
Ask HN: Advice on Us Business Partner? - dosy
I set up a company through stripe Atlas and I&#x27;m not a US resident or citizen but I&#x27;m interested in accessing sbir and other government solicitations because I think that kind of non VC funding would be a good fit for the type of products that I want to build. in order to do that I would need a 50% us co-founder or partner. has anyone taken a similar route and what was your experience? or what advice do you have?
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edmundsauto
Couple of tips about the SBIR/STTR programs:

1/ They exist so US gov't agencies can get products they need developed,
especially when the risk involved in R&D means they judged not worthy of
private investment.

2/ First round SBIR has somewhere <20% acceptance rate, so you'll need to plan
to make multiple applications over multiple periods. The effort isn't less
than the VC route.

3/ Develop a relationship with the sponsor (person who put out the
solicitation). This is similar to networking with VCs and prospective
customers.

Working with the US Government is a very different set of problems than VC
money.

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greenyoda
> Working with the US Government is a very different set of problems than VC
> money.

Actually, performing work under contract with any customer is very different
than taking VC money. With VCs, it's understood that it's a risky investment
and the company that's being funded can fail before it delivers a product.
With a contract, you have specific deliverables (sometimes at a fixed cost),
and the other side can sue you to recover their money if you don't deliver.
(Under certain circumstances, your creditors can even go after your personal
assets.[1])

Also, in an SBIR, the government agency gives you funding to research and/or
develop a specific thing that they need, so you can't arbitrarily "pivot" to
an unrelated thing if the first thing isn't going well.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piercing_the_corporate_veil#Un...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piercing_the_corporate_veil#United_States)

