Grant proposal preparation
Narrative structure remains tied to the actual research plan and evidence.
- For
- Small research groups applying for project funding
- Solves
- Applications combine inconsistent evidence and work-plan commitments.
- Delivers
- Investigator-reviewed proposal draft
- Built in
- about 4 weeks of creation time, MVP in 4 days
- Investment
- $7,500 for the MVP, $28,500 for the full product
- Run it
- Inside your business, or as part of your offer to clients
What it does
For small research groups applying for project funding, turn researcher-supplied plans, call requirements and approved budgets into investigator-reviewed proposal draft.
- Map call requirements.
- Organize preliminary evidence.
- Draft work packages.
- Check budget references.
- Flag unsupported claims.
- Coordinate investigator approval.
What goes in, what comes out
- Researcher-supplied plans
- Call requirements
- Approved budgets
AI drafts, people review. Source-based content workspace with editorial delivery.
- Investigator-reviewed proposal draft
How it works
The workflow
- InStart with
Researcher-supplied plans, call requirements and approved budgets
- 1
Collect a structured brief and source material
- 2
Identify unanswered questions
- 3
Approve an outline
- 4
Generate a draft
- 5
Verify claims
- 6
Gather reviewer edits
- 7
Approve a final version and export the agreed formats
- OutFinish with
Investigator-reviewed proposal draft
AI does the heavy lifting, people stay in charge
Extract and organize information, propose structure, draft prose and adapt approved content to audiences. Attach evidence to factual claims. Keep names, dates, amounts and quoted wording linked to their source. Editors resolve ambiguity and approve publication.
What your team sees
Key screens: Requirement outline, narrative editor, investigator review. Use a project list and editorial calendar beside a document editor. Keep original material and supporting passages in a collapsible side panel. Show outline, draft, review and approved stages. Provide tracked edits, comments, version comparisons and an export preview that reflects the final delivery format. In this product, the first view is requirement outline, followed by narrative editor and investigator review.
Accounts and administration
Client workspaces, source permissions, editorial assignments, change history, reviewer comments, approval gates, revision allowances and export templates.
Integrations and data access
Authorized datasets, papers, protocols, code and research records. Document storage, word processor export, content management systems and approved publishing channels. Pilot with uploads and downloadable drafts before adding write integrations. These are candidate integration categories, not verified supported connectors.
How we build it
We build with our own AI software development factory, so most implementations take days to a few weeks of creation time, not months. You see working software at every step, and exact timing depends on availability.
- 1
Scoping call
Day 1Thirty minutes on your process, your data and how you want to run it: for your own team, or for your clients. You get a fixed scope and price for the MVP.
- 2
MVP
4 daysOne buyer segment, one recurring use case; first modules: map call requirements; organize preliminary evidence. Manual review in the loop. Built by our AI software factory.
- 3
Paid pilot
5 daysAccounts, roles, review states, audit trail and the first integration, hardened for two to three paying pilot customers.
- 4
Full product
9 daysRemaining modules: check budget references; flag unsupported claims; coordinate investigator approval. Self-serve onboarding, billing, monitoring and the wider integration set.
- 5
Run and improve
MonthlyWe host, monitor and improve it for a fixed monthly fee, or hand it over to your team. How the retainer works.
Why we start with an MVP
An MVP, or minimum viable product, is the smallest version that your users can actually work with. It is not a cheap version of the full solution. It is a test, built to answer the questions that decide whether the rest is worth building.
- Pick the riskiest assumption. Here: will small research groups applying for project funding use it to solve "applications combine inconsistent evidence and work-plan commitments"?
- Build only what tests it. One team, one use case, a few core modules. People do the rest by hand for now.
- Run a paid pilot. Complete one existing brief using the customer’s actual sources.
- Measure, then decide. Track investigator revision time and application completeness. Then expand, change course or stop, with evidence instead of opinions.
MVP scope for this solution. Begin with small research groups applying for project funding and one recurring use case. Build the first two modules: map call requirements; organize preliminary evidence. Provide operator assistance for the third module: draft work packages. Deliver investigator-reviewed proposal draft through a manual review queue. Perform other necessary full-scope functions manually during the pilot. Include all applicable access, accuracy and professional-review controls from the start.
After the MVP. After paid pilots establish value, automate the remaining modules: check budget references; flag unsupported claims; coordinate investigator approval. Add one validated source integration, reusable customer configuration and recurring delivery. Expand to additional teams, document formats or languages only after testing the new scope.
What the build depends on. Document parsing, a source-linked editor, tracked revisions, reviewer workflow and reliable document export. Rich presentation or print output needs format-specific QA.
Investment
A planning range to start the conversation, not a quote. You pay per phase, so you can stop after the MVP.
- Phase 1
MVP
One buyer segment, one recurring use case; first modules: map call requirements; organize preliminary evidence. Manual review in the loop.
- Phase 2
Paid pilot
Accounts, roles, review states, audit trail and the first integration, hardened for two to three paying pilot customers.
- Phase 3
Full product
Remaining modules: check budget references; flag unsupported claims; coordinate investigator approval. Self-serve onboarding, billing, monitoring and the wider integration set.
Indicative total, MVP to full product$28,500about 4 weeks of creation time · start with the MVP from $7,500
Running costs per month
A rough indication of monthly hosting and AI model costs once it is live, not tested. Real costs depend on usage, file sizes and the models chosen.
| Stage | Hosting and infrastructure | AI usage | Total per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| MVP and paid pilotabout 3 customers | $30–$60 | $70–$140 | $100–$200 |
| Full productabout 50 customers | $110–$210 | $700–$1,400 | $810–$1,610 |
Run it or resell it
For your own team
Small research groups applying for project funding run it inside the business: researcher-supplied plans, call requirements and approved budgets in, investigator-reviewed proposal draft out, reviewed by your people.
As part of your offer
Agencies, consultancies and software companies can offer it to their own clients under their brand. We build and maintain it; you sell and deliver it.
Your brand, or this one
Run it under your own brand, or start from this concept style.
- primary
#912737 - accent
#54c991 - surface
#f1e4e6 - ink
#22201e
- Headings
- Playfair Display
- Text
- Source Sans 3
- Voice
- Rigorous, transparent, cited
Selling it to your own clients: the go-to-market playbook
Pricing to test
Test USD 400-1,500 for a tightly scoped initial content package. Convert repeated work to a monthly retainer with explicit deliverable and revision limits. Specialist review and substantial research are separately scoped. Prices are hypotheses.
Message to test
Grant proposal preparation for small research groups applying for project funding. Narrative structure remains tied to the actual research plan and evidence. Demonstrate the claim through a requirement-to-work-package proposal outline.
Where to find buyers
Research development consultants
Lead magnet
A requirement-to-work-package proposal outline
The first 30 days
- Week 1: interview five prospective buyers in this segment: small research groups applying for project funding. Ask to see a recent example of the problem and their current process.
- Week 2: prepare this demonstration using authorized or synthetic material: a requirement-to-work-package proposal outline.
- Week 3: present it through research development consultants and seek one narrowly scoped paid pilot.
- Week 4: review investigator revision time, application completeness, total delivery effort and a concrete renewal decision before increasing scope.
Paid pilot
Complete one existing brief using the customer’s actual sources. Record reviewer edits, factual corrections and preparation time. Ask the same buyer to commission a second comparable deliverable. For this solution, use researcher-supplied plans, call requirements and approved budgets and evaluate investigator-reviewed proposal draft. Agree success thresholds with the buyer before starting; collect a baseline for investigator revision time, application completeness. A positive signal is payment and repeat use with acceptable quality and delivery cost, not a favorable demo reaction alone.
Success metrics
Investigator revision time, application completeness
Retention and expansion
Maintain the approved source and voice library, schedule recurring editorial work, and expand into additional formats only after the core deliverable is repeatedly accepted.
Why clients would pick it
Customer-approved terminology, reusable structures, source libraries and editorial feedback tied to a specific audience and recurring publishing workflow. For this solution, build around narrative structure remains tied to the actual research plan and evidence. This advantage requires execution and accumulated customer trust; the base model alone is not a defensible asset.
Alternatives and positioning
Writers, editors, agencies, internal document templates and general-purpose chat tools. Differentiate on this specific proposed advantage: narrative structure remains tied to the actual research plan and evidence. Test it against the buyer's current method on the same task. Competitor coverage and uniqueness have not been established.
Main delivery costs
Research and interview time, transcription, model usage, factual verification, subject-matter review, editing and revisions.
Safeguards
Preserve original data, methods, citations and research limitations. Use researcher review and document every substantive transformation. Validate source access and reviewer availability during the pilot. Maintain customer-level access, data deletion controls and a record of final approvals.