Words from a Winner: Anholt Technologies, Inc.

(Reprinted by permission from Innovation Philadelphia)

Company name: Anholt Technologies, Inc.
Website: www.anholt.com
Address: 440 Church Road, Avondale, PA, 19311
Number of employees: 20
Awarded by: Department of Defense

Anholt Technologies, Inc. is living proof that the saying, "If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again," finally pays off. According to President and Founder Daniel Coppens, the Avondale-based company wasn’t always the SBIR-winning success story that it is today.

"We submitted three or four proposals before we won one," Mr. Coppens said, whose company learned from those early experiences and went on to win, to date, five Phase I awards and two Phase II awards, all from the Department of Defense--specifically, a combination of Army and Navy awards. Anholt Technologies produces advanced composite materials (structures made from fiber-reinforced plastics), and their SBIR projects have mainly focused on the development of fire-retardant structures for shipboard.

Even in the face of those early denials for SBIR funding, Mr. Coppens insisted that his company learn from the experiences.

"We always asked for a debriefing," he said. "You’d be crazy not to hear what the customer has to say regarding what improvements you need to make. Let them ‘sharpen your pencil’ for you."

Learning from those first few attempts to secure SBIR funding helped Anholt Technologies modify and improve their approach toward applying for awards and develop what Mr. Coppens considers one of the keys to funding success: a winning proposal design.

"It might take some time--especially for a person who’s never written a proposal before--but invest the time up front to put together a solid proposal," he advises. "Once you’ve actually won an award, you’ll have a proven example of a winning proposal design that you can run with. One of the good things about SBIR proposals is that they’re 25 pages long, but only about 10 pages of that is the ‘meat’ that is the essence of what you’re proposing to do for that particular solicitation topic."

Using previous winning proposals as a template for future proposals is just one piece of advice Mr. Coppens has for small companies trying to win SBIR funding. He recommends that an allotment of four to six weeks be scheduled for writing the proposal and that additional resources be brought in for assistance, particularly a technical writer or proofreader.

"It’s important that you have someone involved in the process who can ensure that the quality of writing is good," Mr. Coppens said. "Poor writing can suggest a lack of attention to detail, so it’s always a good idea to have some proofreading assistance, especially if writing is not one of your strongest skills."

However, one the most fundamental pieces of advice Mr. Coppens shared should be heeded before a proposal is ever written: chose the right solicitation topic to pursue.

"Don’t go after something if it’s not in your field of technical expertise," he said. "We only go after SBIR funding when it’s supplemental to our business. The first thing we do when a new solicitation comes out is see which topics match our capabilities. Then, if we find such a topic, we ask ourselves if we have any creative ideas that would meet this topic’s need."

But that’s not where Mr. Coppens’s advice ends: "If you find a topic that you think you can creatively address, get in touch with the technical point of contact and see if he or she finds your ideas to be of interest. You’re clearly more likely to win funding if you understand what they’re looking for; a lot of times, winning SBIR funding comes down to understanding what your customer--the federal agency--wants."

Mr. Coppens reports that he’s never had a bad experience contacting technical points of contact or program managers at the federal agencies to learn more or discuss ideas about a particular solicitation topic. Additionally, he’s found the federal agency personnel to be understanding when changes have needed to be made to a project as it’s progressed.

"When it comes to making project adjustments, I’ve always found that if you’re using the SBIR funds wisely, you shouldn’t run into any problems with the federal agencies accepting those changes," Mr. Coppens said. "This is research and development, and there will be times when you’ll see a better way of doing things mid-project. I’ve always found the agency people to be pretty amenable to that."

Mr. Coppens also says the administrative tasks related to winning an SBIR award haven’t been overwhelming.

"We really don’t spend too much time dealing with administrative issues," he said. "We’ve been working with the government for a while, but at a low-key level; we have a certain amount of expertise doing it, but we’re not so busy that it’s at an annoying level. The hardest part of the whole SBIR process is simply finding time to pull away from the daily business of running a company to research the solicitations, choose a topic, and write the proposals."

As mentioned earlier, Anholt Technologies uses SBIR funding to supplement their business, and Mr. Coppens estimates that their work is a 70/30 ratio of commercial and government work, respectively. The SBIR program has proven an effective complement to Anholt Tehcnologies’s business.

"The SBIR awards have allowed us to develop new technology that is desired by the government--and on their nickel," Mr. Coppens said. "We now have a ‘toolbox’ that can be used to compete both commercially and federally."

"If you are not failing now and again, it’s a sign you’re playing it safe."
Woody Allen

SBIR From a Project Manager’s Point of View

(Reprinted by permission from Innovation Philadelphia)

As past "Words from a Winner" interviewees have pointed out, Project Managers at the various funding agencies can be excellent contacts for those wanting answers to SBIR questions. Ms. Jean Bonney recently retired from her position as Project Manager of the Information Technology topic at the National Science Foundation, and her work there provided her with some interesting observations regarding SBIR proposals as a whole.

She says one of the most frequent mistakes made by applicants is neglecting to take a step back from their work to honestly analyze whether or not there is a need for such technology. Oftentimes this is difficult for technology-driven people. "They may have a good idea, but are sometimes not focused enough on what exactly they are trying to accomplish. Feasibility issues also need to be considered," says Bonney.

Another error made is what Ms. Bonney refers to as the "Trust Us" approach. She says too often she and her colleagues saw proposals where companies failed to disclose enough about their technology. While acknowledging that this is understandable insofar as people and companies are protective of their intellectual property, Bonney points out that withholding too much information and basically saying "Trust us, we have the technology" is not going to get you far with the NSF, or any agency. While there may be a very small risk of proprietary information being compromised, Ms. Bonney reminds applicants that anyone who will receive access to SBIR proposals at any of the agencies are bound by non-disclosure and conflict-of-interest agreements, and project managers and reviewers take those agreements very seriously. Failure to comply is punishable.

Applicants should also remember that it is important to have the appropriate expertise to carry out the work proposed in a proposal. This means if you yourself don’t have all the necessary expertise in your company, you need to get someone who does to agree to participate in your project. "This person [or people] should be more than simply a consultant who’s going to spend one day on the project, but someone who is really going to be actively involved," says Bonney.

In addition, she stresses the importance of following the requested proposal guidelines, as you will be judged on how well you comply. Because the NSF realizes a good number of its proposal applications are submitted by people for whom English is a second language, they are willing to overlook minor grammatical flaws. They do not, however, overlook a lack of information. "Be sure to provide the information asked for."

As for elements that stand out in quality proposals, Ms. Bonney emphasizes the significance of the abstract. "The abstract is a real catcher. It’s most often the first thing a program manager will see, and it is the basis for ensuring that it gets to a review panel with the requisite expertise. It needs to be concise and well articulated to be sure it’s placed in the right group and the right people are seeing it. It’s also the first thing the reviewer reads, so you’ll want to make sure you are catching them with your idea."

Project description, research plans and project plans need to be as clear and concise as they can be, and in order for this to happen, quite a bit of thought needs to go into them. That is why Ms. Bonney recommends that proposal preparation on an application to be submitted for the June deadline start the previous December or January.

When it comes to commercialization, Bonney describes it simply and in a way that SBIR applicants know all too well: "It’s really hard." Some of the contributing factors she cites include a lack of marketing knowledge, ambiguity in demand forecasts, unfamiliarity with one’s competition, and an uncertainty of exactly how to make money. Nevertheless, commercialization is something that must be addressed sufficiently in both Phase I and II proposals.

She says in Phase I, reviewers are looking for a "commercialization story" which provides an indication that commercialization is indeed part of the plan, and issues pertaining to it are being considered. In Phase II proposals, the commercialization plan becomes even more important.

According to Ms. Bonney, roughly 15-20% of Phase I proposals are successful; the odds improve for Phase II, with approximately 50% of proposals proving successful. She states that in Phase II proposals, if it looks to NSF reviewers like a company is on the right track but a few points are unclear, the reviewers may recommend changes be made, and the applicant may have an opportunity to make revisions to their proposal. While this is not a frequent occurrence, if a company is fortunate enough to receive such a phone call, this can be viewed as a very promising sign. As Ms. Bonney puts it, "The NSF does not make a practice of getting a company’s hopes up." She also points out there is no such recourse for Phase I proposals.

As far as recent trends in NSF’s SBIR program, Bonney says categories of "Wireless" and "Security Systems" have been added to the Information Technology topic, which means they are seeing more proposals closely related to issues of homeland security. Yet the most noticeable trend she has seen is a significant increase in the number of proposals being submitted over the past few years. Ms. Bonney reports that three years ago the Information Technology topic received 250-300 proposals; last year the number was approximately 500.

The NSF has seen a continual rise in its budget for basic research in science, technology, and engineering, thanks in part to what Bonney says congressional consensus that research in these areas is crucial to the US. Because of these budget increases over the last few years, the NSF SBIR program has been able to continue the same percentage of awards as the number of proposals has increased. However, the number of Project Managers has not kept pace. This means that current Project Managers are dealing with a sharp increase in activity, now receiving as many proposals for two topics as they previously saw for four.

This is something applicants should keep in mind when contacting Project Managers with questions. Ms. Bonney says she considered taking those phone calls and answering questions a very important part of her job, and encourages applicants to make the calls. "It’s a chance for the Project Manager to get to know you a little bit, and they may possibly remember your project when it comes through." Yet, she goes on to emphasize that there is a fine line between calling with legitimate questions and getting good information, and being a pest. "Calling a couple of times is fine, but if you’re calling every few days, you’ll want to remember that the Project Managers can’t write the proposal for you. If you have an idea that has a strong technical foundation and commercial potential, that’s what the NSF is looking for."

“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
Vincent Van Gogh