rainbows, unicorns & uncle sam: free $$$ for your startup
TRANSCRIPT
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8/7/2019 Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free $$$ for your startup
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
SBIRIts Like The Easiest $$$ Eva!
Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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8/7/2019 Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free $$$ for your startup
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
SBWhat?
SBIR = Small Business Innovation & Research
Federally mandated grant program All agencies with $100M or more must set aside
2.5% of their budget for SBIR programs $2+B in awards per year
For small, US based companies
DOD, HHS, NASA, DOE, NSF, DHS, USDA,
DOC, ED, EPA, DOTCompanion program for tech transfer
opportunities (STTR)
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Why Should You Care?
Phase 1 is typically $100k - $150k Odds of getting a Phase 1 are ~1:8
Phase 2 is $500k or more
Odds of getting a Phase 2 are 1:3Phase 3
Youre on your own
Its a grant!!! No equity participation
Relatively few strings attached
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8/7/2019 Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free $$$ for your startup
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
My Assumptions
Too slow
Too stupid
Unlikely to be a fit for anything I wasinterested in working on
a.k.a. A Giant Waste of Time
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8/7/2019 Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free $$$ for your startup
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Reality
Very Responsive
Program Manager very well informed
Some agencies have very broad mandatesPainful dotting of is and crossing of ts
But a very viable funding source
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8/7/2019 Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free $$$ for your startup
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
No Two Agencies Are The Same
DoD & NIH have bigger budgets Phase 2 can be $1M or more
Nasa tends to be very specific
e.g. Glue for Space Shuttle tilesDifferent process, different procedures
Application process
Budgets Allowable costs
Overall goals
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8/7/2019 Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free $$$ for your startup
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Phase 1 / NSF Specific
Feasibility Study, not a full product
Research focused
High risk scientific research
Broad societal impact
Commercial potential
Six Month Project
$150k budget, with strings attached
~30 pages in standard proposal
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Timeline / NSF Specific
May 2009 Initial contact with Program Manager
Jun 9, 2009 Proposal due
Sept 24, 2009 Request for additional info & conferencecall
Oct 2, 2009 Conference call & decision to fund
Nov 17, 2009 Formal notification
Jan 1, 2010 Grant begins
Jan 4, 2010 Money in bank (approx 2/3 upfront)June 30, 2010 Grant ends
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8/7/2019 Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free $$$ for your startup
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Budget / NSF Specific
* Mandatory allocations with set %s & limits
*
*
*
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8/7/2019 Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free $$$ for your startup
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Metrics: Compare & Contrast
PREVIOUSSTARTUP
MOVEABLECODE
Time spent trying to raisemoney
18 months 1 month + waitingtime
VC Angel play (in principal) Yes YesWithin scope of NSF SBIR Yes Yes
# Business Plans / ExecSummaries / PPT Decks
10+ / 15+ / 30+ 0 / 1 / 2
Meetings: Bullshit vs Productive 30 : 1 0 : 1
% of Soul Sold or Destroyed 25% 0%
Actual Money Raised $20k $200k
Equity given up ~15% 0%
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8/7/2019 Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free $$$ for your startup
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Rainbows, Unicorns & Uncle Sam: Free Money for your Startup by Nicholas Napp is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Other Key Points
Takes a long time to write you cant do itin a week
Next NSF SBIR Deadline is June 10, 2011
Attend an SBIR overview class
Many agencies have matching fundsavailable
NSF has $550k for $1.1M in investment orcustomer revenue
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