Gail & Jim Greenwood, Greenwood Consulting Group, Inc.

Copyright © 2001 by Greenwood Consulting Group, Inc.

What’s worse than failing in your first few attempts to get SBIR/STTR funding for your projects? Succeeding the first few times and then running into a dry spell when you can’t win again. Just when you think you are an SBIR/STTR whiz, you get humbled by a series of "Dear John" letters from the agencies to which you submitted proposals. What might cause an unlucky streak?

First, you may have branched out and started applying to different agencies than those with which you had your early successes. As we’ve pointed out many times, the 10 agencies that participate in SBIR are very different in their SBIR programs and what they expect for a project to be a priority for them.

Second, you may be applying to the same agencies as before, but did they change their direction or focus? For example, DARPA was big on nanomaterials in past years, but they have now moved on to different topical areas.

Third, has the agency changed its proposal requirements? One change we’ve seen recently at NASA is the expectation of a more thorough discussion of commercialization, for example.

Fourth, does your company look to the SBIR reviewers like an "SBIR mill?" In other words, does a reviewer look at your past experience in the SBIR program and conclude that you have received a lot of government money but have not transitioned many (any?) of the projects into commercial products and services? If so, then you are in trouble in today’s environment.

Fifth, did you get cocky and/or sloppy in your later proposals? Sometimes an SBIR proposal writer thinks he/she is so good that he/she doesn’t have to work hard any more to win, and that simply is not the case in a competitive program like this.

Sixth, does your approach no longer have the "sex appeal" that it had earlier? Internet-based learning, for example, was real hot in past years, but has cooled off a bit recently because the agencies are seeing a lot of proposals using this approach (doesn’t mean you don’t propose it, but you may have to argue more convincingly that this is an "innovative" approach to a particular problem).

Seventh, has a new competitor entered the SBIR program and is beating you on some of the topics on which you are writing proposals? Best way to learn is to check the winners lists and abstracts (on the agencies’ SBIR websites) to see who has been receiving the awards, or perhaps you might learn something during an oral debriefing.

Eighth, does someone at the agency not like you any more? Maybe you didn’t finish a prior SBIR project, or maybe someone thought you were a pain to work with on that project.

We strongly recommend that SBIR competitors demonstrate perseverance in their efforts to get (and continue to get) SBIR funding for their projects. However, make sure that you are practicing SMART perseverance, and not just banging your head against the wall. Use this list to think about what might be causing your current dry spell, and make changes in your proposal strategy accordingly.