Stacy L. Chin, a former NIH and NSF SBIR reviewer, says your proposal must be clear enough for someone without a PhD in your field. She outlines five ways to fix this: use clean formatting with white space, state your innovation upfront, use figures and tables strategically, guide attention with headings and bold text, and explicitly explain why the funding agency should invest.
All right, here's a hot take. I don't think your SBIR reviewer should need a PhD in your technology area to understand why it matters. And this is why. If I have to work really hard to understand why your innovation matters as a reviewer, I think your SBIR application is already in trouble. And I say this as a former NIH and NSF SBIR reviewer, and as someone who has helped on hundreds of applications. That's because here's something that founders often forget. Reviewers are actually people like you and me. They may be reviewing several highly technical application while juggling full-time jobs, research or clinical work, and other responsibilities. So technically, it's kind of your job to make sure your SBIR application is easy to understand. So here's typically 5 ways I like to make my SBIR applications feel more reviewer-friendly. First, make it easy to read because the structure actually matters. Use clear headings, clean formatting, good grammar, and enough white space to let the reviewers move through the applications well. 2, don't bury the innovation. First few minutes, I should understand what you're building, what makes it different, and why does it matter. 3, use figures and tables strategically because these R&D applications can get dense really fast. A strong visual might explain in seconds what might otherwise take several paragraphs. 4, tell the reviewers what matters the most. Not every sentence deserves equal weight. Use headings. Boldings, topic sentences, and structures to guide the attention towards the points you want them to remember. And 5, write for the reviewer and the agency, making a case for why the agency should invest federal dollars in your technology. Bottom line, if the founders assume that they know why the innovation matters and the reviewers should too, just don't do that. Connect the dots for them. Make your applications easy for them to read. So for you founders applying for an SBIR application, what parts of the applications do you find hardest to make clear? Drop comments below.
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