📋 Copy-paste this into founder Slack/Discord communities you’re already a member of (or that are partnered with SuperConnector Club) — the channel where fundraising/grants questions come up, or a #resources channel.
👋 Sharing this in case anyone here is sitting on a fundable idea and hasn’t looked at SBIR/STTR yet —
The federal government gives away $4B+/year in non-dilutive R&D funding (Phase I up to $275K, Phase II up to $1.85M) and most early-stage founders never apply because the application looks intimidating.
It’s really just 6 sections, and reviewers score you against a published checklist:
- Specific Aims (write it last)
- Significance (numbers > vibes)
- Innovation (non-obvious > incremental)
- Approach (timeline + milestones + known risks)
- Commercialization (this is where founders actually beat academics — market size, GTM, real revenue math)
- Team
If you’ve got a technical product — deep tech, biotech, climate tech, defense tech, health tech, or SaaS with a real AI/ML component — you probably qualify.
I wrote up the full breakdown (plus the 5 mistakes that sink otherwise-fundable proposals) here: thesuperconnector.club/blog/how-to-write-a-winning-sbir-grant-even-if-youre-a-terrible-writer
Happy to answer questions if anyone’s mid-application. 🙌
📊 Posting Notes:
- Best fit: any founder community channel focused on fundraising, grants, non-dilutive capital, deep tech/biotech/climate tech, or general “resources” channels
- Keep the tone conversational, not promotional — this reads as a peer tip, not an ad
- If the community allows it, cross-post to 2-3 partnered founder groups rather than just one
- Follow up on replies within the same day — grant-writing questions tend to get real engagement from founders actively fundraising