Grants

The best way to position your business to apply and win grants is by doing something already with what you have. Use your available resources to gain some level of traction, to achieve proof-of-concept and gain some certain level of trust. Now, applying for grants will be easy because you can demonstrate that your business is feasible since you have already achieved a good level of traction. Organizations giving grants want to see the following:

1. What made you start what you’re doing. What’s the back story that made you decide to do this? Are you only driven by money, or does your business have the heart to create positive change in society while making profit?
2. What makes you different from others? It’s certain that whatever you’re doing, someone somewhere has tried to do something similar, which means that you must have competitions or substitute products in the market? What makes yours stand out from the crowd?
3. How big can all these get? What does the future look like for your business? How big is the market you are thriving in? Is the market growing, and how fast? Is that any untapped opportunity in this market? And if you achieve 100% of your market, what does that mean for your business?
4. What have you achieved so far on your own? This demonstrates to them what you will be capable of achieving with the grant when given to you?
5. Is your team is the right team to achieve this? What makes your team the best people fit to achieve this? Why not another team or person? Why you?
6. Will you need another money if given this grant? Can this grant take you to the point where you become sustainable? Or will you need to raise another fund after given this grant?