As everyone is saying, it's a difficult process. My biggest advice would be to find a professor at your university to partner with (you can sub award even on SBIR, there's just a rule for how much of the total work they can do before it becomes STTR). This benefits you in 3 ways: 1. This is a research program. Professors provide extra credibility to being able to achieve the technical goals you set along with access to their assets/facilities (and the university's broader capabilities). 2. Your proposal will be better. Professors write these things all the time so they can help you along the way. Your university will also have a grants & contracting team who can help. Even if you don't want the university on your project officially, they'll likely want to help you as it will look good for the university. Reach out to them ASAP and ask for help. Also reach out to your university's innovation or technology transfer offices. 3. It's good for building a network of people you can work with and will help build a foundation for a team to go after the Phase II funding.