 1: Give yourself much more time than you think you need when preparing your first SBIR application. From my experience working with many first-timers, a lot of founders underestimate how much time and effort it actually takes to put together not just an application, but a really strong application. And you never really want to rush an SBIR application because the outcome never really turns out well. So I would recommend if you're doing an SBIR for the first time to at least start 3 months prior to the application deadline. And I get it, 3 months is a very, very long time. So I know you might be wondering, why does it take so long? For instance, you want to make sure you have all the right partnerships, consultants, resources, and expertise to include in your application. And sometimes these conversations and business development efforts can take quite a while to come together. Also, when preparing your R&D plan, it takes a long time to figure out what you're going to propose, how you're going to do it, who's going to do it, what data are you collecting, how are you going to analyze data, and so much more. And this stuff takes time to figure out. And then on top of all that, you want to make sure you have time to do a couple revisions, get any input from advisors or other team members, and make sure you have a well-crafted proposal. So ultimately, when it comes down to it, you just wanna give yourself enough time to prepare a really strong application. And that's really important, especially how much time and effort you're dedicating and investing into this process, and because this whole process is crazy competitive. So that means you wanna give yourself enough time so that you can position your application to be very competitive and appealing to the reviewers. Tip number 2, you wanna get your letters of support out the door ASAP. Although sometimes not mandatory, these letters of support are really, really critical for your Phase 1 one SBIR application because these letters show reviewers that there is a market need and interest in your innovation. Also, these letters of support give you the credibility as the PI or principal investigator, as well as your startup. So who should you get these letters of support from? Well, they can be from interested parties, collaborators, consultants, strategic partners, advisors, key opinion leaders or KOLs, as well as subcontractors or anyone helping you throughout your proposed efforts. So for example, if you're developing a new therapeutic or a cure for lung cancer, it might be helpful in your SBIR application to include a letter of support from a physician or a surgeon or researcher that has been developing therapies in the lung cancer market for many, many years. So when I work with my clients, the moment we figure out what to do for the SBIR proposal, the next thing we want to do is figure out who to get these letters of support from, get these letters drafted, and then out the door ASAP. And the reason for that is because it actually takes a very long time to get these letters of support for your application. From my experience working with many, many different clients, sometimes it takes a while to figure out who do you even want to reach out to, having a discussion with them to see if they would agree to give you a letter, drafting the letter, and then get that letter back signed. Sometimes it takes a couple of days, other times it might take you a couple months. And there has been times when clients have their SBIR application all ready to go to hit the submit button, but they're waiting for that one last letter of support before the deadline. And trust me, you do not want to be in that stressful situation. So what I found has worked best is that once you first identify who to get these letters from, you actually should draft them yourself and then send them to your contacts to review, edit, and sign. And doing it this way allows you to control the narrative and also streamline the message across your entire SBIR application. If you want to learn more about how to put together a letter of support or just want to see templates and examples, check out my website at keepyourequity.co where you'll find some more resources and tips on how to put together these letters. I'll leave a link in the description below. And finally, tip number 3: if you submit your first SBIR application and it got rejected, whatever you do, don't give up. As I have said time and time again, these SBIR opportunities are really, really competitive. In fact, there's probably less than a 10% chance of you even securing one, especially the first time around. So if your SBIR application was rejected, whatever you do, don't give up. In fact, in many cases, you can actually resubmit your application once substantial revisions have been made to your grant proposal. So in your revision, take your time to thoroughly go through the reviewers' critiques and then figure out ways to improve your application by responding to those comments. And these reviewers can have something really valuable to say, and you might even learn something new about your startup from them. Yes, sometimes the comments can be a bit harsh, but whatever you do, you don't want to take them personally, and most importantly, you don't want to ignore them. And that's because when you resubmit your application, the next set of reviewers is going to take a look and evaluate your resubmitted application and see how well you responded to those reviewer comments. So with that, those are my top 3 tips I wish I knew when preparing my first SBIR proposal. If you find those tips helpful, please like and subscribe to this channel and leave a comment below below if there's any other tips that you might find helpful when preparing for your SBIR. So thank you so much for watching to the end of this video. Make sure you check out our website at keepyourequity.co so you can learn more tips and tricks on how to secure non-dilutive SBIR and STTR funding. And I'll see you in a video very soon.