Federal funding and private capital for research-driven work
Universities, research institutes and early-stage companies come to us with science that needs money behind it. We work out whether the route runs through a federal agency, a private investor, or both — and in what order.
- Washington DC · San Diego · Scottsdale
- Fee-based engagements, scoped in writing
- No contingency fees on federal awards
Where funding actually goes wrong
Rarely because the underlying work is weak. Almost always because of one of these.
The wrong programme
Strong science submitted to a solicitation that was not asking for it. Non-responsive is not a scoring problem, it is a fatal one.
Engaging too late
By the time a notice is published, the decisions that most affect the outcome — mechanism, framing, team — are already fixed.
No agency relationship
Programme officers will discuss fit before a deadline. Most applicants never ask, and submit blind.
Raising in the wrong order
Giving up equity for work that non-dilutive funding would have paid for is the most expensive avoidable mistake in the sequence.
Practice areas
Four related practices. For a research-driven organisation they are usually one question — public money or private, and in what sequence.
Federal Grant Advisory
Federal grant strategy for research-driven organisations — programme selection, agency engagement and proposal positioning across NIH, DOE, NSF and DoD.
Read moreGovernment Relations
Government relations and legislative advocacy from Washington — agency engagement, appropriations monitoring and representation before Congress.
Read morePrivate Equity Advisory
Advisory work for companies preparing to raise private capital — readiness, positioning and introductions to investors active in the sector.
Read moreVenture Capital Advisory
Early-stage advisory for research-driven ventures — academic spin-outs, translational research and companies bridging from grant funding to venture capital.
Read moreWho we serve
The funding problem looks different depending on who has it.
Research Universities
Federal funding strategy for research universities — portfolio-level programme selection, limited submission triage and agency engagement.
Academic Medical Centers
Federal funding strategy for academic medical centres and schools of medicine — NIH programme strategy, multi-PI centres and translational work.
Life Sciences Companies
SBIR, STTR and venture strategy for biotech and medical device companies — non-dilutive funding first, then the raise it makes possible.
Energy and Sustainability
Federal funding and capital structuring for clean energy, transportation and advanced manufacturing projects.
How we work
Fee-based, scoped in writing
Priced to the work, not to an outcome. You know what an engagement costs before it starts.
No contingency on federal awards
A percentage of an award conflicts with the cost principles governing it, and creates an audit problem for the client. We do not do it.
No promised outcomes
Peer review and appropriations are not in anyone's gift. What is controllable is position, framing and credibility.
An early no
Where a project is not fundable, or not yet, we say so at the start rather than being paid to find out slowly.
Where we work
Federal practice is national. The offices are placed where the decisions and the research are.
Washington, DC
Headquarters
The headquarters, two miles from the agencies and the Capitol that decide federal funding.
San Diego
Office
Positioned in the life sciences cluster where much of the medical work originates.
Scottsdale
Office
Covers the Southwest, and the sustainability and clean transportation practice.
Insights
Notes on how federal funding and private capital actually work.
Why paying a grant consultant a percentage of your award is a problem
Success fees on federal grants are generally unallowable, and the exposure falls on the grantee rather than the consultant. What the rules actually say.
Most strong proposals fail on fit, not on science
Programme selection decides more outcomes than proposal quality does. How agencies differ, and why the choice has to be made before anything is written.
Non-dilutive funding first: why sequence changes what your round costs
For research-driven companies, what you prove with grant funding before raising materially changes the terms available. The reasoning and the trade-offs.
Start with a conversation
Tell us what you are working on and where the funding gap is. If we are not the right people for it, we will say so and point you at who is.