A grant-writing consultant explains why he won't work on SBIR proposals for free, even with a success fee. Competitive applications take hundreds of hours and require decades of experience navigating federal funding rules. He's selling expertise and risk management, not just writing.
All right guys, I just need to rant for a bit because every few weeks a founder asks me the same question. Can you write my SBIR applications for free and I only pay you if we win? And my answer is always going to be no. You're not really paying someone to just write the application for you. And a lot of first-time applicants dramatically underestimate how much work actually goes into building a truly competitive SBIR application. My team and I can spend dozens, and if not hundreds of hours across preparing these really complex applications. Everything to help you get ready for submission, And what you're actually really paying for is decades of experience navigating federal funding, hundreds of applications, ones that won, the ones that didn't. We've already spent years seeing what reviewers respond to well, what agencies are looking for, what mistakes kill otherwise strong applications. You're paying for a team that actually knows how to navigate the process and can be right beside you when shit hits the fan. That's why when someone asks me, can I write an entire SBIR application for $0 upfront and only pay if they win? The answer is always going to be no. And if you're looking for someone that's willing to do all that work for free in exchange for a success fee, then we're probably not the right grant writers for you. And that's because
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