Congress may let SBIR authority lapse this week

From AlleleBlog: http://allelebiotech.com/blogs/2010/09/congress-may-let-sbir-authority-lapse-this-week/

The SBIR/STTR/CPP now appears likely to expire on Thursday night, September 30.
Some will deny it but here’s what’s happening.

Allegedly the Senate and House were close to a compromise complete with an 8 year
reauthorization of SBIR/STTR/CPP but each time it goes back to the House (Nydia &
Day), they change the VC language to masquerade 100% VC involvement as a compromise.

Because time is so short, the Senate passed a bill (S.3839) to simply extend
SBIR/STTR/CPP through January 31, 2010. The House was going to pass it on Wednesday
with the President signing Thursday. However, the word on the street is that Nydia
Velazquez, chair of the House Small Business Committee, and her illustrious second,
Michael Day, are rejecting the bill and are poised to let SBIR expire if necessary,
at least in the short term.

It seems that Velazquez’s hope is to move the SBIR reauthorization into the lame
duck session and incorporate all her Wall Street investors’ 100% non-compromise VC
ownership and jumbo award support into a must pass, end of the year omnibus bill
that can’t be touched by her detractors.

This sounds like a script for TV, but several years ago we had a similar year end
omnibus situation involving Nydia (as ranking member) and Sam Graves (subcommittee
chair) and BIO/NVCA, but the main difference was that the small business committee
chair was Donald Manzullo who nipped it in the bud. In our scenario today we have
to look to the House leadership to do it, but it will take your involvement.

Many senior people in the democratic party called for the House to support the
Senate compromise bill H.R. 2965, but Nydia ignored those calls, as did Jason
Altmire, the creator of this infamous Altmire Quagmire. Now Nydia’s really “miffed”
because last week she tried to “scrub” H.R.5297, the Small Business Jobs Act of
2010, but the Obama administration and Speaker Pelosi rolled her over and passed it.

CALL TO ACTION

If SBIR is important to you and your company, it’s time to get serious and realize
that this program can, and will go away unless you make a big noise to let your
politician’s know how you feel. All of us are sick of this, and we’re now facing a
lapse. Eight times this program has been deemed important enough to keep going (via
a CR) but will Nydia be successful in blocking this ninth attempt?

Voting will occur in the House on Wednesday and this may be the last time until
after the election that the SBIR extension bill could voted on. That means we must
act on Tuesday, September 28.

Here are some suggestions and rationale behind them.

CALL CALL CALL the House Tuesday September 21! Call Nancy Pelosi’s office at (202)
225-4965, Steny Hoyer (majority leader) at (202) 225-4131, Nydia Velazquez (202)
225-2361, also the House Small Business Committee line (202) 225-4038

Those of you who are good democrats, call the remaining House Democratic caucus
leaders: John Larson 202- 225-2265, Xavier Becerra 202-225-6235, Jim Clyburn
(202)225-3315

Those of you who are good republicans, call John Boehner (202) 225-6205, Eric Cantor
202-225-2815

Tell them in your own words that SBIR is about to expire and is being held hostage
by Nydia Velazquez. Let them know how important continuation of SBIR is to your
business and the country. Ask them to please support S.3839 (additional temporary
extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment
Act of 1958) to keep the program from lapsing this week.

I realize that I’m asking you to do something that requires a good chunk of your
time. However, at the risk of losing you as a reader I must tell you that I donate
a large share of my time to try and keep you informed about this program, and I’m
not asking you to do anything for me, only for you and others like you. We do have
some good representatives from both parties BUT they need to hear from you and
quickly.

If you’re bold ask, “I would like to know how a party can let itself get hijacked by
a few people (like Nydia) on a vitally important, highly regarded and accepted
program. This action is to the detriment of your constituents, the country, and
yes, even your own party!”

Here’s what’s going on in the back rooms (formerly smoke filled) The Senate agreed
on a 4 month extension for SBIR because they (Senate) largely (including many on the
Republican side) did not feel a reasonable bill could be passed in the lame duck
session. The Senate has offered up some huge compromises that some believe even
James Greenwood from BIO could live with. The very long shot is that with enough
pressure we might get a compromise bill passed by Thursday.

WHAT HAPPENS IF SBIR LAPSES, EVEN FOR A SHORT TIME

This is an interesting question. Theoretically those projects (grants and
contracts) that are already in place should be okay, but some not. All new unsigned
agreements would stop. Agency comptrollers may start adjusting their budgets to put
the overall 2.8% SBIR/STTR back into their own research pools. Administrative
funding for SBIR could be severely cut back. Remember, all of your grants and
contracts are “subject to the availability of funding.”

On the other hand, SBIR can be voluntary, so some agencies may choose to keep their
SBIR doors open, hoping for, or expecting the reinstatement of the program.

In any event, this is bad for you and the agencies.

The Insider will be on the Hill Wednesday and Thursday, so we’ll do a follow up
report to you asap.

Rick Shindell
SBIR Gateway
Zyn Systems
40 Alderwood Dr.
Sequim, WA 98382
360-681-4123
rick@zyn.com
www.zyn.com/sbir

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Entrepreneurs Roundtable in San Diego: How to Get Seed Funding

Wednesday July 28th at 5:00 p.m.



Johnson and Johnson Auditorium

3210 Merryfield Row, San Diego, CA

Hear from successful entrepreneurs
Make connections
Take your idea or company to the next stage

Program

5:00 - 6:00 p.m. Networking & Refreshments

6:00 -7:00 p.m. Roundtable & Discussion: How to Get Seed Funding

Confirmed Speakers

Court Turner (Avalon Ventures)

Raj Krishnan (Founder, Biological Dynamics)

Malcolm Bohm (Founder, Trialytics)

Moderator: Doug Lappi

7:00 -7:15 p.m. 30 Second Pitch Segment

(pitch your company/service in 30 sec.)

Please send a short pitch proposal to pitch@sdentrepreneurs.org by July 26th for consideration

Please register via

http://seedfundingjuly28th.eventbrite.com

This event is free to the public. Refreshments provided. Donations and sponsorship are welcome.

The event is sponsored by the San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange (www.sdentrepreneurs.org). The SDEE was founded by local entrepreneurs in order to provide a voice for the early stage technology startup, to encourage new entrepreneurs, and to sponsor networking and educational events to help develop the skills necessary to bring funding and business to the San Diego area.

Allele News Release, editor JW http://www.allelebiotech.com/News//index.php?mod=article&cat=OtherNewsRelease&article=692

SDEE Entrepreneurs Roundtable - How to Get Government Grants: The Insider’s View

From Allele News: http://www.allelebiotech.com/News//index.php?mod=article&cat=OtherNewsRelease&article=517

After our first organization event proved to be a great success, SDEE is organizing a second event focusing on getting grants.  This topic was actually the main issue for founders of our organization.  Learning how to get SBIR from people who have written and reviewed applications and people who had started companies with those grants should be helpful to many in our field.  Issues about the recent changes and the future of the SBIR program may also be interesting topics that directly relate to hundreds of companies in San Diego.  Come and join us.

Wednesday May 19th at 5:00 pm
Johnson and Johnson Auditorium
3210 Merryfield Row, San Diego, CA

Please register for this free event via: http://sdee-mayevent-grants.eventbrite.com

• Hear from study section members and successful NIH SBIR grant writers
• Make connections
• Take your idea or company to the next stage.

Program
5:00 – 5:45 p.m. - Networking & Refreshments
5:45 – 6:45 p.m. - Roundtable & Discussion: How to Get Government Grants
Keynote:
John Finn, Chief Scientific Officer of Trius Therapeutics, “SBIR grants as a key source of funding for start-ups: the Rx3 Pharmaceutical Experience”

Panel Discussion:
John Finn, CSO Trius
Scott Thacher, CEO of Orphagen Pharmaceuticals
Dave Larocca, Founder and CEO of Mandala Biosciences
Scott Struthers, CSO and Founder of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals
Moderator: Deborah Slee

6:45 – 7:15 p.m. - Pitch your company or service (30 sec maximum).
Please send a short pitch proposal to pitch@sdentrepreneurs.org by May 17th for consideration. Space is limited and preference will be given to entrepreneurs.

This event is free to the public. Refreshments provided. Donations and sponsorship welcome.

To read more AlleleNews, visit here: http://www.allelebiotech.com/News/ 

How I started my company and why-Jiwu Wang's speech at SDEE's naugural event

Originally presented at the first ever SDEE meeting held at Sanford-Burhnam Institute.

I started Allele Biotech when I was a fourth year postdoc at UCSD, just finished my postdoc fellowship. I wish I could say it was all planned out with clear goals and measurable milestones, as how I would like to describe everything we do these days, but it was not. Actually I had all the reasons not to start a company. My background, training and interactions with my mentors and colleagues really set my mind on an academic career path, and I had a pretty good publication record and a hint of an invitation from a former committee member to apply for a faculty job. On the other hand, I had no experience at all or much interest in business.

The one factor that did push me in the direction of becoming an entrepreneur was that I was exposed to the fact that small business could get NIH grants through an application, review and award process not too different from that of a typical research grant. That is something I kind knew how to do and had interest to try. I had friends who were truly interested in business and wanted to get their feet wet in a startup before moving on to higher positions in bigger places. We had no way of attracting real investment though. If I were an angel or venture investor I wouldn’t invest in ourselves since we were all postdocs with no experience running any serious business. So I started doing the one thing I did learn how to do through years in academic labs, writing grants, and my publication record didn't hurt. The reviewers said this is a first rate scientist with a good idea, let’s give him a chance.

The core of these grants were basically something I knew very well, such as RNA molecules, polymerase, protein-RNA interactions, and they were presented in such a way that suggested the research results could be turned into something useful for advancing biology. Well, I got my first grant, then the second, and the third…that was how we had the company up and running. To be a PI on a business research grant you need to be above 50% employed by the company, so even though I wasn’t committed to the company and didn’t draw any salary from it for a long while, I had to request a demotion to 49% status at UCSD and lived on a half postdoc pay.

The above is how I started my company, here comes why I am still there. The number one reason that I gradually moved to be completely dedicated to the company, believe it or not, was academic freedom, by which I mean you can run wild with any ideas for an experiment and don’t have to worry about any pressure from anybody, as long as you take responsibility for all the consequences. To me, research in a small business setting provides the ultimate freedom in the broadest sense. We got our first product two years after the company started, a patent filing on RNA interference which was outlicensed to Promega for marketing.

A couple more grants and patent filings later we have built a critical mass in terms of products, company structure, and a gradual understanding of the difference between pure research and running a business. In 04 we started direct marketing of research reagents in siRNA and genotyping, in 08 we acquired a company that was bigger and older than us, and added more than 1,000 products in the fields of antibodies and viral systems. We were hit pretty hard by the current economic downturn, and we pulled ourselves out by the hair focusing on two things: online presence and adding new products. Even in the summer of 09 when we were in the deepest financial trouble, we did not make any dramatic changes in our employment situations, but rather, we added one new product line per month in the field of stem cell/iPS, fluorescent proteins, biosensors, screening services, etc, at least one new product per week. We are very active in social networking, having daily activities in Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. That’s where we are now.

Biotech is a fast moving field, we should never run out of ideas, rather our challenge is to build products around new discoveries and find a balance between trailblazing and completing what we have started.