You don't need $10K and 6 months to find out if your technology is fundable.
Your NSF Pitch, Written by the Team Behind $1.6B in Awards. For Free.
$250 refundable deposit. A finished SBIR project pitch in 5 business days. The same strategists who've funded 500+ proposals frame your technology for NSF.
Claim Your SpotDeposit refunded when you submit. No calls. No meetings. Just the pitch.
20 spots per cohort. Each pitch gets dedicated senior strategist time.
You have two bad options.
We built a third.
Every grant consultant wants a five-figure retainer before they'll write a word. You pay $10,000 or $15,000 upfront, wait months, and still have no idea if the proposal will land. If it doesn't? That money is gone. You're out the cash and you're back to square one.
Sounds cheaper until you count the cost. 40 to 80 hours reverse-engineering NSF jargon. Second-guessing every sentence. Cramming your vision into a 10,500-character box. Then two months of waiting for a form-letter rejection, because nobody told you NSF cares about commercialization potential, not just the science. Meanwhile, your competitors who hired the right people are already getting invitations to submit.
Neither option respects your time or your budget. So we built something different: expert grant framing for $0 upfront, delivered in days not months, where we only earn if you win.
The $10K we cut from the process.
We studied every hour of our white-glove process -- the one other firms charge $10K+ for. The single most expensive line item wasn't research. It wasn't writing. It was live strategy calls. Discovery sessions, weekly check-ins, "alignment meetings." Hours of senior strategist time that, honestly, don't make the pitch better.
No calls means our strategists spend 100% of their time on what actually moves the needle: researching your technology, framing it for NSF, and writing a pitch that gets you invited. The savings go straight to you as a $0 pitch.
This is also why we can tie our revenue to your outcome. 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.
| Pitch First | Do It Yourself | Typical Consultant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the pitch costs you | $0 (deposit refunded on submission) | $0 in cash. 40-80 hours of your time. | $5,000 to $15,000 upfront |
| Who carries the risk | We do | You do | You do |
| If you don't get invited | You already got your $250 back | You lost weeks of work. No one tells you why. | You're out the money |
| Turnaround | ~5 business days | 2 to 8 weeks of nights and weekends | 3 to 6 months |
| Full proposal (if invited) | $2,500 flat | You're on your own again | $10,000 to $25,000 |
| Success fee | 5% on funded awards (~$15,250 on a $305K Phase I) | N/A | 0 to 5%, on top of their retainer |
| Total cost if funded | ~$11,650 | Your time, zero expert guidance | $15,000 to $40,000+ |
Total cost of getting funded through Pitch First: roughly $11,650. A typical grant consultant charges $15,000 to $40,000 for the same outcome, and most of that is due before you know if you'll win.
Pitch First. Pay Later. Get Funded.
You deposit $250
Not a fee. A commitment to follow through. Confirm you submitted your pitch to NSF within 30 days, and every dollar comes back. The deposit exists for one reason: to make sure great pitches don't sit in a drawer.
We write your NSF pitch
Fill out a 30-minute intake form. Your completed project pitch lands in your inbox within 5 business days, formatted to NSF's submission requirements. You review it, request any revisions over email, and submit when you're ready.
Free pitch. Paid proposal. Aligned incentives.
The pitch costs you nothing. If NSF invites you to submit a full proposal, we handle that too: $2,500 flat, same async process, same team. 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 document, built around NSF's Merit Review criteria and formatted to their submission requirements.
Your NSF Project Pitch includes
- 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
- One 30-minute form. We handle everything else.
- No strategy sessions or "alignment meetings" before work starts
- No waiting months for a deliverable
- No calls. The entire process happens over email.
Built on 15 years of funded research.
Cada Partners is a grant strategy firm. Our strategists have written 500+ proposals across NSF, NIH, DOE, DOD, and DARPA, securing over $1.6B in grants for our clients. We built Pitch First because we believe the people writing your proposal should only earn when you do.
Questions
Free pitch. $305,000 upside. 20 spots.
$250 refundable deposit. Delivered in ~5 business days. You review it, revise it, submit on your terms.
Claim Your SpotSecure checkout. $250 fully refundable on submission.
Questions? Email nalin@getcada.com. We'll reply within one business day.
Not ready yet? Email nalin@getcada.com and ask for our free NSF pitch prep checklist.