Master slides from the "Making the Most of the SBIR/STTR Conference in Austin" webinar on October 31, 2014. The slides used during the webinar were in a slightly different format, but this is the same content and this version includes the Quad Chart Templates.

1. Getting the most from the
Fall National SBIR/STTR* Conference:
A Preparation Blueprint
Robert-Allen Baker
Fall National SBIR/STTR Conference Team
October 31 , 2014
The Fall National SBIR/STTR Conference -- Nov. 11-13 in Austin TX
www.nationalsbirconference.com
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs

2. SBIR and STTR: A goldmine for entrepreneurs
• At ~$2.3B, SBIR/STTR is the world’s largest source of non-diluted funding (no
equity stake) for technology innovators – it aligns well with angel and VC
funding, accelerates startup growth, and preserves inventors’ intellectual
property rights.
• As a Congressionally authorized competitive small business program,
SBIR/STTR makes thousands of awards annually, up to $1.5M per award in
Phase II – about 30% to new tech startups.
• Commercialization assistance (free to SBIR/STTR awardees) offers valuable
mentoring to startups, tangible help in reaching customers.
• SBIR/STTR is a great laboratory for innovation, and the Fall Conference gives
you direct access to program principals – but you need a participation plan to
get the most from this event.
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3. The Fall National SBIR/STTR Conference is a great
opportunity – first, you’ll want to do some homework.
• Find Agencies interested in your tech expertise slide # 4
• Find Topics that align with this expertise slides # 5 - 7
• Prepare a Quad Chart describing your technology slides # 8 - 10
• Sign up for One-on-One meetings slide # 11
And don’t forget to attend the pre-Conference tutorials on
proposal writing, fiscal management, and program itself!
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4. What Federal Agencies are interested in my
technology expertise?
• Go to www.nationalsbirconference.com
• Find “How to Participate” on the homepage, right column.
• Click on “Agency Profiles”.
• Review Agency one-page posters describing Agency mission,
website, uniqueness, budget, Topic announcement schedule and
other information.
• If a poster’s “Mission/Interest” statement seems promising, confirm
relevance of Agency by visiting its SBIR/STTR summary found at
http://www.navysbir.com/how2videos.htm
• Then, schedule 1-on-1 meetings with Agencies you’ve selected.
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5. What’s an SBIR Topic? National Science Foundation example
http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/topics/Fall2014_MN.jsp
“You can communicate with Program Director Rajesh Mehta (rmehta@nsf.gov) to gauge if a project meets the program's
intellectual merit and commercial impact criteria. Email a 1-2 page executive summary discussing the following aspects of the
project: 1) the company and team 2) the market opportunity, value proposition, and customers 3) the technology/innovation 4)
the competition. The next deadline is December 2nd, 2014
Advanced Manufacturing (M)
The Advanced Manufacturing (MN) subtopic aims to support all current and emerging aspects of manufacturing innovations that
have the potential to rejuvenate the nation's manufacturing sector and also improve its efficiency, competitiveness, and
sustainability. Proposals should be driven by market needs and opportunities, and should identify both the end users of the
proposed technology and the proposed pathway to commercialization. Proposals that are responsive to strong societal needs
while meeting commercial sustainability thresholds are also encouraged.
M2. Maker Manufacturing
Makers represent a wellspring of innovation, creating new products and eventually manufacturing them. Proposals having roots
in such activities, involving innovations in one or more stages of design, engineering, and manufacturing and having significant
commercialization potential are solicited. Commercially sustainable ideas that seek to address significant local, national, or
global societal problems (e.g., energy/water/ resource conservation, youth unemployment), or enable the spreading of citizen
science through such innovations are especially encouraged.
M3. Additive Manufacturing
Innovations in processes or machines that permit manufacturing through a layering process, including 3D printing, to achieve
fabrication of a range of products including near net shape products. Proposals by young companies to develop sustainable
businesses based on 3D printing are especially encouraged. Proposals are also encouraged that permit the manufacturing of
complex multi-scale and/or multi-functional products for superior performance and productivity.”
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6. How can I readily find Topics that align with my
expertise? Use www.zyn.com
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Search with key words that
describe your tech expertise,
such as “additive manufacturing”

7. Search results on www.zyn.com/sbir for
“Additive Manufacturing” Topics
National SBIR/STTR Gateway Search Service Results by Zyn Search© Searched SBIR/STTR Topic files for
"additive manufacturing" and found 25 matches.
(SBIR) Air Force - Electron-Beam Additive Manufacturing Process Control for Titanium Alloys
Score: **** Electron-Beam Additive Manufacturing Process Control for Titanium Alloys Air Force SBIR 2009.1 -
Topic AF091C-002 Aviation and Missile RD&E Center (Missile) - Otho Thomas - (256) 842-9227 Opens:
December 8, 2008 - Closes: January 14, 2009 AF091C-002 TITLE: Electron-Beam Additive Manufacturing
Process Control for Titanium Alloys TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Materials/ Processes....
(SBIR) Navy - Additive Manufacturing for Transducer Development
Score: **** Additive Manufacturing for Transducer Development Navy SBIR 2012.1 - Topic N121-094 ONR -
Ms. Tracy Frost - tracy.frost1@navy.mil Opens: December 12, 2011 - Closes: January 11, 2012 N121-094 TITLE:
Additive Manufacturing for Transducer Development TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Materials/Processes, Sensors
ACQUISITION PROGRAM: This topic is intended to benefit future FNC projects for ASW, MIW & UUVs....
(SBIR) Air Force - Method for Evaluating Candidates for Additive Manufacturing (AM) Processes
Score: **** Method for Evaluating Candidates for Additive Manufacturing (AM) Processes Air Force SBIR
2014.1 - Topic AF141-213 Opens: December 20, 2013 - Closes: January 22, 2014 AF141-213 TITLE: Method for
Evaluating Candidates for Additive Manufacturing (AM) Processes KEY TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Materials /
Processes ...
(SBIR) Navy - Aluminum Alloy Development and Use in Additive Manufacturing Process Design for Drive
System Gear Boxes
Score: **** Aluminum Alloy Development and Use in Additive Manufacturing Process Design for Drive System
Gear Boxes Navy SBIR 2014.1 - Topic N141-062 ONR - Ms. Lore Anne Ponirakis - loreanne.ponirakis@navy.mil
Opens: Dec 20, 2013 - Closes: Jan 22, 2014 N141-062 TITLE: Aluminum Alloy Development and Use in Additive
Manufacturing … 7

8. How do I prepare a Quad Chart?
• A good Quad Chart is an indispensable business card:
– clearer than a two-minute standup pitch
– shorter than a business plan
– readily understandable by a potential customer or investor/funder
• Two types of Quad Charts:
– Focused, for advanced R&D see slide #9, a PowerPoint template
• Picture of technology, customer requirement, technology objective, transition plan
– Exploratory, for more basic R&D see slide #10, a PowerPoint template
• Current state of the art, new insights, technology innovation, technology impact
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Or, you can adapt the focused Quad Chart sent to Conference registrants

9. Project/technology title
Overall Risk: HIGH X MEDIUM LOW SBIR/STTR Topic Number: Date: mm/dd/yy
CONCEPT REQUIREMENT
REQUIREMENT/PAYOFF: Identify and describe the need
driving technology development as well as its benefit to the
target Agency
DELIVERABLE: Description of product to be developed for
use and how it meets customer requirement
9
Concept
Picture
OBJECTIVE: Short statement explaining the technology
and its principal features
TRANSITION(S): Succinct strategy/plan for this project
that addresses how the technology will transition into a
system or platform
CONTACTS
Company: name website email
Company lead: “ phone “
Technologist: “ “ “
Fiscal POC: “ “ “

10. What is the impact of
the project?
(DELETE THIS BOX OF TEXT
AND INSERT TABLE, GRAPH,
OR OTHER SUITABLE
VISUALIZATION)
First item planned. Add more
text as necessary.
Second item planned. Add
more text as necessary.
•Add other points as necessary
Project/technology title
What is the state of the
art and what are its
limitations?
(DELETE THIS BOX OF TEXT
AND INSERT DIAGRAM(S)
Primary answer here. Add
more text as necessary.
•First bullet point
•Additional as necessary
What are the key
new insights?
(REPLACETHIS BOX AND
INSERT DIAGRAM(S))
First key insight. Add more text
as necessary.
Second key insight. Add more
text as necessary.
•Add other points as necessary
MAIN ACHIEVEMENT:
Placeholder explanatory text. Replace with text
and diagrams as necessary.
HOW IT WORKS:
Placeholder explanatory text paragraph. Replace
with text and diagrams as necessary.
ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS:
• Limitation or assumption
• Another limitation or assumption
What are the end-of-phase
Primary answer here. Add
more text as necessary.
•First key point
•Additional as necessary
Company name and website, your name/title and contact information
goals?
(REPLACE WITH
DIAGRAM/TEXT/THRESHOLD
CRITERIA)
END-OF-PHASE GOAL QUANTITATIVE IMPACT
NEW INSIGHTS STATUS QUO

11. How do I schedule 1-on-1 meetings?
• Register for the Conference on the event website at
www.nationalsbirconference.com
• Receive a return email from us:
– Invites you to request up to three meetings
– Asks you to review Agency and Industry posters to make most practical
choices for meetings
– Suggests that you develop a Quad Chart
• Carefully choose Agency/Industry meetings, submit request.
• Receive confirmation of your meetings schedule.
• At the Conference, make sure you know location of your 1-on-
1 meetings -- and be punctual!
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12. One more time: Why SBIR/STTR?
• Government’s incentives
– Test-drive small business capability
– Proactive risk reduction of truly innovative technologies
– Competing approaches open up additional technology alternatives
– Non-competitive follow-on awards can be made
– High level of matching funds are available
• Small Businesses’ incentives
– Largest source of early stage R&D funds for small firms
– Non-diluted funding: no payback needed, no equity taken
– Company retains data rights for five years (DoD)
– Builds credibility of company’s research
– Follow-on awards are non-competitive
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13. SBIR/STTR: Best Desk References
• The “SBIR Gateway” at www.zyn.com provides direct links to every Federal
Agency SBIR/STTR program, other commercialization resources, and
SBIR/STTR news.
• http://www.navysbir.com/how2videos.htm offers “SBIR University”
tutorials on numerous subjects for beginners and experienced
entrepreneurs alike – including summaries of all Federal Agency SBIR and
STTR programs.
• http://www.youtube.com/user/NSFInnovationIIP offers useful webinars
such as How to Successfully Apply to the NSF SBIR/STTR Program.
• http://www.sbtc.org is a policy portal on commercialization issues,
offering illuminating white papers and other documents.
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14. See you at the Fall National SBIR/STTR
Conference in Austin, Nov. 11 - 13
Questions?
www.nationalsbirconference.com
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