Hundreds of Proposals Written
Federal, State & Foundation Grants

You don't need 6 months and a five-figure retainer to know whether NIH will fund your science.

Your NIH Specific Aims, Built With Experts. $500.

One flat fee. A 30-minute call with a senior strategist to work out your Institute and your aims. We draft the Aims. When you talk to your Program Officer, one of our founders is on the call alongside you.

Claim Your Spot

$500, paid once. A strategy call before we write. A founder on your PO call.

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.

Your science. Our read on NIH. Neither works alone.

We've written hundreds of proposals, and one lesson keeps repeating: the framing decides the outcome. Which Institute you fit. Which result anchors the Aims. What a study section will look for and not find.

You know your science better than anyone. We know what each Institute is prioritizing, the structures that score, and the missing pieces that leave first-time applications unscored. Full-service consultants do this work well and charge five figures upfront. Doing it yourself, or handing it to software, is cheaper in cash, but nobody pushes back on your framing until the summary statement does.

We work it out together. Then you talk to NIH.

Aims-First is $500, strategy call included. If your PO encourages you, the full Phase I is our white-glove service at $7,000 flat, and the 5% success fee applies only if you're funded. We keep the upfront low because we're betting on the award.

Do the math.

Aims-FirstDo It YourselfTypical Consultant
What the Aims cost you$500 flat, strategy call included$0 in cash. 60-100 hours of your time.Folded into a five-figure engagement
A strategist working through the framing with youYes, from the first callNoYes, at five figures
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 days after your call3 to 8 weeks of nights and weekends3 to 6 months
Full Phase I (if encouraged)$7,000 flat. White glove, same strategist.You're on your own again$15,000 to $50,000
Success fee5% on funded Phase I (~$15,000 on $300K)N/A0% to 8%, on top of their fee
Paid before you know if you're funded$7,500Your time$15,000 to $50,000
Total cost if funded ($300K Phase I)~$22,500Your time, no expert framing$15,000 to $50,000+

Before NIH funds you, you've spent $7,500. About two-thirds of what you pay us arrives after the award does. 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 pay $500

One flat fee at checkout. It covers your strategy call, the IC-match analysis, the Specific Aims, the PO outreach kit, and a Cada founder on your PO call. No retainer, no hourly billing, no surprise invoices.

02

We make the four hard calls, with you

Fill out a 30-minute intake, then a 30-minute call with a senior strategist to settle your Institute and your aims. Within about 5 business days of the call, 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.

03

We get on the PO call with you.

When the PO meeting is on the calendar, one of our founders joins it with you. If the PO encourages you to apply, you can engage us for the full Phase I, our white-glove service, at $7,000 flat plus a 5% success fee on funded awards. If they don't, you walk with $500 spent and a real signal from a real NIH PO, not months of guesswork.

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

  • A 30-minute strategy call with a senior strategist before we write
  • 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 and one call. We handle the IC research, the writing, and the PO targeting.
  • No weekly check-ins that don't move the Aims forward
  • 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 earn most of their fee when you do, and because the most expensive mistake first-time NIH applicants make happens before anyone writes a sentence.

NIHNSFDOEDODDARPA

Questions

Because the framing decides how NIH scores you, and it rarely comes out of a form alone. The intake gives us your science, the disease area, your team, your preliminary data, and your hypothesis, so we arrive prepared. On a 30-minute call, we work out together which Institute you fit, which result anchors the Aims, and what a study section will look for and not find. Then we write.
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 extra cost.
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.
Everything in the Aims-First package: a 30-minute strategy call, the IC-match analysis, a one-page Specific Aims document, the drafted PO email, the named PO contact, 5 calibrated questions, one round of revisions, and a Cada founder on your PO call. It is a flat fee, paid once at checkout, and it becomes non-refundable once we send your intake form, which is when work begins. The one exception: Aims-First is for first-time NIH applicants, and if you turn out to be ineligible we refund the $500 in full. There is no success fee on the Aims-First service itself.
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 January 5, 2027. 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 $7,000 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.
Our full white-glove service, for $7,000 flat, if you decide to apply after your PO conversation. You work with the same strategist who shaped your Aims, with as many calls as the proposal needs. It covers the final Specific Aims, the Research Strategy, the budget and budget justification, and the supporting documents NIH requires. Full-service NIH writers typically charge $15,000 to $50,000, most of it upfront. Our largest fee is the 5% we earn only if you're funded.
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.
A senior Cada strategist, working with you. The same team behind hundreds of proposals across NSF, NIH, DOE, DOD, and DARPA. We use AI tools for research, drafting support, and compliance checks, as our AI authorship policy describes. But a tool will polish whatever you give it. The framing comes from the call and from people who have read NIH study section critiques. Questions before you start? Email nalin@getcada.com and we will reply within one business day.

$500 Aims. $300,000 upside. 10 spots.

$500 flat fee, strategy call included. Delivered ~5 business days after the call. The next standard NIH SBIR receipt date is January 5, 2027.

Claim Your Spot

Secure checkout via Stripe. One $500 payment, no retainer.

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