What Is a Grant?

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

A grant is funding to a startup to further the business but does not take equity nor must be paid back.

The government provides grants to startups to help commercialize the technology and foster economic growth.

Federal grants are given to startups to promote specific technology goals.

There are state and local grants to foster business development.

Research and development grants come in either an SBIR Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or STTR Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR).

These grants are structured in three phases:

Phase 1 -- feasibility study to determine commercial potential.

Phase 2 -- commercialization of the technology.

Phase 3 -- taking the product to market.

The SBIR and STTR are given by each department of the government, including:

Department of Agriculture

Department of Defense

Department of Energy

Department of Transportation

Environmental Protection Agency

Department of Homeland Security

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Institute of Health

National Science Foundation

National Institute of Standards and Technology

You can find specific information about grants from the US government at grants.gov.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

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Mistakes in Commercialization

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Commercialization of technology requires key skills in market research, product development, and customer engagement.

Avoid these mistakes in commercialization:

Focusing on researching the technology only.

Set aside time for selling, marketing, and product development.

Failing to maintain commitment.

Tech commercialization requires several years of work to achieve.

Recruiting only other researchers onto the project.

You’ll need skills from outside the research community such as sales and marketing skills.

It’s important to build a team with diverse backgrounds.

Failing to raise funding.

It’s important to build a network of investors funding your project both public and private.

Inadequate vendors and suppliers.

Make sure to recruit providers who can meet your specifications and criteria.

Skipping customer research.

It’s easy to admire your own idea but it’s critical to find customers who will pay for it.

Ignoring the competition.

It’s important to understand the competitors and their offerings.

Failure to follow the market.

Markets evolve and change over time so you’ll need to follow the market with product updates.

Consider how to overcome these challenges in your commercialization efforts.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

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Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
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How To Engage Academics Into Commercialization

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Universities often encourage academics to commercialize their technology to advance their research.

Here are some key steps to engage academics into commercialization:

Focus on the impact of the research rather than the revenue generated.

Encourage the researcher to promote the technology into other groups.

Foster collaboration with other universities and research groups to carry the research forward.

Hold regular meetings to share the results of the collaboration.

Identify the market size and opportunities to demonstrate the need for the technology.

Expose the market to the technology and check interest.

Follow up significant interest that may lead to funding further research.

Measure the impact of industry funding on increasing research into the technology and advancing its application.

Identify specific companies that would benefit from the use of the technology and open a dialog about their financial support.

Researchers need support in identifying the market opportunity, building collaboration groups, and accessing funding to progress the technology.

Focus on these areas to encourage academics to engage in commercialization.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

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Best Practices for Commercialization

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In commercializing technology here are some best practices to consider:

Educate the market about the problem you solve and the solution you offer.

It’s often the case the technology founder assumes the world understands the problem.

You must educate the potential customer about the problem and how you solve it.

Engage the market early in the process.

The more you understand the market and the customer’s situation, the better choices you will make about implementation of the technology and how to sell it.

Choose potential customers who are engaged with your product and want to see it reach the market.

Many technical founders focus on large companies with deep pockets or close contacts who they know.

It’s best to look for customer engagement upfront.

Be open to new information about the application and value of the technology.

The researcher often brings a strong opinion about how the technology should be used.

Take feedback into account about how you position and promote your technology.

Spend your time with customers learning about their needs rather than selling your solution.

The selling part will come later.

Identify the customers’ alternative solution to your technology.

This often includes customers doing nothing.

No battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.

So no business plan ever survives first contact with the customer.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

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How To Build an MVP

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

A minimum viable product or MVP is a usable product that has minimal but must have features.

Here are the key steps to building your MVP:

Research the market and the customer requirements.

Start with a customer problem and review the current solutions.

These solutions could include doing it yourself or do nothing.

Determine if there are enough customers to form a market.

Identify a solution that can add value to the customer.

What are some basic features to offer that would help the customer?

Understand the job to be done by the customer.

Figure out how your solution fits into the customer's workflow.

Create a list of potential features to offer the customer and prioritize them in a logical order to build out in steps.

Each new feature added should build on the previous features.

Build the MVP with the initial feature.

Promote and sell the MVP to the customer.

It’s useful to put a price on the MVP so you can gauge the customers’ reaction.

At this stage measure user engagement, not revenue.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

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Using Prototypes To Raise Funding

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In raising funding, a prototype is invaluable.

Here are some reasons why investors fund projects that have a prototype:

The prototype demonstrates you can build it.

It gives you a tool to engage customers.

Prototypes help you define the product better by observing how the customer interacts with it.

Prototypes help validate the market and customer acceptance of the product.

Prototypes help build a better financial forecast as the cost to build and maintain the product becomes more accurate.

Prototypes help recruit team members who can see the vision of the company coming to life in the product.

Prototypes help define the intellectual property better.

Prototypes also help recruit partners, suppliers, and contractors.

Many startups skip the prototype phase and go straight to building the first product.

This can be challenging as the cost to build a final product is much greater than a prototype and therefore requires more funding.

Consider these reasons in planning your product launch strategy with a prototype.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
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