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jeff
05-04-2007, 10:15 AM
Over the last couple of years I was able to get two grants to expand our company. At first we worked with a company that specialized in processing grant applications which led to our first success. Once I learned the process we teamed up with an attorney who had written and submitted several hundred grants with good results.

He and I have decided to offer our assistance to other companies who want to do the same. Up front let me say that while there are many grants you can apply for the ones that are worth having are not easy to get. If you are looking at 6-7 figure grants there are fees to hold a position to even be considered, there are fees to submit the actual request, and obviously there will be fees to have the legal and clerical staff write it all up. You will also have to do some of the work since we need a description of your market, your business, your expansion plans, etc. to use for justification for the grant.

If you have ten customers connected to an antenna on your house you pretty much have no chance. If you have been in business in the US for several years and are successfully growing you company. If you have a good grasp of your market, good staff, etc. and are looking for a way to jump start your expansion plans then this might be a good fit.

There are Federal rules that require me to be very careful what I say on this subject. So here is the disclaimer. We would help you organize the material necessary for the application. Write the application for you. Provide you with a copy of what is submitted. Find applicable grant programs and submit your application. We will follow up as necessary during the grant evaluation phase providing any additional material as needed. You will need to pay the fees for holding a spot in the evaluation queue, processing the grant proposal, and the final filing fees. There is no guarantee of any sort. The copies of the documents are yours to keep and could be used as a basis for other grants or for small business loans. We are only taking enough up front to cover legal and clerical costs plus the necessary fees. If you receive a grant we would get 5% at the time of funding as a brokerage fee. This would only apply if you receive a grant and is the only reason we are willing to do this because of the large amount of work required.

If you are interested pm me. I don't want to post an email address since I don't want a flood of useless replies. The only way this makes sense for us is if we are working with strong candidates in the first place. It is a waste of our time to process applications for companies who have little chance of success since we would only cover our overhead. We want to help companies who have a solid chance for success. We intend to cap this at 10 applications so that we can devote the attention that each requires. They will be processed in the order we receive them and the earlier ones have a better chance. No one will tell you this straight up, but the granting agencies take applications all year even though once they reach their goal they are done for the year. Earlier is definitely better than later.

The reason I am posting this here is that I have been a user of this forum and these products for years. I have exchanged many comments with people needing advice on wireless, but never discussed the other knowledge that helped us to be successful. Gaining this experience and knowledge has been a long process, but hopefully I can help others profit from it as well. As a courtesy to Lonnie if you get funded spend some of it here. We did.

Please don't post comments asking for additional information. Many of the laws that apply to "truth in lending" also apply to this. What I have said above is pretty much all I can say. We will use our skill and knowledge as consultants to you to help you write and submit grant requests. We cannot guarantee anything but that. The rest of the process is completely beyond our control. Please pm me if you wish additional information since I can only provide additional information on a company by company basis.

kbldawg
05-04-2007, 11:00 AM
This is a great offer and I appreciate your willigness to help us all out, thanks!!

One thing I would like to add though...

I happen to know, first hand from someone at the Federal level, that it is possible and actually has been done (last fiscal year) for a start-up WISP to receive grant money.

I won't assume to know much about the process, we've never applied, but I did want to share this tid bit of information.

jeff
05-04-2007, 11:18 AM
I know I said I wouldn't be adding additional information, but this is such a good point that I missed that I will have to add a few things.

There are absolutely grants available both Federal and private that anyone can apply for and that have negligible fees etc. I've filled out a fair number of them myself and for anyone who wants to give it a try I certainly encourage it. Also speaking from experience I can say that the amounts vs. the chances of receiving the grant is not a pretty ratio. If you have the time go for it you might get lucky.

What we are offering is years of experience perfecting the application and carefully selecting where to place it. It's not cheap, but it increases your odds since any errors generally result in a silent rejection and finding the best opportunities requires quite a bit of research.

valenti
05-06-2007, 07:53 AM
Jeff, could you be just a little more detailed ... when you say grants, do you mean free money? Or a loan at a favorable interest rate? (what rate?)

I'm closer to your first case of ten customers running off a house antenna, so I'm not going to pursue this. But I'm just curious, for possible future use.

jeff
05-09-2007, 01:44 PM
Grants are basically free money. There are usually some terms, but generally they have to do with financial reporting so that they can verify that the money was spent per the financial plan submitted as well as a release authorizing publicity etc. I've never seen anything that is all that burdensome. Since the possibilities are 6 and 7 figures sending quarterly financials is a small price to pay.

As far as the mechanism goes you can just look them up online and try it yourself if you want. Many of the better ones have fairly complicated applications and you have to provide business plans etc. They often need to be submitted by an attorney acting as your agent.

What we are offering is to help with all the work necessary to apply for the substantial grants that have a better chance of funding. As with everything in life you rarely get anything for free so if you are expecting free money you have to be willing to invest some money and time to make sure that it is done correctly and completely, thus giving you the best odds. Trying to do it on your own is a crap shoot. If you get it great, but your odds are pretty poor since most agencies just quietly file it in the trash can if there are mistakes on the application. They always have more to draw from then they will ever pay out so they prefer to work with experienced preparers who make it easy for them.

cephlon
05-15-2007, 10:58 PM
The government definitly gives grants to WISPs. My competitor came into my market with $450,000 in government grants about 3 years ago. The current owner at that time (not me) freaked out and thought he was about to loose his company.

We are able to beat him at performance though, and now his customers are switching to us.

But yea, grants are definitly possible. I know one thing he had going for him in the grant was that he was going to give free internet to a very poor school district in our area.

jeff
05-17-2007, 10:36 PM
Yup, I was skeptical until I actually saw it work. There is free money available and you are right, the more socially responsible your business plan the better your chances. Knowing how the process works makes a big difference in the odds of success.