Hundreds of Proposals Written
Federal, State & Foundation Grants

You don't need 6 months and a grant consultant to know whether NIH will fund your science.

Your NIH Specific Aims, Written by Experts. Free.

$250 refundable deposit. We pick the right Institute. We draft your Aims. When you talk to your Program Officer, one of our founders is on the call alongside you. The deposit comes back the moment that call happens.

Claim Your Spot

Refunded on PO contact, not on submission. No status calls with us before the work. Just the PO conversation.

10 spots per cohort. A senior strategist writes your Aims. A Cada founder joins you on the PO call.

NIH isn't one funder.
It's 24.

Pitch a heart device to the National Eye Institute and your application is dead before it reaches a reviewer. Paylines swing from ~25 to 40+ across Institutes, and the same one-page Aims sent to two ICs can be the difference between funded and unscored. Phase I overall success hovers near 13%. The right IC plus an argument that lands with a Program Officer can double that.

01. Picking the right IC

We run an IC-match analysis on your science, your disease area, and your commercial path before we write a word. You get a primary IC plus 1-2 dual-assignment options, with reasoning a Program Officer will recognize.

02. Aims as argument, not abstract

Most first-timers write the Aims as a summary. Reviewers want an argument. Each Aim we write has a concrete deliverable, a measurable success criterion, and a go/no-go rule that maps to NIH scoring.

03. Right-sizing the scope

Phase I is capped near $314K and 6-12 months. Most first-time Aims overscope and look naive. We propose 2-3 aims that fit the cap and cut anything that doesn't earn its budget line.

04. The PO call -- with you on it

Program Officers save resubmissions, but most founders email too late or ask the wrong question. We send the email, set the meeting, and one of our founders gets on the call with you to help guide it.

Most consultants ask which Institute you want. We tell you which one you fit, write the Aims around it, and stay on the line for the conversation that actually matters.

Two bad options. We built a third.

Every grant consultant wants $10K to $20K upfront and three months of meetings before they will write your Aims, and they still ask you to pick the IC. Doing it yourself is cheaper in cash and crushing in time, with about 90% of first-time NIH applications unscored on Aims weakness alone. Neither option respects your time or your budget. So we built something different: expert NIH framing for $0 upfront, delivered in days, where we only earn when you win.

We pick the IC. We draft the Aims. We broker the PO. You talk to NIH.

The 5% success fee means we only win when you win. Every other grant firm needs your money upfront because their process demands it. Ours doesn't.

Do the math.

Aims-FirstDo It YourselfTypical Consultant
What the Aims cost you$0 (deposit refunded on PO contact)$0 in cash. 60-100 hours of your time.$10,000 to $20,000 upfront
IC selectionDone for you with reasoningYour guessCharged extra, often outsourced to you
PO conversationBrokered. A Cada founder on the call with you.DIY cold emailSometimes, never on the call with you
If your science isn't fundableYou learn that from a PO in 4 weeksYou find out months inYou're out the money
Turnaround~5 business days3 to 8 weeks of nights and weekends3 to 6 months
Full Phase I (if encouraged)$5,000 flatYou're on your own again$15,000 to $30,000
Success fee5% on funded Phase I (~$15,000 on $300K)N/A0% to 8%, on top of their retainer
Total cost if funded ($300K Phase I)~$20,250Your time, no expert framing$25,000 to $50,000+

The 5% success fee is consulting compensation paid from your non-grant funds, not a finder's fee. NIH does not let you put grant-writer fees in your budget under any structure.

Claim Your Spot

Aims first. PO call next. Phase I when you're ready.

01

You deposit $250

Not a fee. A commitment to follow through. Talk to your NIH Program Officer within 60 days, forward us the email or calendar confirmation, and every dollar comes back. The deposit exists to make sure good Aims documents reach a PO.

02

We do the four hard calls

Fill out a 30-minute intake. Within 5 business days, you get back: an IC-match analysis, a one-page Specific Aims document, a drafted PO email, the named PO contact, and 5 calibrated questions. Email-only between you and us, no status calls.

03

We get on the PO call with you. Then we refund the deposit.

When the PO meeting is on the calendar, one of our founders joins it with you. After the call, we refund $250 within 5 business days. If the PO encourages you to apply, you can engage us for the full Phase I at $5,000 flat plus a 5% success fee on funded awards. If they don't, you walk with $0 paid and a real signal from a real NIH PO.

What you get. What you don't have to do.

A complete Aims-First package built around the call you make to your Program Officer, not just the document you send to NIH.

Your Aims-First package

  • IC-match analysis with a primary Institute, 1-2 dual-assignment options, and the reasoning a PO will recognize
  • One-page Specific Aims in NIH format, with 2-3 aims, measurable success criteria, and go/no-go decision rules
  • Drafted PO outreach email, ready to copy, paste, and send
  • Named PO contact for your IC plus guidance on dual-assignment requests
  • A Cada founder on the PO call with you, to help guide the conversation in real time
  • 5 calibrated questions for the call so you walk away with a real signal
  • 1 round of revisions on the Aims, for factual or clarifying changes

What you skip

  • One 30-minute intake. We handle the IC research, the writing, and the PO targeting.
  • No discovery calls or weekly check-ins. Email only.
  • No three months of waiting before you know if NIH is the right path
  • No guessing which Institute to target

Built on 15 years of funded research.

Cada Partners is a grant strategy firm. Our strategists have written hundreds of proposals across NSF, NIH, DOE, DOD, and DARPA. We built Aims-First because the people writing your NIH proposal should only earn when you do, and because the most expensive mistake first-time NIH applicants make happens before anyone writes a sentence.

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Questions

Yes. The intake captures what we need: your science, the disease area, your team, your preliminary data, and your hypothesis. Our strategists have written hundreds of NIH proposals. The hardest call is which Institute to target, and we make that call before we write a word. If we need more, we email you.
Our recommendation comes with reasoning so your PO conversation is the real test. Most ICs respond within a week. If your PO redirects you (rare), we revise the Aims and re-target one IC at no cost. The deposit refund still triggers when you talk to a PO at any IC.
POs respond more reliably to Aims than to cold outreach. Their job description includes pre-submission consultation. We give you the named contact, the draft email, and 5 questions calibrated to their portfolio. If you go 30 days without a response, email us and we will help you escalate or pick a dual-assignment IC.
Yes. Forward us the email exchange, calendar invite, or post-call confirmation showing you connected with your PO, and we refund the full $250 within 5 business days. The deposit exists for one reason: to make sure good Aims documents do not sit in a drawer. The refund window is 60 days because PO scheduling can slip.
At launch, NIH SBIR Phase I (R43) only. Specific Aims documents are similar across the R-portfolio (R01, R21, R34), but our success-fee economics are calibrated to the $300K Phase I award. If you are working toward an R01 or other R-mechanism, email nalin@getcada.com and we will quote separately.
Yes. SBIR/STTR was reauthorized in April 2026, and the next standard NIH SBIR receipt date is September 5, 2026. The Aims-First service is timed so you talk to your PO in time to incorporate their feedback before submission.
Only if you decide to engage us for the full Phase I proposal after your PO call. The Aims-First service itself carries no success fee. If you take the Aims doc and submit on your own (or use another writer), no 5% applies. The 5% is paired with the $5,000 flat fee for the full proposal under Schedule B.8 -- and both apply only when you sign that separate engagement letter. It is consulting compensation paid from your non-grant funds, not a finder's fee, consistent with 2 CFR 200.458.
No. Aims-First is for first-time NIH applicants only. If you have submitted any prior R-mechanism application (funded or not), reach out at nalin@getcada.com and we will recommend the right service.
Cada's grant strategy team. The same strategists behind hundreds of proposals across NSF, NIH, DOE, DOD, and DARPA. Not a chatbot, not a template. Your science, framed by people who have read NIH study section critiques. Questions before you start? Email nalin@getcada.com and we will reply within one business day.

Free Aims. $300,000 upside. 10 spots.

$250 refundable deposit. Delivered in ~5 business days. The next standard NIH SBIR receipt date is September 5, 2026.

Claim Your Spot

Secure checkout. $250 fully refundable when you talk to your PO within 60 days.

Questions? Email nalin@getcada.com. We will reply within one business day.