No, really. You must answer this fundamental question.
Before you invest time, effort, and resources into applying for SBIR funding, you must articulate a specific, significant, real-world problem and your proposed tech-enabled solution. It seems obvious, but it’s harder to craft a clear problem statement than you think… we know, we work with many investigators each year who struggle with just this.
Where to Start?
Empathy is a good start. Have you heard this one? “That’s a solution in search of a problem.” A surefire way to combat this trap is to forget all about your technology and get into the heads and hearts of the people who are experiencing the problem. Seek to understand. By listening, reviewing literature and research reports, you will form more questions that help you articulate the problem, why we should fix it, and how your proposed solution will change outcomes for the better.
How Big Is Your Problem?
If you are going to ask the government for upwards of $1.5 Million in funding there should be a potential impact to society and the economy well north of that investment.
How Big Is Too Big?
World peace. Poverty. Climate change. Humanity is undoubtedly grappling with many complex, overarching problems that one company can’t solve with a single invention. Narrow down the problem to something specific that, if fixed, will improve outcomes within the larger big-picture problem.
How Small Is Too Small?
If the problem can be fixed with mass manufacturing but doesn’t require research, you haven’t identified a problem complex enough for SBIR funding. You might simply need a manufacturing vendor, not SBIR funding.
The Sweet Spot
You hit the sweet spot if your idea addresses a specific, significant, real-world problem, is unlike other available solutions, and it provides potentially dramatic life, mission, or cost-saving benefits.
Sometimes, the culture and market are truly not ready for your idea. If you’re the only company identifying a problem and its potential solution, you may be ahead of your time. Having competitors or alternative solutions in the market indicates that your industry is aware of the problem you’re trying to address and believes it’s worthwhile–for humanity but also their commercial interests–to work on this issue.
Got Data?
If you have competitors, you’ll likely have an easier time getting something else you need for a successful application: data. The reason is that the more companies work on similar problems, the more interest there is in research, analysis, and experimentation, all producing essential data. Cold, hard numbers help convince reviewers to fund your SBIR project.
Data on the problem:
Which pain points are you directly or indirectly addressing? How many people are affected by the problem (dying, getting injured, wasting time, or losing money)? What overlapping demographics or characteristics do they have? How does your proposed solution impact other components of the bigger problem?
Data on your competitors:
Who are your competitors (size, private or public, domestic or international, etc.)? How far along are they in their innovation process? How well do their solutions work? How can you distinguish your approach from theirs? How will your idea improve the lives of those with the problem better, faster, or cheaper?
Collecting, analyzing, and presenting good data may be difficult depending on your problem, solution and industry, but it’s an absolute must for a successful application. You will have gaps. That’s OK. This is to be expected. If there is truly zero data available, it’s an indication that your project might fall outside the sweet spot.
Problem checklist:
Significant, specific, real-world problem
Impacts people’s life, health, or wealth
Available data about the problem, its impacts, and competitor solutions
Can be addressed with a tech-enabled solution that provides dramatic life, time, or cost-saving benefits
Check out this month’s book pick, Learning to Build. It is a quick read with 5 key qualities of successful innovators and entrepreneurs. Seeking to understand the problem is first.