Jan 16
Dawnbreaker(R) is a Rochester-area commercialization-assistance business with a national reach. Dawnbreaker is known for the many programs it has developed that assist small businesses in navigating the Federal SBIR/STTR program. The Department of Energy contracted Dawnbreaker to develop a “Phase 0” tutorial website for crafting successful Phase I SBIR/STTR proposals.The site features a thorough step-by-step process that applies to …
Jun 08
Sorry for the short notice, but next Tuesday morning, June 12, I will be presenting and participating in a free SBIR Workshop hosted by High Tech Rochester. Full details, including registration information, is available here. For my part I will be giving a highly-condensed presentation on how to craft compelling proposals entitled “45 Minutes to …
Dec 31
My friend Len Bland at Concept Equity sent me a link to Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” presentation for the 2009 TEDx conference in Puget Sound, WA. The talk is inspirational (I’ve never seen a TED talk that wasn’t), and it’s particularly relevant to small businesses trying to secure their place in the market. Separate from …
Sep 26
Understand the Review Process (Part 1 and Part 2 published previously) The “SBIR Program” is not one thing. Each government department (NSF, DoD, NIH, NASA, etc.) has broad latitude in structuring its own version of an SBIR program. Furthermore, within large departments like DoD, each agency (Army, Navy, etc.) has its own rules. Even within …
Aug 16
Be Brief [Part 2 of my three-part interview with Dr. Daniel Harris of the Navy Air Warfare Center in China Lake.] The title says it all, folks: Be brief! A clear and concise proposal will stand out from those that press against the length limit. Dan says he receives as many as thirty-five proposals for each SBIR …
Aug 16
This coming Sunday I will be teaching a grant-writing seminar entitled “45 Minutes to Impact: an intensive seminar on crafting compelling research proposals” at the 2011 SPIE Optics + Photonics conference in San Diego. It’s part of the free Professional Skills Workshop. For more information, click here. I will be at the conference all week. …
Aug 01
Three GUARANTEED Ways to Fail at Department of Defense SBIRs The Department of Defense has just released the third and final round of small-business research contract topics for 2011. I will be studying them for interesting research opportunities (and maybe some weird ones), but in the meantime, here is the first installment of my long-promised …
May 23
In just three days the window of opportunity for applying for the new round of DoD SBIRs will open. More importantly, though, the window for talking privately to the topic authors will slam shut. Any business that is planning to submit a proposal would be foolish to miss that opportunity. Talking to the “technical point …