Hundreds of Proposals Written
Federal, State & Foundation Grants

You don't need a five-figure retainer to find out if your technology is fundable.

Your NSF Pitch, Built With Grant Experts. For $500.

$500 flat. A 30-minute call with a senior strategist to find your framing, then a finished SBIR project pitch about 5 business days later. You bring the technology. We bring what NSF is looking for.

Claim Your Spot

No retainer. One working call. A pitch you can submit.

20 spots per cohort. Each pitch gets dedicated senior strategist time.

You have two bad options.
We built a third.

Option A: Hire a Consultant

Most full-service grant consultants want five figures before they'll write a word. They'll work closely with you, and that part is worth it. But you pay upfront, wait months, and still have no idea if the proposal will land. If it doesn't? That money is gone, and you're back to square one.

Option B: Do It Yourself (or Let Software Do It)

Sounds cheaper until you count the cost. 40 to 80 hours reverse-engineering NSF jargon. Second-guessing every sentence. And an AI tool doesn't fix it: it will polish whatever you give it, but it won't tell you that you led with the wrong result, or that NSF cares about commercialization potential, not just the science. Then two months of waiting for a form-letter decline. Meanwhile, your competitors who worked with the right people are already getting invitations to submit.

Neither option gets your framing right at a price that makes sense. So we built something different: you and a senior strategist work out the framing together, we write the pitch, and our largest fee only changes hands if you win.

Your expertise. Our read on NSF. Neither works alone.

We've written hundreds of proposals, and one lesson keeps repeating: the framing decides the outcome. Which result you lead with. What counts as research risk versus engineering. What a reviewer will look for and not find.

You know your technology better than anyone. We know what NSF is prioritizing right now, the structures that win, and the missing pieces that sink otherwise strong applications. The pitch that gets invited comes out of putting those together, and that takes real back-and-forth.

Not a form. A conversation.

That's why every pitch starts with a working call with a senior strategist, and why the full proposal is our white-glove service. Software can draft from what you give it, but it won't push back on your lead. Full-service firms do this work well and charge $15,000 to $50,000 for it.

We charge $500 for the pitch and $7,000 for the proposal if NSF invites you. The rest is a 5% success fee, paid only if you're funded. We keep the upfront low because we're betting on the award.

Do the math.

Pitch FirstDo It YourselfTypical Consultant
What the pitch costs you$500 flat, strategy call included$0 in cash. 40-80 hours of your time.$350 to $600 for pitch-only help, or folded into a retainer
A strategist working through the framing with youYes, from the first callNoYes, at five figures
Who carries the riskShared. Most of our fee waits for your award.You doYou do
If you don't get invitedYou're out $500. No retainer, no proposal fee.You lost weeks of work. No one tells you why.You're out the money
Turnaround~5 business days after your call2 to 8 weeks of nights and weekends3 to 6 months
Full proposal (if invited)$7,000 flat. White glove, same strategist.You're on your own again$15,000 to $50,000
Success fee5% on funded awards (~$15,250 on a $305K Phase I)N/A0 to 5%, 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~$22,750Your time, zero expert guidance$15,000 to $50,000+

Pitch First isn't the cheapest way to get funded. Doing it yourself costs less in cash, and if you win, you'll pay us about $22,750 in total. What you get is a strategist working through the framing with you at both stages, and a payment schedule built around NSF's answers. Before NSF funds you, you've spent $7,500. About two-thirds of what you pay us arrives after the award does.

Claim Your Spot

Pitch First. Pay Later. Get Funded.

01

You pay $500

One flat fee. No retainer, no hourly billing. It covers your strategy call, the research, the framing, and the finished pitch. It's the only thing you pay before NSF responds.

02

We work out your framing together

Fill out a 30-minute intake form so we arrive prepared. Then a 30-minute call with a senior strategist to pressure-test the angle: which result leads, what NSF will see as the research risk, what's missing. Your completed pitch lands within about 5 business days of the call. Review it, request revisions, and submit when you're ready.

03

$500 pitch. White-glove proposal. Aligned incentives.

If NSF invites you to submit a full proposal, we write it with our full white-glove service: $7,000 flat, as many calls as it needs, the same strategist who knows your pitch. It only comes after NSF has asked to see more. A 5% success fee on funded awards keeps our incentives locked to yours.

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

A ready-to-submit NSF project pitch, shaped on a call with a senior strategist, built around NSF's merit review criteria and formatted to its submission requirements.

Your NSF Project Pitch includes

  • A 30-minute working call with a senior strategist to settle your framing before anything is written
  • What makes your technology novel and why it matters to NSF, written in language program directors respond to
  • A concrete R&D plan with milestones NSF reviewers can evaluate
  • Market sizing and commercialization framing that shows real traction potential (the section most DIY pitches fail on)
  • A team narrative that proves you can execute the research
  • Every section mapped to NSF's actual evaluation criteria

What you skip

  • Weeks of guessing what NSF wants to see
  • A five-figure retainer before anyone writes a word
  • Months of waiting for a deliverable
  • Weekly check-ins that don't move the pitch forward

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 Pitch First because we believe the people working on your proposal should earn most of their fee when you do.

NSFNIHDOEDODDARPA

Questions

Because the framing decides whether NSF invites you, and it rarely comes out of a form alone. The intake gives us your technology, the problem, your stage, and your team, so we arrive prepared. On a 30-minute call, we work out together which result to lead with, what NSF will read as genuine research risk, and what a reviewer will look for and not find. Then we write.
Of course. You receive the completed pitch document, review it, and can request revisions over email. Nothing gets submitted to NSF without your sign-off. The pitch is yours.
The whole pitch: a review of your intake, a 30-minute strategy call with a senior strategist, research on your technology and market, framing built around NSF's review criteria, the written pitch formatted to NSF's submission requirements, and a round of revisions. It's a flat fee, not a retainer, and it's the only thing you pay before NSF responds. Submitting the pitch to NSF takes about 15 minutes once you have it.
We'll flag that before we even send you the intake form. If our initial assessment shows NSF isn't the right path for your technology, we'll let you know and refund your $500 in full before any work starts. No forms to fill out, no time wasted.
We write it with our full white-glove service, for $7,000 flat. You work with the same strategist who shaped your pitch, with as many calls as the proposal needs. It covers the technical narrative, the budget and budget justification, and the supporting documents NSF requires. Before you see a draft, we score it against NSF's review criteria and check it for the eligibility issues that get proposals returned without review.
Because it's the document NSF funds or declines, and it takes far more collaboration than the pitch. Your R&D plan, technical risk, commercial case, and budget all have to agree with each other and read as research rather than product development. Full-service SBIR writers typically charge $15,000 to $50,000 for this, most of it upfront. We charge $7,000 for two reasons. Your pitch call already did the framing work NSF responded to, so we're not starting from zero. And our largest fee is the 5% we earn only if you're funded.
If your proposal gets funded, there's a 5% fee on the award amount, payable only after you receive the funds. On a $305,000 Phase I, that's roughly $15,250. For context, full-service SBIR writers typically charge $15,000 to $50,000 for the full proposal, most of it before you know if you'll win. Our largest fee only exists after you've been funded.
Yes. SBIR is authorized and NSF is accepting project pitches on a rolling basis. Phase I awards are $305,000 for 12 months of R&D.
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 know what NSF reviewers evaluate. Questions before you start? Email nalin@getcada.com and we'll reply within one business day.

$500 pitch. $305,000 upside. 20 spots.

$500 flat, strategy call included. Your pitch about 5 business days after the call. You review it, revise it, submit on your terms.

Claim Your Spot

Secure checkout via Stripe. One flat fee, no retainer.

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