We serve the small business community with consulting services both for SBIR proposal preparation and for general business coaching.  Our fees are scaled to and appropriate for that community.

Note that or fees are never billed on an hourly basis, as you're not engaging us for the time we spend, but rather for what we know and what we'll do to increase your likelihood of success, whether for winning SBIR awards, or making deals for commercialization of your technologies.

In general, our fees for helping prepare an SBIR or STTR proposal are in two parts:

A)  A Fee-For-Service for the Coaching. This is a fair firm-fixed-price that depends upon the Phase(s) being proposed (I, II, or Fast-Track), the Federal Agency being targeted (they have very different processes and some are considerably more arduous to navigate than others), and the experience of the client (a first-time proposer requires more coaching). 

Our policy, for a full coaching engagement, is that half of this fee is due when we begin and the balance is due at the time of submission of the proposal.

We offer a special deal for companies wishing to have an impartial and fair evaluation of their chances to successfully compete for an SBIR or STTR award. This might involve surfacing orpportunities and/or providing an assessment of whether the company will have sufficient credibility for responding to an Agency's expressed problem and priorities.  We will ask that our minimum engagement fee (equivalent to one day of attention at our then current rates) be conveyed as a retainer.  Should the company subsequently retain our services for a full coaching engagement for that proposal preparation, the full amount of this evaluation fee will be applied to that engagement.

Occasionally an engagement is for doing proposal reviews only (as opposed to full coaching guidance through the process including extensive editing of proposal drafts), or for being on retainer for answering SBIR questions and/or providing strategic planning guidance for the company.  Fees for this are always billed on a prepaid retainer basis.

B)  A Success-Fee upon winning an award. This negotiated fee, expressed as a firm fixed amount, will be at least as much as the coaching fee. This fee is due once the grant or contract is funded, and means that we have a proportional stake in your success (some call it "skin in the game") and we don't get our full fee unless you win.  It enables our active partcipation in your grant/contract negotiations and pre-award audit, our assistance in establishing your payment process links, and our guidance in ensuring that your intellectual property is protected and that your SBIR Data Rights are preserved.

It is our policy not to shift Fee-for-Service amounts to the Success-Fee for new clients.  After a successful funding experience, such shifts may be entertained for returning clients, but there always will be a Fee-for-Service component to any engagement.

Coaching and consulting for Phase III proposals and projects, or for preparing for discussions with an investor, are arranged on an ad-hoc basis.  When a "deal" is arranged with a Phase III customer or with an investor, a Success-Fee is due in addition to the Coaching fee. 

Our fees for general coaching/consulting are arranged on a prepaid retainer basis, with a one-day minimum. The Coach's capabilities as a general Business Coach extend far beyond just SBIR.  (Click HERE for his Background and Capabilties description.)  

Note that, on a contract basis, Mr. Patterson currently serves as the (outsourced) Director of Planning and/or as an Advisory Board member for several of his client companies.

And we do accept all major credit cards should you wish to leverage your cash flow.