Your Mission: Seed Funding Contest Hell

Ask These 4 Questions Before Turning Your Life Upside Down to Meet a Contest Deadline

Above is my attempt to illustrate what the seed funding portal resembled to me at 11 p.m. Friday night. Two days into completing my client's contest entry to the SBA Growth Accelerator Fund Competition.

Good morning, Ms./Mr. Reader. You've been selected to enter the 2025 SBA Growth Accelerator Fund Competition with two days' notice.

Though the contest was announced on Dec. 19, you weren’t aware of it until TWO DAYS before it was due. This will require you to drop EVERYTHING and ask many unreasonable questions of your friends, family, coworkers and client. You will be sleep-deprived, irritable and slightly exhilarated.

DO YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT THIS MISSION?

Such was the case, when I contacted one of my clients (way too late) last week to tell him about the contest.

And then, of course, my client texted back: “For sure! Full steam ahead. Perfect timing!”

Maybe for him.

Ask these 4 Questions Before Turning Your Life Upside Down to Meet a Deadline:

1. How much would winning this seed funding competition mean to my client?

2. Do I know enough to pull this seed funding competition entry off?

   
   

3. What will it look like if I say I won’t do it, after sending him a tantalizing link, which offers $75,000 per winner, with millions awarded?

   
   

4. Will the frantic rush and two late nights be worth it?

In answer to the first question, a seed fund competition win would mean everything to my client, HomeEc, which needs funding to produce a proof-of-concept for the tiny homes (technically Accessory Dwelling Units) they're developing. While I don’t know how many entries there were, the SBA awarded cash payouts to 60 stage-one winners, and another 44 payouts for stage two.

Also, this competition is intended to highlight American scientific innovation, and that’s exactly what my clients are trying to do.

This is slide seven of a 13-slide deck for HomeEc, which is seeking at least $75,000 for its entry into the 2025 SBA Growth Accelerator Fund Competition.

Secondly, do I know enough about my client to complete a seed funding contest entry?

Because I had written five blog posts for HomeEc, I had some handle on what they are up to. In fact, I stole liberally from my blog posts, and pasted whole paragraphs from them into the seed funding competition slides. (And some people still question the value of having a blog.)

Another factor boosted my confidence: Years ago, I worked with Boston Consulting Group to prepare the Dallas Regional Chamber’s Amazon HQ2 submission. I saw what they knew about the Dallas region (very little), and how they wrote about it (stiltingly). It was no surprise to me why the Dallas region lost, based on what was submitted.

Is this false confidence or hubris? We’ll find out by April, when the awards are supposed to be announced. Maybe contest judges love jargon and opaque English. I doubt it.

In the song "Here I Am," Lyle Lovett asks the question, "What would you be if you didn't even try?" I'm sure he was talking about a contest entry. Or was it about a cheeseburger?

Third: What would you be if you didn't even try?

My client would have forgiven me if I would have thrown in the towel.

But there comes a time when you've talked for so long about being a former daily newspaper reporter who chews up and spits out deadlines like bubblegum, that you've got to walk the walk. I felt the need to prove it to myself. Again.

To borrow a line from Lyle Lovett in the video above: What would you be if you didn't even try. You HAVE to try.

One more thought: I was involved in entering a contest for a nonprofit around 2018-ish, and was making progress when my organization pulled the plug. This time, I was the one who would decide. I would not pull the plug on myself and my client. I had to try.

As the late, great Toby Keith once sang: I might not be as good as I was once with late-breaking projects, but I'm as good once as I ever was.

Fourth: Do I really need this experience?

Now that I’m a crusty old bastard, I’ve learned that I can put up with a lot for a couple days, knowing that there’s a chance for a major win, which I needed. Just the other day, I was having breakfast with a fellow comms person, and we co-lamented the fact that we weren't being given the opportunity to apply for grants. Then then, BAM, here comes this contest (or at least, BAM, I noticed the contest). Well, it wasn't exactly a grant application, but I'll take what I can get.

In hindsight, how did the contest entry process go?

My client did great. He gave me all the information I needed and sustained my rapid-fire questions and short temper marvelously.

Me? I have to say I was proud of our submission. It could have been way better. I even did the graphic design (based on templates). Was it perfect? No. But perfection is the enemy of the good. How good was it? We’ll find out in April.

Does this mean I'll take on last-minute projects like this all the time? NO. I've created a calendar reminder for December, for the next accelerator grant competition.

WARNING, READER:

THIS BLOG POST WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 30 SECONDS.