Fund.
Non-dilutive money for the research inside your product. EU, Austria, US. You keep your equity; the programme pays for the evidence.
What a grant does for a young company
- Cash without dilution, often in the hundreds of thousands to low millions.
- A university partner, and with it the credibility your B2B buyers and investors keep asking for.
- Data that answers the question your pitch keeps avoiding.
- A project manager paid from the grant budget instead of from your runway.
- A second and third round that are easier than the first, because now you have a track record.
Where I've done it
I ran ERC Experience Research & Consulting in Graz, working on Austrian government-funded security and crisis-management research (FFG KIRAS projects such as GIREKO, a national map of GNSS interference, and WatchDog, a multi-sensor risk-management system) alongside JOANNEUM RESEARCH, IGASPIN and the Ministry of Defence. My part: the social science work packages, the data analysis and the project management. I've built and coordinated a ten-partner Horizon Europe consortium, and I'm currently structuring a university research partnership for a health-tech client.
Programmes I work with
EU. Horizon Europe (consortium projects), Eurostars (SME-led collaborative R&D), EIC Accelerator, cascade funding from running EU projects.
Austria. FFG programmes including KIRAS; aws.
United States. SBIR and STTR (NSF, NIH, DoD and others) where the fit exists.
If you're Norwegian, Swiss or German, the national schemes come with the map.
The reality
Clearing the evaluation threshold isn't enough; funded proposals sit a full point or two above it. What separates them: a work plan that adds up, preliminary data, named academic partners, and a real exploitation plan. Timeline from deadline to money: eight to fourteen months. Plan your runway accordingly, and start the map early.
How it works
Funding map. Two weeks, $1,500, credited in full against the proposal. One page: which programmes fit, when they close, what you're missing (partner, data, structure) and what it would cost to close the gap. If the answer is "not yet", it says so.
Proposal. Eight to twelve weeks. Concept, partner search and consortium building where needed, work plan, budget, writing, submission. Single-applicant programmes (FFG, aws, SBIR Phase I) from $9,000. Consortium proposals (Horizon Europe, Eurostars) from $15,000. EU and Austrian proposals carry a three per cent success component on the awarded amount; US federal programmes are fixed fee only, because contingent fees aren't permitted there.
Project lead. After the award I stay in as your work-package lead or project manager, funded from the grant budget, on a monthly retainer. That's the part most consultants skip and the part that decides whether the second grant happens.
Questions
Do you write it or do I?
I write it. You own the science and the numbers; I own the structure and the words.
We have no university partner.
That's usually the first line on the funding map. I've built these partnerships before.
We're US-based; does EU money apply?
Sometimes, through partners or associated-country entities. If it doesn't, the US programmes are on the map instead.
What if the map says no?
Then you know before you spend six months on a proposal, and the map says what would change the answer.
What does the funding map cost?
$1,500, delivered in two weeks, and credited in full if you go on to a proposal.
How long until grant money arrives?
Typically eight to fourteen months after a deadline.
What does a proposal cost?
Single-applicant programmes from $9,000 and consortium proposals from $15,000, over eight to twelve weeks.
Which programmes do you work with?
Horizon Europe, Eurostars and the EIC Accelerator in the EU, FFG and aws in Austria, and SBIR and STTR in the United States.
Research money, written properly.