Archive for September, 2009

Lots of people have ideas.  Some are good, some, not so much.  Some ideas are for products, some are for services, some are for processes.   However, an idea doesn’t do anything for your business, it’s the product, service, or process that earns you money.

Jumping from idea to commercial offering is more than just a leap of faith.  It takes time, which may be in short supply, and money, which is nearly always in short supply.  Faith, time, and money.  The first two you can usually provide.  You can’t create a successful product or service without investing both faith and time.

Then there’s money.  Some ideas don’t take a lot of money to develop.  Some ideas take a LOT of money to develop.  But pretty much any idea needs at least some money, either to produce a prototype, set up a web site, stock materials, ensure safety, or whatever else is needed.

The money has to come from somewhere.  Some people self-finance, using savings or loans.  Some people solicit investors to provide funding to be repaid once the idea has become reality, or in return for a piece of the company.

For some people, depending on the idea, the application, and the market, can obtain grants.  Grants aren’t for overhead costs, but for the actual development of the product or service.  There’s no such thing as free money, but in some cases, organizations will be willing to fund your idea if it meets an unmet critical need that the organization is facing.

That’s important enough that it bears repeating: if your idea meets an unmet critical need of an organization, that organization will be more than likely willing to fund your idea.  But that’s the tricky part, isn’t it?  How do you know that your idea meets an organization’s critical unmet need?  Do you even know which organizations may be interested in your ideas?  Figuring out who to target is just the first step.

Leominster, MA, September 21, 2009 — The Kristoff Group LLC (TKG) has launched a new grant research service Grant Concierge.

Grant Concierge (http://www.grantconcierge.com) is designed to help small businesses identify grant opportunities that are right for their organization.  Grant Concierge’s first service, GO Research, is targeted towards research and development organizations looking for federal grant opportunities, such as the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program.

The Grant Concierge research services are highly personalized, beginning with an in-depth consultation to get to know the client company, its product and service offerings, and its goals for the future.  Based on this information, a grant expert searches available offerings and compiles a report listing appropriate solicitations and opportunities.

“I’ve had several clients tell me that they just don’t know where to look for specific grant opportunities, or that once they begin searching they are overwhelmed by the material they find,” says Ms. Kristoff.  “The Grant Concierge services can help these businesses save time and money by allowing a grant search expert to review open solicitations and compile a list of opportunities that is exactly right for them.”

The Kristoff Group LLC is a woman-owned small business based in Leominster, MA dedicated to helping small, tech-focused businesses create winning proposals in response to federal research solicitations.  President Susan Kristoff has over a decade of experience in proposal development, contract R&D, and technical writing for government and commercial clients. Her technical areas of expertise include rail and vehicle dynamics, crashworthiness, sensors, and data acquisition. Susan has authored or co-authored technical reports, conference reports and presentations, articles, web copy and proposals.

Grant Concierge is almost ready!  I’m very excited because I really think the services we’re offering will be useful to a lot of people and companies.

I’m planning for Grant Concierge to officially go live this Monday, September 21.  However, the GO Research service page is active, so if you want a sneak preview and get in on this service before I start promoting it, visit the GO Research page to check it out!

-Sue Kristoff

I’ve been working out the process for our GO Research service by going through the operations with some of our current clients.  One of our goals is to have a “systemized” process in place that allows for consistency in our customer service.  For example, we’re creating a “first contact” form that allows us to ask all of the right questions and collect the information that we need.  I’m sure it will evolve over time as more and more people use the GO Research service, but it’s coming along well.

We’re hoping to go live with Grant Concierge in the next week or so, sign up to be notified by visiting the main Grant Concierge site.