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On-demand Webinars

Welcome to our on-demand webinar library, made possible through support from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).  Thanks to the MEDC these pre-recorded webinars are available free of charge to small businesses across the nation. 

 

 

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2026 SBIR / STTR Reauthorization

This webinar reviews the SBIR/STTR programs reauthorization changes made in April 2026.

Overview of the SBIR/STTR Programs

This webinar provides covers the SBIR/STTR program goals, eligibility requirements, required company registrations and more.

Recent Podcast Sessions

 

 

Get Sh!t Done Podcast - Using SBIR as Capital Source

The June 3, 2026 episode is for you if you’re building a technology-based company, you’re pre-revenue or pre-MVP, and you’ve been told by private investors you’re too early or you’ve been raising for a while and need to understand every legitimate capital option on the table.

BBCetc Executive Consultant and Co-owner, Jerry Hollister

Provides insight on: 

  • The three scoring criteria every SBIR application is graded on: Science, team, and commercial pathway — and why most technical founders fail on criteria two and three
  • What “traction” looks like before you have revenue: Pilots, letters of support, contingent purchase orders — and why customer discovery that causes you to pivot is actually proof of readiness
  • The free government resource most founders have never heard of: The FAST Program, which funds professional SBIR consulting in every state at little to no cost to founders
  • Why this is a both/and capital strategy: How to think about SBIR alongside private capital — and the story of the $30M Novartis equity deal they turned down
  • The SBIR reauthorization drama and what it means now: The program expired, sat dormant through a government shutdown and months of political chaos, and was finally signed for six more years in April
Life Science Insights Podcast - SBIR reauthorization background and significant changes

May 29, 2026. In this episode, Jerry Hollister, Co-Owner of BBCetc, joins Dan Mazzucco to pull back the curtain on the SBIR reauthorization fight.

Covering:

  • The political dynamics that delayed it for months
  • The new foreign influence provisions now written into law
  • The strategic breakthrough authority that allows awards up to $30 million without SBA approval.
  • Which of the 11 SBIR agencies is right for which stage of company
  • Why NSF and NIH have fundamentally different expectations
  • Difference between SBIR and STTR for academics who are not ready to leave their university, and why the “solution in search of a problem” mentality is still the fastest path to rejection.
GovCon Unscripted Podcast - SBIR reauthorization and Strategic Breakthrough awards

In the May 15, 2026, episode of GovCon Unscripted, host Chelsea Roberts sits down with Jerry Hollister, Co-Owner of BBC Entrepreneurial Training & Consulting (BBCetc) and a former DoD contracting officer with three decades in the SBIR/STTR space.

Jerry walks through:

  • Mechanics of what changed in the reauthorization, what didn’t, and where the program quietly shifted in ways most companies haven’t internalized yet.
  • Strategic Breakthrough Awards (up to $30M, five agencies, 1:1 match, must come from existing SBIR budget).
  • The sole source training mandate for contracting officers, an authority that has existed since Reagan but that most KOs are afraid to use.
  • The new foreign influence disclosure regime and the eight-list cross-check that agencies must now run.
  • The shift to monthly topic releases at DoD. And the multiple award winner debate, where the senator from Massachusetts and the SBIR mill problem held up the entire bill for two months.