For the first time ever, the Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Technology Executive Office held "Pitch Day" at WBI's 444 location in downtown Dayton. Inspired by other pitch day activities across the Air Force, this event format awards qualifying small businesses with on-the-spot awards that aim to speed up innovative research and development.
In recent years, there has been an emphasis on small businesses having both technical expertise and business acumen that would make their products purchase-ready for the Air Force. That blend of information needs to be very obvious when the SBIR office is hoping to make quick awards in a one-day event.
In order to ensure that companies had the right blend of information in their pitches, WBI's commercialization team developed a template and worked with companies to ensure the right questions were being addressed. With a more professional and concise message, investors and DoD representatives are more likely to invest in these start up technologies - ultimately making it much more likely for these technologies to reach the warfighter.
One small business representative described the training as "extremely informative and helped put my mind at ease".
WBI's SBIR Ventures team put on a Small Business Training, giving small businesses participating in the Nov. 15, 2019 TEO Pitch Day Event the tools and tips needed to make a great pitch.